Monday, Aug. 31, 1987

Miracle Girl

They found her strapped in her seat, moaning. Rescuers who plucked her from the gnarled debris first assumed that Cecilia Cichan, 4, of Tempe, Ariz., had been a passenger in a car hit by the falling plane. Said Sergeant Bruce Schneider of the Wayne County sheriff's department: "It's beyond comprehension how someone could survive something like this. It's a miracle. She had to be in the perfect spot."

Rescuers believe that Cecilia's mother Paula, 33, a registered nurse, may have saved her daughter's life by wrapping herself around the seat to protect her child from the flames. The mother died in the crash along with Cecilia's father Michael, 32, and six-year-old brother David. Cecilia suffered a concussion, a broken leg and collarbone, and third-degree burns on her arms and hands, but is expected to recover.