Chinese state media has identified two 16-year-old middle school students who died when a Boeing 777 crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport Saturday afternoon.
China Central Television said Sunday evening that the two victims, Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, were students at a middle school in China's eastern Zhejiang province.
The jetliner, operated by Asiana Airlines, departed from Shanghai, China and made a stop in Seoul, South Korea before reaching its final destination in the U.S. The plane was carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members.
Three Canadians were on board at the time of the crash, but their condition is not yet known.
South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that the plane's passengers included:
- 141 Chinese
- 77 South Koreans
- 61 Americans
- 3 Canadians
- 3 from India
- 1 from Japan
- 1 from Vietnam
- 1 from France
Nationalities of the remaining three haven't been confirmed.
Asiana Airlines released a statement Sunday expressing their sympathy for the victims of the crash.
“We apologize most deeply,” Asiana CEO Young-Doo Yoon said during a press conference in Seoul.
Of the 182 passengers taken to hospital, 49 were seriously injured and some were listed in critical condition following the crash.
“The hospitals, nine of them in all, are upgrading and downgrading (the conditions) as we speak,” CNN’s Paul Vercammen told CTV News Channel on Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Flight 214 crashed on the runway at 11:26 a.m. local time. Inflatable emergency slides were deployed and many passengers were able to get out and run to safety on their own.
The plane appeared to have lost its tail during landing.
Heavy smoke was seen billowing from the aircraft as fire crews fought the blaze with foam and water. Parts of the airplane’s roof were either missing or charred.
At least 70 Chinese students and teachers were on the plane heading to summer camps, according to education authorities in China.
The two teenage girls who died in the crash were reportedly found outside wreckage.
Vedpal Singh, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft and survived the crash with his family, said there was no forewarning from the pilot or any crew members before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound.
"We knew something was horribly wrong," Singh told The Associated Press.
Singh suffered a fractured collarbone and said it was “miraculous” he survived.
