A team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived in San Francisco early Sunday to begin the formal investigation into why a Boeing 777 from South Korea crash landed Saturday morning at San Francisco International Airport, killing two and injuring dozens.
Officials from Seoul-based Asiana Airlines were also due to arrive in San Francisco Sunday to meet with US government officials investigating the crash. Asiana chief executive Yoon Young-Doo told a news conference in Seoul that the crash was not caused by engine or mechanical problems.
San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee said at a news conference Saturday evening that all 291 passengers and 16 crew members had been accounted for.
Chinese state media identified the two passengers killed as Ye Mengyuan and Wan Linjia, students from Jiangshan Middle School in eastern China. The girls are both reported to be 16 years old.
Early Sunday, South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport released the identities of the two pilots flying the jetliner at the time of the crash. The two were identified 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 flight from Seoul, South Korea, which was estimated to last more than 10 hours.
It was not immediately clear what happened to Asiana flight 214, but eyewitnesses said that the plane appeared to sway back and forth, and kick up dust during the landing. Initial reports indicated that the plane's tail broke off from some impact. An aviation safety expert interviewed by the Associated Press suggested that part of the plane may have hit a seawall at the end of the runway.
SUMMARY2 dead in plane crash 181 people immediately taken to the hospital, 49 seriously injured 132 people treated at a triage 123 people found in the terminal uninjured The identity of the one missing person is not immediately clear.Benjamin Levy, who told KNTV he was aboard the flight, and recalled approaching the runway "too low, too soon."
"We were maybe 5 meters, 10 meters above the water way still out of the landing area. And so when the pilot realized it, he put some more gas to try to correct and lift up the plane again, but it was too late. So we hit the runway pretty bad, and then we started going back up in the air again and then landed again pretty hard," Levy said.
Kate Belding, who was jogging a few miles away, said she thought: "Oh my God. That plane is crashing."
"I couldn't really tell what happened, but you saw the wings going up and (in) a weird angle."
Moments after the violent landing, some of the passengers were able to escape via inflatable ramps, while others were taken to area hospitals.
San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said that the two people who died in the crash were found outside the plane, but she could not say whether they were thrown from the aircraft or had been taken from the cabin after being discovered.
According to a tally by officials Saturday night, 182 were taken to area hospitals, 133 were treated at a triage unit and 123 were located in the terminal uninjured. Of the 182 hospitalized, 49 were in critical condition. Reuters cited South Korea's Yonhap news agency in reporting that the South Korean transport ministry said that the two dead were Chinese citizens.
In all, the ministry said that the plane's passengers included 141 Chinese nationals, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, three Canadians, three Indian citizens, one Japanese citizen, one Vietnamese citizen, and one French citizen. The nationalities of three others on the plane had not been confirmed. 30 children were also on board the flight.
"I couldn't really tell what happened, but you saw the wings going up and (in) a weird angle."- Kate Belding
David Eun, a Samsung executive who was aboard the flight, sent out an online message immediately after the landing.
"I just crash landed at SFO," Eun said. "Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok."
President Obama, who was at Camp David in Maryland, was informed of the crash and was being kept up to date by local, state and federal authorities, the White House said.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said she, her family and several colleagues had been scheduled for the flight but had switched at the last minute.
"Taking a minute to be thankful and explain what happened," Sandberg wrote in a Facebook post. "My family, colleagues Debbie Frost, Charlton Gholson and Kelly Hoffman and I were originally going to take the Asiana flight that just crash-landed."
One passenger who didn't want to give his name told The Los Angeles Times that most passengers on the flight were unharmed.
"I just want their families to know," he said. "Most of the people seem OK and we're just letting the paramedics do their job."
TV news footage showed the top of the fuselage was burned away and the entire tail gone. One engine appeared to have broken away and pieces of the tail were strewn about the runway. Passengers could be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides. Fire trucks could be seen spraying white fire retardant on the wreckage.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown says Flight 214 was supposed to land on runway 28 left at San Francisco International Airport at 11:26 local time. Its flight itinerary was from Shanghai to Seoul and San Francisco. She said it appeared the plane landed and then crashed.
Numerous flights headed to San Francisco were diverted to other airports. A United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was sent to Los Angeles airport, and passengers were told the San Francisco airport would be closed for at least three hours Saturday afternoon.
Asiana is a South Korean airline, second in size to national carrier Korean Air. It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and is a member of the Star Alliance, which is anchored in the U.S. by United Airlines.
The 777-200 is a long-range plane from Boeing. The twin-engine aircraft is one of the world's most popular long-distance planes, often used for flights of 12 hours or more, from one continent to another. It is a smaller, wide-body jet that can travel long distances without refueling and is typically used for long flights over water. The airline's website says its 777s can carry between 246 to 300 passengers.
A tweet from Boeing said the company's thoughts are with those affected by the crash. "Our thoughts are with everyone affected by today's incident at SFO," Boeing said on its Twitter account. "We stand ready to assist the NTSB."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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