Plane crashes have been all too common recently but in the midst of tragedy, incredible stories can be found, especially when someone survives in extraordinary circumstances.
It was only last week when the Air India crash became one of the worst aviation disasters in a decade, with a total of 270 people – both onboard and on the ground – sadly losing their lives as a result of the 12 June flight, which managed a matter of seconds in the air before crashing down.
British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only person to survive out of the 242 onboard the Gatwick-bound plane from Ahmedabad Airport, with his 11A seat seemingly the place to be when it comes to surviving these catastrophes.
The nature of plane crashes mean that there are rarely any survivors at all, especially when they end up in the ocean, but back in 2009, a 12-year-old girl from France managed to do just that after her flight to Comoros crashed and killed the other 152 people on board.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the only survivor in last week’s Air India disaster (Hindustan Times)
Bahia Bakari was on the way for a summer holiday in the east African country but tragedy struck when strong winds caused the Yemenia Airbus A310-324 to stall and fall into the ocean.
Among the 152 bodies that were found in the sea was young Bahia, who had survived after holding on to a piece of the airplane’s debris for 13 hours. She was assisted by local fisherman before being taken to hospital for with a fractured collarbone, hypothermia and cuts to her face.
Back in 2022, she attended a trial against Yemenia Airways, and recounted her incredible survival story in front of an appeals court which fined the airline over £200,000.
She said: “I didn’t see how I was going to get through this. It was a smaller plane, there were flies inside and it smelled strongly like a bathroom,” she said, but ‘the flight went normally’ until the landing descent began.
Bahia Bakari in 2022 (THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)
“I started to feel the turbulence, but nobody was reacting much, so I told myself it must be normal. Suddenly I felt something like an electric shock go through my body.
“There’s a black hole between the moment when I was seated in the plane and the moment I found myself in the water.”
Bahia, who was later described as ‘the miracle girl’ by French press, also opened up about how her relationship with her ‘incredibly protective’ mother inspired her to keep clinging on, before she was eventually rescued by the local fisherman.
She added: “I realised that voices were calling for help in Comorian, and I cried out a bit but without much hope, because there’s was nothing but water around me and I couldn’t see anyone,” she said.
“I ended up falling asleep while holding onto the plane debris.”
Tragically, Bahia had thought initially that she was the only person to have fallen, and was only told when she was in the hospital that everyone else on the plane had sadly died.Featured Image Credit: Getty/Stephani de Sakutin
