12 Year Old Plane Crash Survivor Bahia Bakari's Story — Transcript

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1. 0:09[Music]
2. 0:12Hey everybody, welcome back to
3. 0:14Mystifying Miracles. I'm Kristen and I
4. 0:17search out true stories that involve
5. 0:19miracles. So, if that sounds neat to you
6. 0:22or interesting, follow along and uh I'm
7. 0:26going to get started telling our story
8. 0:28for today. a girl named Bajia Bari. I'm
9. 0:32going to call her Bikari just it's easy
10. 0:34to say. She was a 12-year-old girl. She
11. 0:38was born August 15th,
12. 0:401996. Her family, they lived in Paris,
13. 0:43France, and she was the oldest child of
14. 0:46four. And on June 30th, 2009, Bari and
15. 0:51her mother were on a trip. They were
16. 0:53traveling to Kamaros. and they were
17. 0:57going to Kamoros for a summer vacation.
18. 1:00They had some connecting flights. So
19. 1:02they started their trip out on a
20. 1:04Yammenia flight
21. 1:07749 and that stopped over in Mars and
22. 1:11then went back up in the air and then
23. 1:14went on to land in Sis Yemen. From
24. 1:17there, the people that were on board
25. 1:19then switched flights and boarded
26. 1:22another Yemenia flight. I don't even
27. 1:24know if I'm saying that right. Yinia
28. 1:27flight
29. 1:28626 and uh it was an Airbus
30. 1:32A310 and it was the final flight that
31. 1:35was headed to Kamoros. Now they would
32. 1:38have one more stop and that would be in
33. 1:42Djibouti and it was on the descension
34. 1:45there that things went a little arai.
35. 1:49The story says that their plane was just
36. 1:52minutes away from Prince said Ibrahim
37. 1:56International Airport and so minutes
38. 1:59they would be there and then back up on
39. 2:02their way to Camoro. So they were very
40. 2:05close, right? But it was on that trip to
41. 2:09Djibouti that the plane began to descend
42. 2:12as I said and the turbulence began to
43. 2:15increase. Mari says that up until that
44. 2:18point, their whole flight, the stops and
45. 2:21everything had been normal, nothing out
46. 2:24of the norm at all. And she said, well,
47. 2:26you know, of course, I noticed the
48. 2:28increased turbulence out of nowhere.
49. 2:30But, you know, she's 12, so she says
50. 2:33that she just thought that was a normal
51. 2:35thing because their plane was going
52. 2:37down. Shortly after the turbulence
53. 2:39began, that's when Bari says she felt an
54. 2:42electric shock go throughout her whole
55. 2:45body. And a quote from Bari, she says,
56. 2:49"There's a black hole between the moment
57. 2:52when I was seated in the plane and the
58. 2:55moment I found myself in the water." End
59. 2:57quote. So, it's almost like just this
60. 2:59black hole like she just blacked out as
61. 3:02the plane, you know, was probably
62. 3:03pulling apart at that moment. Uh she
63. 3:06said when she awoke she was extremely
64. 3:09weak. She had no energy and I mean she
65. 3:13was in shock like what just happened and
66. 3:16why am I in the water? Now Bari also she
67. 3:20could not swim nor did she have a life
68. 3:23vest? But thankfully nearby was a large
69. 3:28piece of the fuselage. So she grabbed on
70. 3:31to that to try to hang on to. And also
71. 3:34at this time, uh, Bari says that, you
72. 3:37know, she could hear screams out in the
73. 3:39distance. And she said there were mainly
74. 3:42female voices screaming out for help.
75. 3:45But soon enough, those screams died
76. 3:48down. And I I mean, no one was right
77. 3:51near Bari. She couldn't see or realize
78. 3:54where they were coming from. Utterly
79. 3:56exhausted, Bari ends up falling asleep
80. 3:59while she's kind of, you know, lunged
81. 4:01halfway onto the debris, the fuselage. I
82. 4:05mean, she, poor thing. Again, she's just
83. 4:0712. And she said when she woke up far
84. 4:11off in the distance, she could see the
85. 4:13coast, but the waters were like very,
86. 4:16very choppy and rough. So, she's, you
87. 4:19know, having to probably hold on with
88. 4:21all her might now because as she's
89. 4:24getting closer to the to the coast, the
90. 4:27waters were quite choppy there. Mari
91. 4:29says the only thing that kept her going
92. 4:32was thinking of her mother. Um, that
93. 4:36gave her enough strength and enough, you
94. 4:38know, oomph to like keep on because she
95. 4:42was just so so tired. And I mean, if you
96. 4:45think about it, it makes sense. you've
97. 4:46just been through a tragic thing. One,
98. 4:49two, she's, you know, been grasping for
99. 4:52dear life onto that piece of debris. Um,
100. 4:56you know, for hours and even fell asleep
101. 4:58doing it. So that that wears you out
102. 5:01using your muscle strength to hold on to
103. 5:04something for that long. The 12-year-old
104. 5:06Bari, she drifted for hours and she did
105. 5:10it with no food, no water. Um, so that
106. 5:13also I'm sure contributed to her
107. 5:16exhaustion. And it is said that the
108. 5:18Camorian government actually asked for
109. 5:22all commercial and private boats to
110. 5:25begin helping in the search for any
111. 5:27survivors from the crash. And Bari, you
112. 5:30know, she wouldn't learn till later on
113. 5:32that she was the only survivor. Not a
114. 5:36one. No one else made it. It was after
115. 5:3912 hours in those choppy waters that
116. 5:42Bari was found and finally pulled to
117. 5:45safety by a privately owned ship called
118. 5:49the Sema Comm 2. And actually when they
119. 5:52saw her in the water, uh she was going
120. 5:55under cuz she barely had strength left
121. 5:58at this point to hold on to the
122. 6:00fuselage. So uh she went underwater many
123. 6:03times from the choppy waves. So, a
124. 6:06sailor from the ship actually jumped in
125. 6:09because the life preserver that they had
126. 6:12thrown her, she wasn't able to grab hold
127. 6:14and like keep a hold on it. And with her
128. 6:17going under, he's like, "No, I got to
129. 6:19help her." So, he jumps in, thank
130. 6:21goodness, to help rescue her and help
131. 6:24get her on board the ship. Once finally
132. 6:27aboard the bless her heart, they gave
133. 6:29her a warm drink, dry blankets, and just
134. 6:33kind of made sure that she was okay. The
135. 6:36ship arrived in Port Moroni, and that's
136. 6:39where Bari was taken to a hospital just
137. 6:42to be checked out, see if she was indeed
138. 6:45okay. And it was the the very next
139. 6:48morning that they actually transported
140. 6:51Bari back to her hometown in Paris. And
141. 6:55they flew her on a private French
142. 6:57government jet. And I I when I was
143. 7:00reading this story, I was like, "Bless
144. 7:01her heart, she's 12. She's just been
145. 7:04through a traumatic plane crash." And
146. 7:06then the very next day, they they take
147. 7:09her up on another plane. But, you know,
148. 7:12she was probably still in so much shock
149. 7:14at that point. She didn't seem or at
150. 7:17least I didn't read where she was
151. 7:19hesitant or scared to go back up in the
152. 7:22air. Once back in Paris, she's reunited
153. 7:24with her dad and her siblings. And um
154. 7:28she finds out, of course, that her
155. 7:30mother did not make it. She was the only
156. 7:32survivor. And then also in Paris, they
157. 7:36ended up taking her to a children's
158. 7:38hospital. Uh, and she was actually
159. 7:41admitted and diagnosed with several
160. 7:44things. And I'm not sure why they didn't
161. 7:46catch this at the other hospital before
162. 7:48they flew her back. Um, I was kind of
163. 7:51confused by that. But anyway, she was
164. 7:54sent to a children's hospital and
165. 7:56admitted for 3 weeks because she had a
166. 7:59fractured pelvis, a fractured collar
167. 8:02bone, exhaustion was still a problem,
168. 8:05dehydration, burns on her knees, and
169. 8:08several scrapes, cuts, and bruises,
170. 8:10which that's, you know, none of those
171. 8:12injuries were lifethreatening, of
172. 8:15course. So maybe that's why they didn't
173. 8:18um or maybe they didn't have the
174. 8:20equipment to do scans and find all that.
175. 8:22I don't know. Um at the other hospital,
176. 8:25but either way, uh at least now she was
177. 8:28getting treatment and uh she did have a
178. 8:30little bit of surgery probably to
179. 8:32correct either the pelvis or fractured
180. 8:35um collar bone. And um she was there 3
181. 8:38weeks and then they sent her home. Now,
182. 8:42um, looking back at what maybe caused
183. 8:44the crash, it is thought that it was the
184. 8:47pilot's failure to stabilize the plane's
185. 8:51altitude, uh, during the circling. Uh,
186. 8:55you know how planes circle the airport
187. 8:57when they're getting ready to descend or
188. 8:59on their descent. Um, it was during that
189. 9:02maneuver that they failed to stabilize
190. 9:05the plane properly. And because of that,
191. 9:07the plane actually stalled in the air,
192. 9:10thereby dropping and crashing.
193. 9:13Unfortunately, it was in 2022 that the
194. 9:16French court ruled that Ymenia was
195. 9:20guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
196. 9:23They, you know, airline of course denied
197. 9:25responsibility and tried to appeal and
198. 9:28all that, but yeah, all in all,
199. 9:30officials did end up saying that they
200. 9:32didn't find any reason to suspect foul
201. 9:35play and that the accident was just
202. 9:37caused by inappropriate action by the
203. 9:40crew during an unstabilized maneuver. In
204. 9:44the weeks following the crash, they did
205. 9:47find 27 of the bodies in the ocean. Uh
206. 9:51they did not find the others from the
207. 9:53reports that I read. They did use
208. 9:56underwater robots uh and ended up
209. 9:59finding the flight recorder eventually
210. 10:02as well. So all in all, every last one,
211. 10:06all 152, so there was 153 aboard uh
212. 10:10including Bari, but all 152 did
213. 10:14unfortunately perish. Now, to this day,
214. 10:17Bari doesn't have any lasting injuries,
215. 10:19so that is a good thing. But she does
216. 10:22say she struggles with sadness from time
217. 10:25to time, which I would too, I'm sure,
218. 10:30because she says she just thinks about
219. 10:32her mother quite a bit. And there's not
220. 10:35one that, you know, within these stories
221. 10:37that I find that does not have like the
222. 10:40the survivor's guilt type thing. Um it
223. 10:44didn't say that in reports that I read
224. 10:46for about Bari, but I mean I'm just kind
225. 10:50of assuming here. Um that's usually a
226. 10:53thing with any kind of major disaster
227. 10:55like this and survivors in general. Mari
228. 10:58is now 28 years old and she works in
229. 11:02real estate. She ended up co-writing a
230. 11:06book called Baja the Miracle Girl. So,
231. 11:10that has more of her in-depth story and
232. 11:13maybe a little bit about her background.
233. 11:15I'm not sure. I I haven't been able to
234. 11:18read that one yet, but
235. 11:20definitely indeed a miracle. I mean,
236. 11:23from any everything from her survival to
237. 11:27the sailor jumping in to help her. Uh,
238. 11:30you know, just it's crazy to think how
239. 11:34somebody could survive something like
240. 11:36that. Maybe also a blessing that it
241. 11:38happened over water. Obviously, um I
242. 11:42don't know what what would have happened
243. 11:43if it wasn't. But then again, we can't
244. 11:46say that now that I think about it
245. 11:48because a recent story, uh Cecilia
246. 11:52Sitchin, for instance, hers wasn't
247. 11:55overwater and she was the only survivor.
248. 11:58So, you know, I I mean, I guess I guess
249. 12:01I have to retract that former statement,
250. 12:04but either way, God is in control and he
251. 12:08has reasons that he allows certain
252. 12:10people to survive. And, you know, it's
253. 12:14hard to think about the others that that
254. 12:16did not make it and why that had to
255. 12:20occur. Uh, that's a hard thing to think
256. 12:22about and I'm sure it's very hard for
257. 12:24those any and all survivors um that had
258. 12:28to go through it and be the only
259. 12:30survivor. I don't I can't imagine what
260. 12:32that must be like. Let me know what you
261. 12:35thought of this story and perhaps you'd
262. 12:38heard about it before. This is another
263. 12:41one where I hadn't I did not know about
264. 12:43it and um it just it's it amazes me. So
265. 12:48yeah, let me know your thoughts. Thank
266. 12:50you guys for watching. I really, really
267. 12:53appreciate it. I just love it. So, thank
268. 12:56you. I hope you guys have a great week
269. 12:59and I'm going to see you for the next
270. 13:01one.