Girl, 12, is sole survivor of Panama plane crash

BOQUETE, Panama Francesca Lewis, wearing a neck brace and with one arm bandaged, met with her parents at a hospital in the town of David, capital of Chiriqui province.

She had been traveling with a friend's family when the plane crashed on Sunday while high in rugged mountains near the jungle-flanked slopes of the Baru volcano, 270 miles west of the capital, Panama City.

"She apparently has some fractures, but she is stable and talking," said Dr. Manuel de la Cruz.

Francesca's mother, father, uncle and sister came down from the United States to care for her. Earlier Wednesday, her mother, Valerie Lewis, told The Associated Press her daughter could walk, but had apparently suffered a broken arm and hypothermia.

"My husband spoke to her by phone this morning," Lewis said. "She sounded good. She just said 'Hi, daddy. See you soon."'

Rescue workers struggled for five hours against heavy rains and high-altitude winds to carry Francesca by stretcher from the crash site to a spot where a helicopter could land, Chiriqui Civil Protection Director Armando Palacios told AP.

The crash of the Cessna 172 killed Francesca's friend Talia Klein, 13, Talia's father, Michael Klein, 37, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Panamanian pilot Edwin Lasso, 23.

A preliminary investigation showed the plane struck a tree and split in two, said National Civil Protection Director Roberto Velasquez.

"It is miraculous that the girl could survive that impact," he said.

Rescuers spent two days combing the mountainous area before finding Francesca and the bodies of the three others Tuesday. But cold, wet weather prevented her immediate evacuation, and she was initially treated in a makeshift shelter.

Michael Klein was the chief executive officer of Pacificor LLC, a Santa Barbara-based company that manages several hedge funds. He founded two companies in the 1990s before becoming president and CEO of eGroups Inc., which was the world's largest group e-mail communication service. Yahoo Inc. purchased eGroups for $450 million in August 2000 and it is now known as Yahoo Groups.

Aviation authorities said the cause of the crash was not yet known, but Panama's RPC radio reported that witnesses saw the plane flying at a very low altitude around noon Sunday amid buffeting winds.

Michael Klein was on vacation with the two girls at an eco-resort he owns in the Central American nation, according to Kim Klein, his ex-wife and Talia's mother. The three had been scheduled to return to Santa Barbara on Monday, she told the AP from Boquete, Panama, an area close to David, on Tuesday.

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

A colleague described Klein as a brilliant businessman who skipped high school and graduated from college at age 17.

"One of the most interesting people you could ever speak to on any ... myriad of subjects," Kurt Benjamin, the vice president of business development at Pacificor, told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. "He's just an unbelievable individual."

Benjamin said Klein was close to his daughter.

"Her father was so proud of her," he said. "She was an amazing, accomplished horseback rider -- just an absolute winner. Solid, solid young girl."

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