Bahia Bakari

{{short description|Sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626 crash in 2009}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Bahia Bakari

| image = Comores-270610-silence.jpg

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| caption = Bahia Bakari (centre, in black) at a first anniversary ceremony in Paris. Also in the picture are Daniel Goldberg, Annick Lepetit, and Stéphane Troussel.

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1996|8|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Evry, France

| death_date =

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| education =

| occupation =

| title =

| spouse =

| parents =

| children =

| nationality = French

| website =

}}

Bahia Bakari (born 15 August 1996) is a French woman who was the sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310, which crashed into the Indian Ocean near the north coast of Grande Comore, Comoros on 30 June 2009, killing the other 152 people on board.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1908048,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704041000/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1908048,00.html |title=Teen Air-Crash Survivor 'Didn't Feel a Thing' |magazine=Time magazine |date=1 July 2009 |archive-date=4 July 2009 |url-status = dead|access-date=9 July 2009 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6638134.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027082434/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6638134.ece |title=Sole survivor of plane crash tells of rescue |date=5 July 2009 |archive-date=27 October 2010 |work=The Sunday Times |location=London |access-date=26 April 2010 |first=Matthew |last=Campbell |url-status = live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.la-croix.com/afp.static/pages/090702065949.xxtteoul.htm|title=Bahia Bakari, la rescapée de l'A310 de Yemenia, est arrivée en France|trans-title=Bahia Bakari, Yemenia A310 survivor, arrives in France|language=fr|date=2 July 2009|publisher=Agence France-Presse on LaCroix.com}} Twelve-year-old{{#tag:ref|The age of Bakhari at the time of the accident was also reported to be 14.{{cite news|last=Moindjie|first=Ali|url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25717076-401,00.html|title=Yemenia plane crash survivor found swimming among bodies in Indian Ocean|agency=Agence France-Presse|access-date=1 July 2009|date=1 July 2009|archive-date=4 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704113358/http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25717076-401,00.html|url-status=dead}}|group="nb"}} Bakari, who had little swimming experience and had no life vest, clung to a piece of aircraft wreckage, floating in heavy seas for over nine hours, much of it in pitch darkness, before being rescued.{{Cite web |date=2 July 2009 |title=Child survivor 'barely able to swim' |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/child-survivor-barely-able-to-swim-1.524243 |access-date=14 November 2022 |website=The National |language=en |archive-date=14 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114171256/https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/child-survivor-barely-able-to-swim-1.524243 |url-status=live }} Her mother, who had been traveling with her from Paris, France, for a summer vacation in Comoros, died in the crash.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6968453.ece?print=yes&randnum=1151003209000|title=I saw dark shapes below and thought: this is the end|date=27 December 2009|work=The Sunday Times | location=London|first=Rosemary|last=Bennett}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-yemen-plane-crash,0,6204564.story|title=French aviation agency says submarine hears signals from Yemenia Airways black boxes|date=5 July 2009|agency=Associated Press |work=The Baltimore Sun}}{{Dead link|date=March 2016}}

Dubbed "the miracle girl" by the world press ({{Langx|fr|la miraculée}}), Bakari was flown back to France on a private Falcon-900 government jet, escorted by French Co-operation Minister Alain Joyandet. Arriving at Le Bourget airport, she was reunited with her father, Kassim Bakari, and the rest of her family, and transported to a Paris hospital for a fractured pelvis and collarbone, burns to her knees and some facial injuries.{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/bahia-bakari-comoros-cras_n_224635.html|title=Bahia Bakari, Comoros Crash Survivor, Returns To Father in Paris|date=2 July 2009|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=6 July 2009|archive-date=5 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705142120/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/bahia-bakari-comoros-cras_n_224635.html|url-status=live}}

Upon her return to Paris, Minister Joyandet hailed Bakari's survival:{{cquote|In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival ... It's an enormous message that she sends to the world ... almost nothing is impossible.}}

Bakari was released from the hospital three weeks later, after undergoing treatment and surgery. In 2010 she released a memoir book, "Moi Bahia, la miraculée" ("I'm Bahia, the miracle girl"), co-authored with a French journalist as a ghostwriter, detailing her survival and rescue. She has reportedly turned down an offer by Steven Spielberg to make a film based on her book.

Early life and education

Bakari was born on 15 August 1996 in the former French commune of Évry, Essonne, near Paris, France. She was the oldest of four children born to Kasim Bakari (born 1961) and his wife Aziza Aboudou, both of whom were from the Comorian village of Ngnoumadzaha Mvoubari. Kasim worked as a janitor while Aziza was a homemaker. Bakari had two younger brothers named Badrou and Badawy, and a younger sister named Badian.{{Cite book|last1=Bakari|first1=Bahia|title=Moi Bahia, la miraculée|last2=Genduz|first2=Omar|publisher=Ripol-classic|year=2011|isbn=978-5-386-02897-8|location=Moscow, Russia|pages=42–64, 169|language=fr|trans-title=I'm Bahia, the miracle girl}} She was raised in her family's Muslim faith.

After the crash, Bakari studied at the Collège Louise-Michel in Paris.

Flight history and crash

File:Yemenia A310-300 7O-ADJ CDG 2005-7-2.png involved in the accident in 2005]]

Bakari and her mother, Aziza Aboudou, were traveling to the Comoros for a summer vacation. Like many of the passengers of Yemenia Flight 626, they began their voyage from Paris, France on Yemenia Flight 749, an Airbus A330-200, which made an intermediate stop in Marseille and then landed in Sana'a, Yemen. There the passengers boarded Flight 626, an Airbus A310-324, for the flight segment to Comoros, with a stop in Djibouti. As it descended for its approach, minutes away from its final destination of Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, the jet plunged into the ocean {{convert|9|mi|km}} north of the coastline of Grande Comore island, breaking apart as it hit the water, at approx. 01:50 local time (22:50 UTC).{{cite news|date=1 July 2009|title='Miracle' Teen Survived 13 Hours After Plane Crash|work=CBS News|publisher=CBS|agency=Associated Press|url=http://cbs5.com/national/yemenia.plane.crash.2.1066879.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715230326/http://cbs5.com/national/yemenia.plane.crash.2.1066879.html|archive-date=15 July 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20090630-0|title=ASN accident record|website=Aviation Safety Network|access-date=5 July 2009|archive-date=22 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110922014611/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20090630-0|url-status=live}} Bakari was ejected from the plane as it crashed, and found herself floating alone outside amid debris.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/teen-survives-plane-crash-into-indian-ocean-1.807374|title=Teen survives plane crash into Indian Ocean|date=30 June 2009|access-date=5 July 2009|publisher=CBC|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117125218/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/teen-survives-plane-crash-into-indian-ocean-1.807374|url-status=live}} Investigators would later determine that the cause of the accident was pilot error due to the approach being unstabilized and the flight crew's inappropriate responses to the ground proximity and stall warning systems.{{cite web|date=25 June 2013|title=Rapport Final sur l'Accident Survenu le 29 Juin 2009 En mer au large de Moroni (Comores) De l'Airbus A310-324 Immatriculé 7O-ADJ Exploité par la compagnie Yemenia Airways|trans-title=Final Report on the Accident on June 29, 2009 At sea off Moroni (Comoros) Of the Airbus A310-324 Registered 7O-ADJ Operated by the company Yemenia Airways|url=http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/7o-j090629/pdf/7o-j090629.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723184532/http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/7o-j090629/pdf/7o-j090629.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2014|access-date=19 July 2013|publisher=National Civil Aviation and Meteorological Agency|language=fr|via=Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety}}

Survival

Bakari reported having no life jacket and only minimal swimming skills, but she managed to hold on to a piece of fuselage wreckage. One night elapsed before her rescue. She reported later that initially there must have been other survivors, as she could hear them after the crash but later the voices became silent.According to data in the U.S. Naval Observatory website for the accident site (longitude E43.3, latitude S11.3), there was no moonlight after the crash, since moonset had occurred at 00:23; sunrise took place at 06:26.[http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php#formb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406121651/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php#formb|date=6 April 2011}} The next morning, Bakari came to realize she was alone at sea, having been drifting for hours without food and water. She also reported having seen a ship on the horizon that was too far away to notice her.

Rescue

Since the Comorian government has no ships of its own, it asked all commercial and private vessels to help in the search and rescue effort. At approximately 11:00 local time (08:00 UTC), about nine hours after the crash, the Sima Com 2 — a privately owned ship which normally carries passengers between Comoros and the neighboring island of Madagascar — arrived at the crash site and discovered Bakari, as the sole survivor among bits of floating wreckage.There are conflicting reports about the exact rescue time. French Minister Alain Joyandet, who was in Comoros the day after the accident, has been quoted as saying she was picked up around 15:00, which would be over 13 hours in the water. On the other hand, according to Bakari's memoir, published in 2010, she was in the water nine hours, consistent with the local Al Watwan news story, which reports she was recovered from the water at 11:05 local time.[http://www.jcgawsewitch.com/livre.php?id_livre=185] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713093107/http://www.jcgawsewitch.com/livre.php?id_livre=185|date=13 July 2011}}[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25721970-601,00.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705101736/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25721970-601,00.html|date=5 July 2009}}{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711085111/http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009}}{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090701/wl_mideast_afp/comorosyemenfranceairaccident4thlead_20090701205813|title=Teen recovers after miracle rescue from Comoros jet crash|date=1 July 2009|agency=AFP |website=yahoo.news}}{{Dead link|date=February 2016}}

As soon as Bakari was sighted, a member of the rescue team threw her a life preserver, but the waters were too rough, and she was too exhausted to grab it. One of the sailors, Maturaffi Sélémane Libounah, jumped into the water and handed her a flotation device, after which they were both pulled safely aboard the Sima Com 2, where she was given dry blankets and a hot drink.According to local Comorian paper Al-watwan,{{cite web |title=Maturaffi Libounah, le sauveur de la jeune Bahia Bakari 'J'étais là au bon moment'' |trans-title=Maturaffi Libounah, the savior of young Bahia Bakari 'I was there at the right time' |url=http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711085111/http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009 |language=fr}} Bakari was rescued from the ocean at coordinates: {{Coord|11|5.36|S|43|16.71|E|region:KM-MT_type:landmark_scale:100000|display=inline}}, approx. {{convert|21|mi|km}} north of Mitsamiouli.

Ibrahim Abdallah, another sailor on the Sima Com 2, recalled Bakari's recovery:{{cite web |date=6 July 2009 |title=J'étais là au bon moment |trans-title=I just happened to be there at the right time |url=http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711085111/http://www.alwatwan.net/pdf/06072009.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2009 |publisher=Al-watwan (Comoros) |quote=Quand la fille nous a vu, de loin, elle a abandonné le contre plaqué qu'elle s'est servie de bouée de sauvetage. Soudainement, une grande vague l'a renversée et on l'a plus vu avant qu'elle soit de nouveau réapparue quelques minutes après. C'est en ce moment précis, que Maturaffi s'est jeté dans l'eau pour l'arriver à son secours. |trans-quote=When the girl saw us approaching, she let go of the piece of debris she had been using as a life preserver. Suddenly, a large wave flipped her over and she disappeared from view, until she reappeared a few minutes later. It was at this exact moment that Maturaffi jumped into the water to save her.}}

When the girl saw us approaching, she let go of the piece of debris she had been using as a life preserver. Suddenly, a large wave flipped her over and she disappeared from view, until she reappeared a few minutes later. It was at this exact moment that Maturaffi jumped into the water to save her.

The ship arrived in Port Moroni at 19:25 local time (16:25 UTC), where Bakari was handed over to medical authorities and taken to a local hospital.{{cite news|last=Maliti|first=Tom|date=5 July 2009|title=Sailor recounts girl's rescue after plane crash|work=The Seattle Times|agency=Associated Press|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009419598_girlsrescue05.html|access-date=7 July 2009|archive-date=8 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708073238/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009419598_girlsrescue05.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/05/yemenia-plane-crash-girl-rescue|title='When I saw the girl, I wasn't afraid to dive in'|date=5 July 2009|work=The Guardian|location=London|first=Jason|last=Burke|access-date=26 April 2010|archive-date=7 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907001416/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/05/yemenia-plane-crash-girl-rescue|url-status=live}}

Aftermath

The next day, Bakari was transported back to Paris on a private French government Falcon-900 jet, escorted by Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet, who called her survival "a true miracle."{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_world/story/1591944.html|title='Fragile' girl clung to wreck for hours|date=2 July 2009|work=The News & Observer|access-date=7 July 2009|archive-date=16 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716103420/http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_world/story/1591944.html|url-status=live}} Upon arrival, she was reunited with her father and other family members, and taken by ambulance to the Armand-Trousseau children's hospital in eastern Paris, where she was admitted and diagnosed with a fractured pelvis and collarbone, burns to her knees, cuts, bruises and exhaustion. One of her first visitors in the hospital was then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who reportedly promised to host her and her family at the Élysée Palace. Soon afterwards, she was informed of her mother's death. She was released three weeks later after undergoing treatment and surgery.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/yemeni-plane-crash-survivor-leaves-hospital-1.862771|title=Yemeni plane crash survivor leaves hospital|publisher=CBC News|date=24 July 2009|access-date=26 January 2020|archive-date=23 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823144615/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/yemeni-plane-crash-survivor-leaves-hospital-1.862771|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.watoday.com.au/world/safety-calls-on-comoros-crash-20090704-d870.html|title=Safety calls on Comoros crash|date=3 July 2009|work=The New York Times on WAtoday.com.au|access-date=5 July 2009|archive-date=16 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716024154/http://www.watoday.com.au/world/safety-calls-on-comoros-crash-20090704-d870.html|url-status=live}}

In a commemoration ceremony held in the Comoros for the accident victims on 6 July, Comorian President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi declared a month of national mourning in his island nation and honored Maturaffi Sélémane Libounah, the sailor who had rescued Bahia Bakari, telling him: "You saved someone else's life at the risk of losing yours."{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7luEGv7pXzvSSYapf6ErZSMvKLQ|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731155451/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7luEGv7pXzvSSYapf6ErZSMvKLQ|url-status = dead|archive-date=31 July 2012 |agency=AFP |website=Google|title=Comoros pays tribute to crash victims|date=6 July 2009|access-date=7 July 2009}}

According to Aviation Safety Network's database, Bakari is a survivor of the deadliest sole survivor ocean crash, and the third-deadliest sole survivor crash ever. The other sole survivor crashes that were deadlier involved Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987, in which 156 were killed, including 2 on the ground,{{cite news|last=Rice|first=Xan|date=1 July 2009|title='Daddy, I couldn't see anything' - Yemenia Airbus crash survivor speaks|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/01/yemen-plane-crash-only-survivor|access-date=26 April 2010|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=7 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907001027/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/01/yemen-plane-crash-only-survivor|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/|title=Aviation accident database (from 1943)|website=Aviation Safety Network|access-date=11 July 2009|archive-date=4 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804013049/http://aviation-safety.net/database/|url-status=live}} and Air India Flight 171 in 2025, in which 260 were killed, including 19 on the ground.{{Cite web |date=12 June 2025 |title=Air India plane carrying 242 people crashes near Ahmedabad airport, 1 passenger reportedly survived |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/air-india-plane-ai171-crashes-ahmedabad-boeing-242-survivors-rcna212545 |website=NBC News}}{{Cite web |date=12 June 2025 |title=Passenger on seat 11A survived Air India crash, says trouble started 30 seconds into flight |work=Hindustan Times |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/40yearold-man-in-ahmedabad-hospital-says-he-survived-air-india-crash-101749734358509.html}}{{Cite news |date=June 12, 2025 |title=One survivor, 241 passengers dead on the London-bound plane |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/12/air-india-ai171-crash-ahmedabad-london/ |access-date=June 12, 2025 |work=The Washington Post}}

Book

In January 2010, Bakari released an account of her ordeal in a French memoir, "Moi Bahia, la miraculée" ("I'm Bahia, the miracle girl"), published by Jean-Claude Gawsewitch, Paris, France.{{cite news|url=http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/01/12/753323-Bahia-la-miraculee-raconte-l-enfer-du-crash-de-l-A310.html|title=Bahia, la miraculée, raconte l'enfer du crash de l'A310|trans-title=Bahia, the miracle girl, recounts the A310's horrific crash|newspaper=La Dépêche|date=12 January 2010|access-date=20 May 2010|archive-date=12 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412123158/http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/01/12/753323-Bahia-la-miraculee-raconte-l-enfer-du-crash-de-l-A310.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jcgawsewitch.com/livre.php?id_livre=185|title=MOI BAHIA, LA MIRACULÉE|access-date=20 May 2010|publisher=Jean-Claude Gawsewitch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713093107/http://www.jcgawsewitch.com/livre.php?id_livre=185|archive-date=13 July 2011|url-status = dead}} In the book, co-authored with French journalist Omar Guendouz as ghostwriter, Bakari provides details about her survival and rescue. She discloses that immediately after the crash, she thought she had fallen out of the airplane by pressing her forehead too hard against the window, and that her mother—who she believed had landed safely without her—would scold her for not wearing her seat belt. Then, floating on debris in the midst of a jet fuel slick released from the aircraft's burst fuel tanks, she recalls having "...this taste of fuel in my mouth, mixed with salt, which burned my throat, my lungs and my stomach."{{Cite web |title=Bahia, la miraculée, raconte l'enfer du crash de l'A310 |url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/01/12/753323-bahia-miraculee-raconte-enfer-crash-a310.html |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=ladepeche.fr |language=fr |quote=J'ai dans la bouche ce goût d'essence qui, mélangée au sel, me brûle la gorge, les poumons et l'estomac. |trans-quote=I have this taste of fuel in my mouth, mixed with salt, which burned my throat, my lungs and my stomach.}} Bakari writes that she only realized her plane had crashed and that she was the sole survivor when she was in the hospital, believing until then that she had simply fallen out into the ocean. AOL News reports that Steven Spielberg approached Bakari to make a film based on her book, but she turned him down, worried that "it would be too terrifying."{{cite news|title=Teen Survivor of 2009 Crash Turned Down Spielberg|work=AOL News|url=http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/bahia-bakari-teen-survivor-of-2009-crash-turned-down-steven-spielberg/19475219|url-status=dead|access-date=20 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516125912/http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/bahia-bakari-teen-survivor-of-2009-crash-turned-down-steven-spielberg/19475219|archive-date=16 May 2010}}{{cite book|author=Bakari|first=Bahia|title=Moi Bahia, la miraculée|year=2010 |publisher=Jean-Claude Gawsewitch |language=fr|trans-title=I'm Bahia, the miracle girl|isbn=978-2350132075}}

Notes

References

External links

[http://www.ladepeche.fr/content/photo/biz/2010/01/12/201001120711_zoom.jpg Bakari with her book]
[http://www.airsafe.com/events/survivor.htm Plane Crashes with a Sole Survivor] airsafe.com

Category:1996 births

Category:Living people

Category:Sole survivors

Category:Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents

Category:French children

Category:French people of Comorian descent

Category:People from Paris

Category:French memoirists

Category:21st-century memoirists

Category:21st-century French non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century French women writers