3rd crash fatality was also Chinese
SAN FRANCISCO — The third fatality in the Asiana Airlines crash was identified Saturday as a schoolmate of the previously identified victims.
San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault confirmed 15-year-old Liu Yipeng’s identity and said the girl was still in her seat when she was rescued last week. Chinese state media said she went to school with the other two girls killed in last week’s accident, Ye Meng Yuan and Wang Linjia, who were both 16.
The victims were close friends and top students, looking forward to spending a few weeks at a Christian summer camp in California, where they planned to practice English and boost their chances of attending a U.S. college.
Their parents were flown to San Francisco after their deaths where the Chinese consulate was caring for them.
Foucrault said Liu Yipeng was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with head injuries after the July 6 crash. She died Friday morning at San Francisco General Hospital where she had been in critical condition.
The crash-landing occurred after the airliner collided with a rocky seawall just short the runway. Dozens of passengers were hurt. There were 182 survivors taken to hospitals, though most suffered only minor injuries.
So far, an investigation indicates the pilots, a trainee and his instructor, failed to realize until too late that the aircraft was dangerously low and flying too slow.
Nothing disclosed so far by the National Transportation Safety Board investigators indicates any problems with the Boeing 777’s engines, computers or automated systems.
Wang Linjia’s body was found along with three flight attendants who were f lung onto the tarmac, some 2,000 feet from the place where the fuselage came to rest. They and some other passengers did not get immediate first aid because rescue workers were focused on the burning plane.
Rescuers did not spot her until 14 minutes after the crash. A group of survivors called 911 and tried to help them.
Several flight attendants remain hospitalized.