Francisco/Washington: At least two people were killed and over 180 injured when an Asiana Airlines plane with three Indians among 307 on board hit the runway and engulfed by flames while landing at San Francisco airport.
Over 300 people on flight OZ214, however, miraculously escaped from the burned-out wreckage of the South Korean airlines’ Boeing 777, using evacuation slides yesterday. At least two people were killed while 181 injured, most with minor injuries, officials said.
Five people, including one child, remained in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital, the region’s main trauma center, they said. Three Indians were also on board the ill-fated flight of Asiana Airlines from Seoul to San Francisco. Indian Ambassador to South Korea Vishnu Prakash said that there were three Indian passengers on board the plane and one of them suffered collar bone fracture. “ASIANA mishap at SFO: 3 Indians on board too. 1 suffered collar bone fracture & other minor injuries.
Wish ASIANA gives out complete info,” he wrote on micro blogging site Twitter. Authorities said one person was unaccounted for. Federal Aviation official said the tail ripped off the airplane as it was touching down on the San Francisco airport runway about 11:30 a.m. local time after arriving from Seoul.
There were 16 crew members on the flight, in addition to 291 passengers, according to Asiana Airlines. The manifest included 141 Chinese passengers, 77 South Koreans and 61 Americans etc, Asiana Airlines said in a statement.
“The Airlines is currently investigating the specific cause of the incident,” it said, adding that the airlines will continue to cooperate with the investigation of all associated government agencies and to facilitate this cooperation has established an emergency response center at its headquarters.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has launched a full go-team to San Francisco, to investigate the crash. “The crash occurred while the aircraft was landing at San Francisco International Airport,” it said in a statement.
“We have not determined what the focus of this investigation is yet… Everything is on the table at this point. The team will include people focused on operations; human performance; survival factors; airport operations; and aircraft systems, structure and power,” the NTSB chairwoman, Deborah Hersman, told reporters in Washington. (PTI)
