Only 12-year-old girl survives in Panama crash

By Anastasia Tomazhenkova: Rescue workers persistently struggling against adverse weather conditions started a five-hour track through mountain territory with the purpose to safe a 12-year-old girl who was the only survivor of a plane crash in Panama.

Photo: Only 12-year-old girl survives in Panama crash

Mother of the little heroine Valerie Lewis said that her daughter Francesca apparently suffered a broken arm and hypothermia. Francesca talked to her father by phone, she sounded good.

The girl was found near the wreckage of the plane in the 3,500-feet high, jungle-laden flanks of the Baru volcano, about 270 miles west of the capital. Francesca was walking near the plane waitin for the rescuers.

Francesca's friend Talia Klein, 13, Talia's father, hedge fund manager Michael Klein, 37, and Panamanian pilot Edwin Lasso, 23, were killed in that crash.

Francesca's mother was anxious to see her daughter. Rescue officials were bringing her down to Boquete, where a helicopter was waiting to evacuate her.

Seventeen rescuers had arrived at the crash site with food and medicine. It took rescuers about 5 hours to reach town, where Francesca's parents and a medical team were waiting.

Officials assured before the morning was over Francesca would meet with family members in a hospital.

Kim Klein, Talia's mother claimed that her ex-husband Michael was on vacation with the girls at his eco-resort in the Central American nation. The three had been scheduled to return to Santa Barbara  on Monday.

Their plane disappeared after departing from Islas Secas off Panama's Pacific coast, heading for the Chiriqui volcano, about 285 miles (460 kilometers) west of the capital.