USA TodaySAN FRANCISCO — The CEO of Asiana Airlines on Sunday ruled out engine or mechanical problems in the crash of a Boeing 777 at San Francisco airport that killed two 16-year-old Chinese students and injured more than 180 people after it appeared to touch down tail-first short of the runway.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that the black boxes from the Boeing 777 had been recovered were already en route to Washington, D.C.
San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee said Saturday evening that all 291 passengers and 16 crew members aboard Asiana Flight 214 when it went down Saturday morning had been accounted for.
The two teenage girls who died were identified Sunday as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia from China’s eastern Zhejiang province, according to China Central TV. They among a group of 29 middle school students and five teachers heading for a two-week summer camp in the United States. Their bodies were found outside the plane, which had come to rest between runways.
Officials said 123 escaped without injury and 182 were hospitalized or treated for injuries. Among the injured, 49 are in serious condition and five at San Francisco General Hospital, including a child, remain in critical condition. Among the 47 others at San Francisco General, several were treated for minor injuries, including fractures and abrasions, and were released Saturday night.
Images from the scene showed smoke billowing from the plane and emergency exits open from the plane’s fuselage as frightened passengers scampered to safety. A massive, gaping hole blackened by fire stretched along much of the plane’s top.
“We’re lucky we have this many survivors,” said Lee.
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airline in the U.S. since February 2009.
The flight, which originated in Shanghai China before stopping in Seoul en route to San Francisco, was carrying 61 U.S. citizens, 77 South Koreans and 141 Chinese.
Yoon Young-doo, the president and chief executive of the airline, speaking at company headquarters Sunday, said, “I bow my head and sincerely apologize for causing concern to the passengers, families and our people.”
“For now, we acknowledge that there were no problems caused by the 777-200 plane or engines,” Yoon told reporters Sunday at the company headquarters.
He declined to comment directly on whether the crash was due to pilot error or air-traffic controllers, but said the three captains on board had more than 10,000 flying hours of experience between them.
Early Sunday, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport identified the two pilots flying the jetliner at the time of the crash as Lee Jeong-min and Lee Gang-guk. The ministry said that four pilots were on board and rotated in two-person shifts during the ten-hour flight from Seoul.
FATALITIES: Two teens were headed to U.S. summer camp
As federal investigators arrived on the scene Saturday night, there was no immediate explanation for the crash only seconds before what seemed like a routine landing.
Vedpal Singh, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft and survived the crash with his family, said there was no warning from the pilot or any crew members before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound.
“We knew something was horrible wrong,” said Singh, who suffered a fractured collarbone and had his arm was in a sling. “It’s miraculous we survived.”
One passenger, Benjamin Levy, 39, said it looked to him as though the plane was flying too low and too close to the bay as it approached the runway. Levy, who was sitting in an emergency exit row, said he felt the pilot try to lift the jet up before it crashed, and thinks the maneuver might have saved some lives.
“Everybody was screaming. I was trying to usher them out,” he recalled of the first seconds after the landing. “I said, ‘Stay calm, stop screaming, help each other out, don’t push.’ ”
Young-doo was the same guy who stated there were no fatalities yesterday…. 🙁
The plane was piloted by very experienced pilots. The weather was perfect. The pilots were familiar with SFO. The NTSB is ‘investigating’ so we know the ‘truth’ will come out. 🙁
On 9/11/1974 Eastern Airlines Flt 212 crashed while approaching Charlotte – Douglas Airport. The NTSB stated ‘pilot error’. Early news reports reported that the surviving first officer stated their altimeter showed they were at 1000 ft. when they suddenly realized they were going into the trees (low clouds and fog). News reports stopped abruptly for no official reason.
It was reported there were American Military people aboard who had just returned from the middle east and were on their way to Washington.
Good. The last thing we need here is another plane-load of chinks, but I think the botched emergency landing was necessary because one of the passengers was wearing an NRA T-shirt.
There is something seriously wrong with this picture. I see that the cabin section was almost totally burned up, yet the wings, where the fuel tanks are located, are untouched. And then there’s this, from an earlier article:
“Moments after Asiana Airlines flight 214 stopped its violent crash landing, a voice came over the plane’s intercom to say it had landed safely and everyone should stay in their seats, a passenger told ABC News. Within minutes, however, flames could be seen outside the plane’s windows and smoke was seeping into the cabin…..”
Told to stay in their seats? With the cabin section on fire? What manner of madness is this?
I’d like to know who was on that plane that someone (TPTB, most likely) wanted dead. Something reeks about this one.