Paris trial for 2009 plane crash that left 152 dead, 1 alive

The lone survivor of a 2009 passenger plane crash in the Indian Ocean that killed 152 people sat in the front row of a Paris courtroom Monday at the opening of the trial of the Yemeni airline which operated the flight. Bahia Bakari, who has called her survival “a miracle,” sat in silence as the victims’ names were read out at the start of the proceedings in a room heavy with emotion. At just 12 years old, Bakari clung to floating debris from the plane for 11 hours in the sea before being rescued. Now 25, she recently told France 3 television she would attend the trial with both “apprehension” and “relief.” The trial is needed to “finally know the truth,” said Bakari, who lost her mother in the crash. Yemen’s main airline, Yemenia, has been charged with “manslaughter and unintentional injuries” in the case. It has denied responsibility. The 2009 Yemenia flight left from Paris before picking up other passengers in the southern French city of Marseille. It made a stopover in Sanaa, Yemen, where 142 passengers and 11 crew members boarded another plane to continue to Moroni, the Comoros capital. During the landing in strong winds, the aging Airbus A310 crashed about 15 kilometers off the Comorian coast on June 30, 2009.<br/>