Five-year-old rescued after Yemeni plane crashes in Indian Ocean

[kpete]

Source: Guardian UK

Five-year-old rescued after Yemeni plane crashes in Indian Ocean

Search teams also recover three bodies after Airbus with more than 150 on board comes down near Comoros archipelago


A five-year-old child has been rescued from the sea after a Yemenia Air plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, near the Comoros islands, with more than 150 people on board, Comoros officials said today.

Search teams have also recovered three bodies and debris from the plane, but no other survivors have so far been found, Rachida Abdullah, an immigration officer, said.

The surviving child's nationality and gender are not known.

The Airbus 310 plane was carrying 142 passengers, including at least three babies, and a crew of 11 Yemenis.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/30/yemen-plane...

[predfan]

1. Miracles have not ceased.

[RebelOne]

6. Being an atheist, I don't believe in miracles, but this child's rescue

could be classified as a miracle. Just hope he wasn't badly injured and lives to tell his tale.

[The Stranger]

2. How would a 5 year old child be able to tread water or swim, much less survive impact?

How how how?

[FSogol]

4. Parts of the plane and debris float. He just holds on. n/t

[tabatha]

5. The water is much warmer there as well.

[SkyDaddy7]

7. There are any number of ways the child could have survived...

Could have been strapped into its seat which is a floatation device or any number of other possible reasons why this child survived...But a "miracle" by way of a super natural SkyDaddy, NOT!!!

[shadowknows69]

3. Someone might want to check this kid's hands for nail piercing marks

And I may go to church this sunday.

[Peace Patriot]

8. I am a total sucker for rescue stories, I have to admit. Kudos and laurel wreaths to

the rescue crews! May this child live long and prosper!

[proteus_lives]

9. Someone get this kid to Vegas.

Something tells me he might do very well at the tables.

[applegrove]

10. Thank gosh for that poor little one.

[Turborama]

11. Air crash: 14-year-old girl plucked from Indian Ocean

A 14-year-old girl plucked alive from the waters of the Indian Ocean is thought to be the only survivor of the second plane disaster to hit France in a month.

By Richard Spencer in Dubai and Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 5:52PM BST 30 Jun 2009

The girl was one of 153 people on board an Airbus 310 aircraft which ditched in the sea ten miles off the coast of the Comoros Islands after a botched initial attempt at landing.

The islands' government sent rescue speedboats to the point where the plane disappeared from air traffic control radar screens in the early hours of the morning.

They and nearby fishermen found debris, bodies and personal items including handbags floating in the water.

They also came across the girl, who they said was "very tired". Arfachad Salim, a rescue coordinator for the Comoros Red Crescent, said she had been taken ashore and was being treated in hospital in the Comoros' capital Moroni.

Comoros Communications Minister Abdourahim Said Bakar said earlier reports that the rescued child was five were wrong.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindi...

[haele]

12. If the plane broke up low enough, and the seat took most of the impact

of the violent pressures of the break up and the fall into the water, a small child who is belted in and fits within the confines of the seat, protecting him or her from debris as well, could possibly survive. The altitude when the fuselage was breached would determine whether or not oxygen deprivation will could cause blackout or death.
Adults and anything they may be carrying would overhang the seats, and would be exposed to concussion or impact damage, not to mention damage from flying debris.

Haele