The National Transportation Safety Board has issued an apology this evening for mistakenly confirming “inaccurate and offensive” names for the pilots of Asiana Airlines Flight 214.
The names were confirmed by a summer intern acting “outside the scope of his authority” in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, according to NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel.
See all SF Appeal coverage of the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 here.
The false names, which contained racial overtones and obscenities, were read aloud on one KTVU news broadcast today before the error was discovered.
Later in the broadcast, the station issued an apology for reporting the names and has since repeated the apology on its website and in other formats.
The NTSB does not release or confirm the names of crewmembers or people involved in transportation accidents to the media, Nantel said.
“We work hard to ensure that only appropriate factual information regarding an investigation is released and deeply regret today’s incident,” Nantel said.
“Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated,” Nantel said.
Flight 214 crashed on Saturday shortly before 11:30 a.m., killing three people and injuring dozens of others.
