Bahia Bakri became the miracle of the only survivor among the 153 passengers - from France and Comoros - who were on flight 626 in a Yemeni Airlines plane that crashed on June 30, 2009 in the Indian Ocean, while preparing to land in Moroni, in Comoros.
Today, 11 years after the disaster of the Yemeni Airlines plane crash, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Paris is looking into the file of this lawsuit. The only survivor, Bahia Bakri, who was 12 years old at the time, was the only voice of 152 victims who died on board, including her mother.
The writer Vincent Gutrono says in a report published by the French newspaper "Le Parisien", that the attention of the whole world was directed towards Bahia Bakri, who survived a plane crash by clinging to a piece of debris for about nine hours.
Today, Bahia is 23 years old, and she is a student who only wants to "turn the page of this story." On May 27 last year, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office "finally" requested the presence of Bahia Bakri and the families who lost loved ones in that air disaster, to refer the Yemeni company to the criminal court for unintentionally killing and wounding people, and the case is now under the custody of the investigating judge.
Bahia praised this initiative, saying, "This is an important step, because I had a feeling that the issue was not making any progress. And symbolically, it is necessary to say that there are people who are responsible for what we have lived."
The cries of women are engraved in my memory
Bahia Bakry's experience was out of the ordinary. On June 30, 2009, that little girl and her mother traveled to Comoros, the family's original home. The first flight from Paris to Sanaa in Yemen went normally.
But the rest of the flight from Yemen to Moroni (Comoros), which had 142 passengers on board, including 66 French and 11 crew, was both dramatic and miraculous.
"The plane was a little strange, it was so dirty and uncomfortable," Bahia recalls. After a smooth flight, Yemeni Airlines (A310) began preparing to land at the airport. Suddenly, the plane began to vibrate, Bahia remembers that "no one panicked, I used to tell myself, this is always the case in Comoros because of the wind."
But after a few minutes, a "black hole" appeared and Bahia woke up to find herself in the water. The coast was very far away and inaccessible to swimming, and the Indian Ocean was soon darkened. Some voices heard her, she was distress calls from women, but the voice began to fade in space.
Bahia says that those voices are "still engraved in her memory" and she remembers that as soon as she woke up, she immediately tried to cling to a piece of the wreckage of the plane, as she came to mind the movie "castaway" that she had seen the day before the accident, and the Titanic movie that she had seen several times, and was amazed that she Still conscious.
The author shows that Bahia is mostly sleepy on the wreckage. When she woke up, the cries of other women disappeared, only to find herself surrounded by "the plane debris, suitcases and food trays." A scenario weaving her mind helped her to survive: "I said to myself that everyone arrived and I got off the plane. I thought a lot about my mom and imagined that she was at the airport angry looking for help. I had to cling to the wreckage for her, if that was scary."
She fought the battle against death, along with many ideas that had been on her mind as a child like "sharks", where she remembers laughing, thinking that she would "devour her" whenever she heard noises.
I'm sure the only one to fall off the plane
But that idea was dispelled when the sun began to set, and the screams of fishermen coming to the crash site applied the silence. Bahia asked whether this was a reality or a dream. Bahia was then transferred to the hospital, and asked about her mother, who did not know that she was dead.
News of Bahia's escape from the crash made headlines around the world, she was sent back to France and journalists flew in front of her house in Eason.
"It was a very strange moment, and my feelings are still conflicting. I had the opportunity to live, but I lived a dramatic situation after which my mother lost and my family suffered a lot after that. Dozens of people also lost their loved ones," Bahia says.
I look back and realize that I was strong
Bahia says that what remains after 11 years of this incident is just an "ordinary girl" studying to become a real estate agent. She works every two weeks at a bank as part of her studies, and is also active on social networks. Sometimes colleagues or students who meet her tell her that she is a "miracle." She interacts with them without problem. I traveled by plane and returned to the Comoros several times. Today it is seen as a symbol.
Bahia reported that when she looks back and sees herself in the eyes of people, she realizes how strong she was, but she does not hide the pain she feels sometimes, because the absence of her mother still affects her.
From time to time, she grints a smile when she overcomes one of the difficult experiences, such as the failure to study medicine, and says to herself, "I have lived the worst."