Crash survivor in hospital

Ms Ben Ali said only one survivor had been found so far after the Yemeni Airbus jet (left) with 153 people crashed into the Indian Ocean as it came in to land in the Comoros islands. -- PHOTO: AP

MORONI - A 14-YEAR-OLD girl who survived the Yemenia airline crash on Tuesday was being treated in a hospital in the Comoros islands, a Red Cross spokeswoman said, as details of her dramatic rescue emerged.

'The girl, aged 14, has arrived at the El Maarouf hospital. We were told that her condition is not worrisome,' Red Cross spokeswoman Ramulati Ben Ali told AFP.

Ms Ben Ali said only one survivor had been found so far after the Yemeni Airbus jet with 153 people crashed into the Indian Ocean as it came in to land in the Comoros islands.

A policeman identified as one of the girl's rescuers told France's Europe 1 radio that the teenager was seen swimming in choppy waters in the middle of bodies and plane debris around 4.00am (0100 GMT).

'We tried to throw a life buoy. She could not grab it. I had to jump in the water to get her,' the rescuer said. 'She was shaking, shaking. We put four covers on her. We gave her hot, sugary water. We simply asked her name, village.' The doctor who treated her at the hospital told AFP she was being cared for at the intensive care unit.

'She is conscious, she is speaking, but we are trying to warm her up because she was freezing,' the doctor, Mr Ada Mansour, told AFP. 'We are trying to get her back in shape, but we are not asking her too many question as not to tire her,' he said.

The girl lives in the French southern city of Marseille and was travelling with her mother to the Comoros, according to a Comoran community group in France.

Mr Abdallah Ibrahim, the Marseille coordinator of the Comoros Solidarity Union, said that airport authorities in Moroni identified the girl as Bakari Baya.

'Depending on her condition, she could be evacuated to France or Madagascar,' Mr Ibrahim told AFP. The girl lives with her family, including an uncle, in Marseille's 14th district, he said.

A Comoran government spokesman also confirmed that the girl was the only survivor so far and that she was originally from the southeast village of Nioumadzaha. -- AFP