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Plane crash victim 'run over'

July 19, 2013

Authorities say a teenage girl who survived the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco died after being run over by an emergency response vehicle at the scene. Further investigations into the crash are continuing.

https://p.dw.com/p/19Azo
Search and rescue officials surround an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed on July 6 while landing at San Francisco International Airport in California on July 6, 2013. REUTERS/Jed Jacobsohn
Image: Reuters

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan, a Chinese student, died of "multiple blunt injuries that [were] consistent with being run over by a motor vehicle."

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said officials believed the girl was hit by a specialized fire vehicle. She added that the news was "difficult and devastating" to hear.

Hayes-White said it was believed Ye was on the ground and not standing when she was hit. Police said she was on the ground covered in fire-retardant foam that rescuers had sprayed on the wreckage.

‘Tragic accident’

The chief said she did not anticipate any disciplinary action against the firemen involved, calling Ye's death "a tragic accident."

Ye was one of three victims of the Boeing 777 crash on July 6 at San Francisco International Airport. Her classmate, 16-year-old Wang Linjia, died at the airport as a result of the crash. Another victim, 15-year-old Liu Yipeng, died at a hospital on July 12.

Dozens of other people were injured in the crash, which investigators say occurred when the plane clipped its landing gear and then its tail on a rocky seawall just short of the runway, after an approach that was too low and too slow.

The plane was coming from Seoul, South Korea, and had 307 passengers on board.

tj/slk (Reuters, AP, AFP)