The sole survivor of a Yemeni jet that plunged into deep water while attempting to land on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros was reunited with her father in France early on Thursday.

Bahia Bakari, 13, clung on to floating debris for more than 12 hours before search teams spotted her in rough seas.

“I am torn between relief and sadness. I am happy to see my daughter but her mother did not come back,” Bahia’s father, Bakari Kassim, told reporters at Roissy Airport in Paris, shortly after greeting his daughter on her return from Comoros.

Local rescuers suspect many of the dead remained trapped inside the doomed plane and say the search effort should focus on finding the wreck.

“Everything leads us to believe that the bodies of the victims remain inside. In two days we haven’t found a body, any large pieces of debris or suitcases floating on the water,” disaster centre member Ibrahim Abdourazak told Reuters.

Watch video report, via France24 »

Credit: Reuters, video: France24.