The 14-year-old girl who was the only survivor when a Yemenia Airlines plane crashed into the Indian Ocean off Comoros is believed to have beaten a notoriously unlucky number: She is apparently the world’s 13th sole survivor of major plane crashes, according to airsafe.com.
“Some of the survivors relished the spotlight and used their sudden celebrity status to lobby for political changes, while others shunned the media and tried to live a normal a life as possible. Others disappeared off the media radar, and a handful of others were never publicly identified,” said wire service reports.
Other fallout from the crash:
—The accident came after years of complaints about dangerous conditions on the flight path to the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros. Protesters linked arms at Charles de Gaulle’s Terminal 13 airport in Paris.
—The airline that operated the crashed jet, Yemenia, suspended service to Comoros in response to the protest and other demonstrations, according to the AP.
—French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau warned that Yemenia risked inclusion on a European Union list of banned airlines.
—Some families of the 152 victims, 66 of them French nationals, claim their relatives died as a result of sub-standard practices the airline uses once it’s beyond the view of European inspectors
—Khaled el-Wazeer, the Yemeni transportation minister, said that his government will provide documents within days showing how the airline deals with technical problems on planes, a measure the EU has called necessary to keep it off the blacklist.
One person, 13-year-old French girl Bahia Basari, survived for hours in the Indian Ocean clinging to the debris of the downed plane. She arrived home in France, where she was reunited with her father.
Report by David Wilkening
