Bahia Bakari ( born 15 August 1996 ) is a French woman who was the sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626 , an Airbus A310 , which crashed into the Indian Ocean near the north coast of Grande Comore , Comoros on 30 June 2009 , killing the 152 other people on board . Bakari , who could barely swim and had no life vest , clung to a piece of aircraft wreckage , floating in heavy seas for over nine hours , much of it in pitch darkness , before being rescued . Her mother , who had been traveling with her from Paris , France , for a summer vacation in Comoros , died in the crash
Yemenia Flight 626
Yemenia Flight 626
Bahia Bakari