San Francisco police said this morning that that one of two 16-year-old girls killed in the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash on Saturday was struck by an emergency vehicle responding to the runway.
The girl, identified as Chinese student Ye Meng Yuan, was struck by a fire truck, San Francisco police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said.
See all SF Appeal coverage of the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 here.
Esparza said police have evidence that the area near where the Boeing 777 plane came to rest was covered in suppressant foam used after a fire broke out.
The girl was underneath the foam and tire marks indicate the truck drove over where she was situated.
“Without a doubt a fire truck went over the victim,” Esparza said.
The San Mateo County coroner’s bureau has yet to officially determine the girl’s cause of death. A timeline for the coroner’s report has not been released.
San Francisco fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said the fire department is still conducting its own internal investigation, but acknowledged that police have confirmed that a fire truck ran over the girl.
Talmadge said fire officials are waiting for the coroner’s report before releasing any details about the case.
“Nonetheless it’s distressing,” she said.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said Thursday he was concerned about the possibility that Yuan was struck by a fire truck at the crash site.
“I’d be the first to say that we’d be very sorry if that happened,” Lee said.
“I hope and wish it did not happen, but in those chaotic times, I knew that everybody was trying to save lives and prevent injuries from happening, so we’ll probably have to place that in that context,” he said.
Yuan’s friend Wang Lin Jia was also killed in the crash.
Both were part of a group of 35 Chinese students and chaperones heading to a Southern California school for a three-week summer program.
The program was canceled following the crash, which also sent about 180 passengers, some with critical injuries, to Bay Area hospitals.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
