After 52 hours alone in jungle, girl calls to say: 'Hi, dad, see you soon'

For 52 hours Francesca Lewis was alone, her arm and neck broken or fractured, lost in the jungle with no food and lying amid the debris of a plane which had crashed into the side of a remote volcano, killing the three other people on board.

Yesterday the 12-year-old had been reunited with her family - injured and somewhat confused, but "miraculously" healthy after her incredible ordeal in Panama. It appears that she had escaped death only by leaping or being thrown from the plane as it crashed; while recovering in hospital she was wearing a neck brace and had one arm bandaged.

Her father was the first to hear she was alive, in a call from Francesca by phone before she had been taken to hospital.

"My husband spoke to her this morning," said her mother, Valerie Lewis.

"She sounded good. She just said 'Hi, daddy. See you soon.'"

At her daughter's bedside in the hospital in the town of David, capital of the province of Chiriqui, 50 kms (30 miles) east of the crash site, she spoke about Francesca's remarkable survival.

"She's doing all right,"Valerie Lewis told CNN. "She is having tests done right now. The fact that she so far doesn't seem to have any major damage seems incredible."

Her mother added that it appeared Francesca had fallen, or been ejected, out of the plane when it slammed into the side of the Baru volcano over the weekend. Francesca's friend Talia Klein, aged 13, her friend's father, California businessman Michael Klein, 37, were both killed, along with the Panamanian pilot, Edwin Lasso.

Klein rented the single-engine Cessna to fly over the volcano on the last day of their holiday.

The cause of the crash is under investigation but the weather was bad around noon on Sunday. Witnesses in villages at the foot of the volcano told local reporters they saw a small plane flying very low, buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain.

Some 50 rescue workers began combing the densely-forested area, aided by dozens more local volunteers. Hampered by heavy rain and fog, it was not until Christmas Day the wreckage was discovered. The plane had split in two.

Francesca was close by, with hypothermia but conscious and talking - but totally disorientated - apparently thinking she was at home and wondering why an airplane wing was in her house.

"It is a miracle she survived the crash and two days without food, without anything," the head of rescue services, Roberto Velasquez, told the Guardian.

Velasquez said the rescue team found the girl at 4.30pm on Tuesday and immediately radioed back for food and medical supplies . It was too late to attempt the descent before nightfall, so they built a temporary shelter and spent the night warming up Francesca, attending to her hunger, thirst and wounds.

Once dawn broke they carried her down the mountain on a stretcher, taking five hours to trudge through heavy rain and deep mud. Eventually they reached terrain open enough for a helicopter to land. She was flown directly to a hospital where her mother, father, uncle and sister had arrived from their home in Santa Barbara, California.

"She apparently has some fractures, but she is stable and talking," Dr. Manuel de la Cruz told reporters at the hospital.

Members of the Klein family have also flown to Panama to await the recovery of their two bodies.

Francesca had been holidaying with Talia and her father at an exclusive eco-resort on Islas Secas, an archipelago owned by Klein, but had been expected home in Santa Barbara on Christmas Eve.

The three were flying to the town of Volcán, about a 45-minute-flight from the islands tnext to the Baru volcano, when their plane came down. Klein had reportedly been intending to take aerial photos of the 3,500-ft (1,067-m) volcano during the flight.

As chief executive officer of Pacificor LLC, a Santa Barbara company that manages hedge funds, Klein was described by friends as a brilliant businessman who had graduated from university aged 17.

He was also proud of his daughter Talia, an associate at Pacificor said: "She was an amazing, accomplished horseback rider - just an absolute winner. Solid, solid young girl."

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