An Asiana Airline Boeing 777 from Seoul, South Korea, has crash landed at San Francisco International Airport leaving two dead and more than 180 injured.
The two fatalities were identified by state media on Sunday as two Chinese schoolgirls, Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, both 16, who had been traveling as part of a group from Jiangshan Middle School in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. At least 49 others are in a critical condition.
The deceased had been recovered outside the plane on the runway, according to San Francisco fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White. The Asiana CEO Yoon Young-Doo said the two had been sitting at the back of the plane, which was quickly ripped off on crash impact.
“Please accept my deepest apology,” Young-Doo said, bowing in respect for the two deceased and dozens injured in the crash landing. “We’ll make our utmost efforts to cope with the tragedy.”
All other 305 passengers survived the initial crash landing. On the flight were 141 Chinese nationals, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, 3 Indians, 3 Canadians, 1 Japanese, 1 French, 1 Vietnamese, three unidentified nationalities, and 16 crew members.
“Everyone has been accounted for,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee told reporters at a news conference. “It is incredible and very lucky that we have so many survivors,” he added.
(BTW: Notice how the plane doesn’t ‘disappear’ upon impact..)