A Boeing 777 lies burned beside the runway after it crash-landed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday. |
Officials now say they have accounted for all but one of the 307 people on board an Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, that crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, killing at least two people. The crash left the runway littered with debris, and forced passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety. At least 181 people have been transported to area hospitals, 49 with serious injuries. San Francisco General said they have received 34 patients, including 23 adults and 11 children. Five were reported in critical condition. Hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said the adult patients range in age from 20 to their 40s. It was not immediately clear the ages of the children. For several hours, officials were reporting 60 people unaccounted for from among passengers and crew aboard the flight. However, they now say all but one has been located. San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said of the investigation, "This is a work in progress." Asiana Airlines issued a statement that listed the number of passengers and their nationalities: 77 Korean citizens, 141 Chinese citizens, 61 U.S. citizens and 1 Japanese citizen. The passengers from China included a teacher and 34 high school students. A spokesperson for San Francisco General said most of the passengers taken to the hospital are Korean-speaking. We are working to get interpreters for them," she said, "but they are quite critically injured so there is not a lot of discussion with them at this time." The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to San Francisco to probe the crash. NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Saturday that NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman would head the team. The FBI said that, at this point in time, there is no indication of terrorism involved in the incident. Meanwhile, President Obama is expressing his gratitude to the first responders at the scene of the airliner crash in San Francisco. The White House says in a statement that Obama has directed his team to stay in constant contact with federal, state and local partners as they investigate and respond to the accident. The White House says the president's thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those affected by the crash. Early reports indicate that Asiana Airlines Flight 214 made a hard landing, with the tail of the plane striking the runway and breaking off. The resulting fire sent black smoke billowing into the air, visible for miles. "The plane started coming in at an odd angle, there was a huge bang and you could see the cloud of huge black smoke," Kate Belding, who was jogging near the airport at the time of the crash, told CBS Station KPIX San Francisco. "It was a horrible thud," said Kelly Thompson, who observed the crash a hotel parking lot at the airport. She said the plane bounced, then slid on the runway. David Eun, a Samsung executive who was on board the plane, posted a photo online showing passengers leaving the wreckage. I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal... (at @flySFO) [pic] -- https://t.co/E6Ur1XEfa4 — David Eun (@Eunner) July 6, 2013 Rescue vehicles were on the scene immediately afterwards, with fire trucks spraying a white fire retardant on the wreckage. Spokesperson Lt. Cdr. Shawn Lansing told CBS News that the U.S. Coast Guard flew two people with burns from the triage center via helicopter to Stanford University Hospital. The severity of the burns is unknown. The airport was closed for several hours, with flights diverted to Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Jose and Seattle. At about 3:30 p.m. PT, the airport announced that two runways have reopened. Arnold Barnett, an aviation expert at MIT, told KCBS it was possible the plane could have experienced a power shortage that caused the pilot to lose control. He said a similar incident occurred involving a Boeing 777 at London's Heathrow Airport in 2008. British Airways Flight 28 landed hard about 1,000 feet short of the runway and slid onto the start of the runway. The impact broke the 777-200's landing gear. There were 47 injuries, but no fatalities. An investigation revealed ice pellets that had formed in the fuel were clogging the fuel-oil heat exchanger, blocking fuel from reaching the plane's engines. The Rolls-Royce Trent 800 series engines that were used on the plane were then redesigned. Bill Waldock, an expert on aviation accident investigation, said he was reminded of the Heathrow accident as he watched video of Saturday's crash. "Of course, there is no indication directly that's what happened here," he said. "That's what the investigation is going to have to find out." The Asiana 777 "was right at the landing phase and for whatever reason the landing went wrong," said Waldock, director of the Embry-Riddle University accident investigation laboratory in Prescott, Ariz. "For whatever reason, they appeared to go low on approach and then the airplane pitched up suddenly to an extreme attitude, which could have been the pilots trying to keep it out of the ground." 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 joined 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. The airline's website says its 777s can carry between 246 to 300 passengers. The last time a large U.S. airline lost a plane in a fatal crash was an American Airlines Airbus A300 taking off from JFK in 2001. Smaller airlines have had crashes since then. The last fatal U.S. crash was a Continental Express flight operated by Colgan Air, which crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y. on Feb. 12, 2009. The crash killed all 49 people on board and one man in a house. Asia remains one of the fastest-growing regions for aviation in the world. Even with slowing economies in Japan and China, airlines there saw 3.7 percent more passengers than a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association. Finding enough experienced pilots to meet a growing number of flights is becoming a problem. A 2012 report by aircraft manufacturer Boeing said the industry would need 460,000 new commercial airline pilots in the next two decades -- with 185,000 of them needed in Asia alone. "The Asia-Pacific region continues to present the largest projected growth in pilot demand," the report said. |
綜合外國(guó)媒體7月7日?qǐng)?bào)道,一架從韓國(guó)首爾起飛的韓亞航空波音777客機(jī)6日在美國(guó)舊金山國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)著陸時(shí)發(fā)生事故,造成至少2名中國(guó)女生死亡。乘客不得不從緊急充氣滑梯逃生,至少182人送醫(yī),49人傷勢(shì)嚴(yán)重。 根據(jù)韓亞航空發(fā)布的聲明,機(jī)上共載有307人,其中乘客包括77名韓國(guó)人、141名中國(guó)人、61名美國(guó)人和1名日本人。而中國(guó)籍乘客中有1名教師和34名高中生。 舊金山消防局局長(zhǎng)喬安妮·海斯-懷特說(shuō),嚴(yán)重?fù)p毀的機(jī)艙外發(fā)現(xiàn)兩名死者。韓聯(lián)社稱,兩名死者持中國(guó)護(hù)照。 舊金山總醫(yī)院表示,該醫(yī)院已接收了52名傷員,包括11名兒童,其中5人情況危急。醫(yī)院發(fā)言人瑞秋?卡根說(shuō)成年傷員的年紀(jì)從20歲至40多歲不等,目前還無(wú)法得知兒童傷員的確切歲數(shù)。“我們收治的絕大部分傷員都是講韓語(yǔ),為此,醫(yī)院配備了翻譯。不過(guò)由于傷員傷勢(shì)嚴(yán)重,所以現(xiàn)階段無(wú)法與他們進(jìn)行更多交談。” 美國(guó)國(guó)家交通安全委員會(huì)派出調(diào)查小組前往舊金山國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)調(diào)查此次事故。該委員會(huì)發(fā)言人凱利?南特爾6日表示,委員會(huì)主席黛博拉?赫斯曼將親自帶隊(duì)調(diào)查。美國(guó)聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局(FBI)認(rèn)為,現(xiàn)階段沒(méi)有任何線索顯示這是一起恐怖襲擊事件。 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬向第一時(shí)間趕赴現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的救援人員表示感謝。白宮稱,奧巴馬已下令其下屬團(tuán)隊(duì)與聯(lián)邦、州和地方各級(jí)的調(diào)查和應(yīng)對(duì)機(jī)構(gòu)保持聯(lián)系,“奧巴馬總統(tǒng)會(huì)時(shí)刻關(guān)注遇難者及傷者家屬,并為他們祈禱”。 根據(jù)此前的報(bào)道,客機(jī)降落時(shí)出現(xiàn)異常,機(jī)尾與跑道碰撞斷落,飛機(jī)隨后起火。目擊者稱,現(xiàn)場(chǎng)火勢(shì)巨大,冒出的滾滾濃煙,在幾公里外清楚可見(jiàn)。 “飛機(jī)以一個(gè)奇怪的角度落地了,突然間我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)一聲巨響,看見(jiàn)陣陣濃煙沖上天空。”事發(fā)時(shí),凱特?貝爾汀正在舊金山國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)附近跑步,她說(shuō)當(dāng)時(shí)的情景非常可怖。而凱利?湯普森則在距離機(jī)場(chǎng)不遠(yuǎn)處的酒店停車場(chǎng)里看見(jiàn)了事故的發(fā)生,他說(shuō),飛機(jī)猛然撞地,機(jī)身回彈,然后又前滑。 韓國(guó)三星公司高管戴維是此次墜機(jī)事故的幸存者之一,事發(fā)后他將一張機(jī)上乘客慌忙逃生的照片上傳至社交網(wǎng)站。“我剛剛在舊金山國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)經(jīng)歷了墜機(jī)事故,機(jī)尾掉落。所幸絕大多數(shù)人都看上去安然無(wú)事。我也安好。” 事故發(fā)生后,救援車輛迅速趕赴現(xiàn)場(chǎng),消防車向正在熊熊燃燒的飛機(jī)殘骸上噴灑白色阻燃劑。舊金山消防部門發(fā)言人肖恩?蘭辛接受媒體采訪時(shí)表示,美國(guó)海岸警衛(wèi)隊(duì)動(dòng)用直升機(jī)運(yùn)送了兩名燒傷的傷員至斯坦福大學(xué)醫(yī)院接受救治,目前還無(wú)法得知他們的傷勢(shì)如何。 暫時(shí)關(guān)閉數(shù)小時(shí)后,舊金山國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)于當(dāng)?shù)貢r(shí)間6日下午3點(diǎn)半重新開(kāi)放兩條跑道。美國(guó)麻省理工學(xué)院航空專家阿諾德?巴奈特認(rèn)為,這架波音777客機(jī)可能因動(dòng)力不足致使飛行員失去對(duì)飛機(jī)的控制,2008年在倫敦希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)就有一架波音777客機(jī)發(fā)生類似的事故,當(dāng)時(shí)那架英國(guó)航空公司的航班在距離跑道不足1000英尺(約合305米)時(shí)重重落下,飛機(jī)起落架折斷,造成47人受傷,但無(wú)人遇難。 隨后的調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示,飛機(jī)燃料中凝結(jié)的冰珠阻塞油路,致使燃油無(wú)法流向飛機(jī)引擎。由此,波音777客機(jī)上Trent 800系列引擎被重新設(shè)計(jì)。 航空專家比爾?瓦爾多克說(shuō)當(dāng)他觀看6日事故視頻時(shí),不禁想起了2008年發(fā)生在希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)的事故。“當(dāng)然,并沒(méi)有跡象直接表明兩起事故發(fā)生的原因相似。不過(guò),這架韓亞航空公司的客機(jī)也是在著陸階段出事的,因?yàn)槟撤N未知的原因,飛機(jī)顯得過(guò)低,然后突然拉高至一個(gè)極端角度,我認(rèn)為這可能是飛行員在試圖將飛機(jī)離開(kāi)地面避免事故發(fā)生,”瓦爾多克說(shuō)。 韓亞航空是韓國(guó)第二大的航空公司,僅次于韓國(guó)國(guó)有航空公司大韓航空。近年來(lái),韓亞航空一直在拓展其在美國(guó)市場(chǎng)的占有率,并加入全球最大的航空聯(lián)盟星際聯(lián)盟。 波音777是一款由美國(guó)波音公司制造的遠(yuǎn)程雙引擎廣體客機(jī),經(jīng)常應(yīng)用于需要飛行12個(gè)小時(shí)或以上的長(zhǎng)途旅程,其載客量為246人至300人。 相關(guān)閱讀 舊金山機(jī)場(chǎng)為防范火災(zāi) 租賃山羊來(lái)除草 文件顯示美監(jiān)聽(tīng)38處駐美使館和代表團(tuán) 日本NHK電視臺(tái)因過(guò)多使用外語(yǔ)遭控訴 白宮公布460名雇員薪水 奧巴馬幕僚工資堪比副總統(tǒng) (翻譯:肉肉融 編輯:Julie) |