Bahia Bakari's Indian Ocean Night

In June 2009, 12-year-old French schoolgirl Bahia Bakari was flying on Yemenia Flight 626 to the Comoros when the Airbus A310 crashed into the Indian Ocean at night, killing 152 people, including her mother. She could barely swim and had no life vest but managed to grab a floating piece of wreckage and cling to it in the dark, swallowing seawater and battling heavy waves for about nine hours. Exhausted, half-blind from fuel and salt, and too weak to shout, she could only wave faintly when she saw a light approach. A small boat sent out by local rescuers finally pulled her from the water, making her the sole survivor of the crash.

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