LE BOURGET, France – A severely bruised young girl believed to be the only survivor of an Indian Ocean plane crash flew back Thursday to Paris, where she was embraced gently by her father.

"It was very powerful," Kassim Bakari said of his reunion with his daughter, Bahia, 12.

"I took her in my arms and I embraced her, but not too strongly because her collarbone is injured," he said on France-24 television.

Yemenia Flight 626 crashed Tuesday morning off the Comoros Islands in heavy winds. Bahia, described by her father as a fragile girl who could barely swim, spent more than 12 hours in the water clinging to wreckage before she was rescued. She was suffering from hypothermia, a fractured collarbone and bruises to her face, elbow and foot.

The other 152 people on the plane, including her mother, Aziza, are presumed dead. France's cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, flew back with Bahia on a government plane. "In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia," he said. "It is a miracle."

Joyandet said Bahia was told "that her mother is missing. She is facing up to this event in a very brave way."

The Associated Press

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