Yemenia Airways crash: the testimony of the only survivor, Bahia Bakari, during the trial

The only survivor of the Yemenia Airways crash, Bahia Bakari, testified before the Paris Criminal Court on May 23, 2022. AFP - THOMAS SAMSON

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The Yemenia Airways plane crash trial, which took place on June 29, 2009, is in its third week.

It is supposed to end next week.

The airline is on trial for manslaughter and manslaughter.

This Monday morning, it was the only survivor, Bahia Bakari, 12 years old at the time, who testified before the Paris Criminal Court.

Advertisement

Read more

At the Paris Criminal Court

,

Bahia Bakari, now 25, walks up to the bar, all dressed in white.

In a calm and gentle voice, she recounts this day of June 29, 2009. She was looking forward to her vacation at the height of her 12 years, where she was going with her mother to a wedding in the Comoros.

The first thing that surprised her as soon as she boarded the plane in Yemen was a smell of toilets and flies flying in the cabin, a contrast to the plane she had taken initially. from Paris.

Eleven hours of waiting at sea before being rescued

Then, all she remembers are the strong turbulence after which the plane will begin its descent and electric shocks that cross her whole body.

Then, it's the black hole, she wakes up in the water, it's dark and she clings to a plane wreckage.

She will remain eleven hours in the sea before being rescued.

Moments when she thinks it's all over for her, when she hears cries for help, women's voices around her.

But she does not imagine, at that time, that she will be the only survivor.

Bahia Bakari expects a lot from this trial,

.

She would have liked to receive an apology from the Yemenia company, which was absent from the defendants' box.

Bahia Bakari was hailed by the president of the court for her strength and courage.

►

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• France

• Justice