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S. Korean president extends condolences to Chinese counterpart over plane crash South Korean President Park Geun-hye sent a message of condolences on Monday to her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, over a South Korean plane crash that killed two Chinese schoolgirls. S.Korea, US probe Asiana crash landing The South Korean government and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a joint investigation Monday into the cause of the crash landing of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, with the public questioning whether the pilot was to blame.

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Chinese president offers condolences, orders all-out efforts to help survivors
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At least 2 killed, 130 injured in San Francisco air crash
Boeing 777 plane from ROK crashes on landing, casualties unknown
Press Release for Incident Involving Asiana Flight OZ 214 

The crash landing

Time: July 7, 2013 Location: San Francisco International Airport (SFO), US Flight: Asiana Flight OZ214 from Seoul to San Francisco, Boeing 777-200  People on board: 16 crew members and 291 passengers, including 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans and 61 US citizens Casualties: Two Chinese killed, 182 injured Cause: No immediate indication

Crash course Recording：AAR214-KSFO-Crash

Witnesses

 Witness:@徐达S 

I was sitting toward the back and noticed that the plane was lower than usual for a plane coming in to land. It dropped for a second and then landed rapidly. Shortly after I grasped the back of the front seat, a terrible noise burst out from the back and the oxygen masks came down from overhead. I smelt the burning and saw some flames. Luckily, the plane stopped shortly after. However, there was a mess in the passenger compartment and I quickly stood up to get our luggage. My wife was calm enough to pack up all our belongings. Holding tightly onto our child, we hurried to the tail exit with our bags. We jumped out from a hole at that back, where most of the galley had been burnt out. All three of us got only minor injuries but we are safe. 

Source: weibo.com

 Bystander: Wang, a newly graduated Chinese pilot

I was just standing in front of my boarding gate when the crash happened. The descending plane suddenly went below the glide slope in its final entry, which put the body too close to the ground. The main wheel and empennage crashed into the breakwater, and the plane went off the runway. Its vertical tail and horizontal tail were both gone after the crash. Fortunately, the emergency slides came out in time. But the fire burned inside the cabin and got bigger and bigger. The smoke went from white to black soon after.

Source：enorth.com.cn

 SNS messages:


 Video: Witnesses recount air crash

Supports

	Asiana Airlines Number for information on passengers of Flight OZ 214: America: 1-800-227-4262 Korea: 82-2-2669-4015 China: 400-650-8000 (For Overseas Calls: 86-10-84510101)
	Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco The Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco has set up a hotline for information about the 141 Chinese on board.  Hotline: 001-415-8525924, 001-415-2168525; Fax：001-415-8525920
	Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Chinese airlines will make all efforts to assist Chinese passengers in the wake of Saturday's Asiana Airlines crash.
	Boeing Company Boeing will join the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board at their request to provide technical assistance to their investigation.
	Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco "Our City’s sympathy & support go out to the passengers & their families of Asiana Airlines #Flight214. They remain our first priority."

Passenger safety tips

Source: ustia.org

Debates

 Grab luggage or not?

@徐达S, the witness whose family escaped with luggage Some have criticized me for grabbing my luggage before escaping, something that might have hindered others from being rescued. I just want to make a few things clear. First, my two family members and I were sitting in the same row, and since our luggage was stowed in an overhead compartment directly above we didn’t have to block the aisle. Also, our passports and money were all in our luggage, all necessary in such a situation. Most importantly, everybody evacuated the plane in a relatively orderly fashion. When my son told me there was nobody behind us, we escaped through the back.

Comments on retrieving carry-on luggage during evacuation

@橘子香水emily: It’s meaningless for systems and rules to exist if we ignore them whenever we want. Nothing could defend this behavior, especially retrieving luggage during an emergency evacuation. And if children learn to grab luggage first during such an emergency, it only puts them at future risk. 

@老农恋老龙: This behavior is wrong. First, it impedes the escape of others and luggage may rip the inflatable emergency slide. Also in case of such an emergency, the captain and chief attendant are the last to leave. Delaying escape to retrieve luggage, even for a few seconds, puts them in danger. So you have to ask yourself, is it worth it?

@一抹茶香青: Escaping safely with your family and your luggage shows you can react quickly.  

@大琦Aki: Let’s be fair - nobody reacts completely rationally during an emergency. Everything is usually chaos.

 Where are the safest seats?

Several versions:

	Version 1  Popular Mechanics magazine, 2007 After analysis of all crashes since 1971, the magazine found that generally seats in the back are safest. Survival rates in seats behind the wing's trailing edge reached 69 percent. Survival rates for those seated over the wing, however, fell to 56 percent and only 49 percent in seats toward the front.    Source: telegraph.co.uk

Version 2   Channel 4 documentary, October, 2012 The BBC 4 special entitled "The Crash" documented the controlled crash test of a Boeing 727 in Mexico's Sonoran Desert. Upon hitting the ground, the first 11 rows – usually reserved for first class – were completely destroyed, with installed sensors recording forces as high as 12G, while forces towards the back were cut in half. The crash revealed that none of the first-class passengers would have survived, but 78 percent of the rest would. Passengers sitting in the back had the greatest chance at survival.   Source: telegraph.co.uk

Version 3  A research by the University of Greenwich Source: dailymail.co.uk

Comments

Wang Yanan, associate editor-in-chief, Aerospace Knowledge magazine

A single test cannot demonstrate every possible kind of crash. Even if crashes involving the same type of plane behave similarly, this does not extend universally to every kind of craft. 

Dr. Todd Curtis of AirSafe.com

"where to sit on the plane to heighten survival chances depends very much on the circumstances of the crash. In my opinion, it does not really matter where you sit in most fatal crashes because the level of fatalities often are either very low, with less than 10% casualties, or very high with over 90% fatalities. In the first case, the aircraft is usually relatively intact and the aircraft is either relatively undamaged or the damage does not keep passengers from exiting the aircraft. In the latter case, the aircraft is usually severely damaged or destroyed, with no survivors or a few survivors."

Source: airsafenews.com

Previous air crashes

September, 2012	The Dorneir Aircraft 9N-AHA of Sita Air crashed at the bank of Manohara River near Kathmandu International Airport (TIA). 19 people dead
June, 2012	A passenger plane crashed into a two-storey building in Nigeria's economic capital Lagos. All 153 people on board and 40 on ground died
April, 2012	A Pakistani plane crashed near Islamabad. All passengers and the crew aboard were killed
April, 2012	A passenger plane crash in Russia's Siberian region. 31 were killed and 12 others injured

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Photos

Locals mourn for girls killed in Asiana plane crash	Chinese Consul General in San Francisco meets students aboard Asiana plane	People mourn students in San Francisco air crash	Major air crashes around world since 2009
Passengers waiting at SFO after plane crash	Employee of Asiana Airlines interviewed in Shanghai	One killed in San Francisco air crash holds Chinese passport	Two people confirmed dead in San Francisco air crash

News vocab

空难 kōngnàn
plane crash

韩国外长向韩亚空难遇难者及家属表示沉痛哀悼。
The South Korean foreign minister extended his condolences to the Asiana plane crash victims and their relatives.

Web editor: pangqi@globaltimes.com.cn