Yemenia crash survivor

Anchor Lisa Mullins has the latest on the rescue of the sole survivor of the Yemenia aircraft that crashed in the Indian ocean yesterday. The fourteen year-old girl survived the crash by clinging to a piece of plane debris for more than 12 hours.
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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. The sole survivor of yesterday’s plane crash in the Indian Ocean is flying home to France tonight. Her name is Bahia, she’s 14 years old. She was on the Yemenia jet en route from Yemen to the Comoros islands. Bakari managed to survive by hanging on to some plane wreckage until rescuers arrived. Her only injuries were cuts and a fractured collarbone. French official Alain Joyandet says the girl demonstrated incredible strength.

ALAIN JOYANDET: [SPEAKS IN FRENCH]

LISA MULLINS:  He says, “She is OK. She had amazing courage because she clung to a piece of debris for more than 12 hours in a rough sea. Psychologically she’s doing as best as can be expected.  She lost her mother on the plane, but she’ll see her father in Paris tomorrow. Her father Kassim Bakari says he that he was stunned to hear that his daughter survived the crash.

KASSIM BAKARI: [TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH FROM FRENCH] I asked her what had happened and she said: “Daddy, we saw the plane falling into the sea, I found myself in the water, I heard people talking around me, but I was in the dark, so I couldn’t see anything. And daddy I can’t swim well, but I grabbed onto something, I’m not sure what.”

LISA MULLINS: The official, Alain Joyandet, says Bah-ya also told doctors that she heard a loud bang just before the plane fell into the ocean. The French Transport Minister says France has banned this specific jet from its airspace after inspectors discovered problems with it back in 2007. Kassim Bakari says he’s upset that Yemeni authorities didn’t ground the plane as well.

KASSIM BAKARI: [TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH FROM FRENCH] They knew this plane was being used in Yemen, but they did nothing. If it was forbidden to fly to France, why was it allowed to fly elsewhere?

LISA MULLINS: A Yemenia airline official says the aircraft was regularly maintained and inspected, and that the crash had nothing to do with maintenance.  He also said that the accident was out of anybody’s control. But some Comoran nationals in Paris don’t agree. Today they formed a human chain at Charles de Gaulle airport to stop passengers from checking in to another Yemenia flight. One protester said, “We don’t want any more flying coffins. We don’t want Yemenia any more.” About 60 passengers did not check in, another 100 did board the flight, it took off as scheduled.

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