Crime & Safety

Update: "This Could Have Been Much Worse"

All passengers have been accounted for, according to the latest 7:30 p.m. press conference at SFO. The remaining two runways await NTSB approval before reopening.

Written by Patch Staff

Updated 12:20 a.m.

San Francisco International Airport will not reopen its two remaining runways until a team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrives on the scene, an airport spokesman said today.

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All flights in and out of San Francisco International Airport were shut down today after the 11:30 a.m. crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 out of Seoul, South Korea.

Two runways have since reopened, allowing limited service, but airport spokesman Doug Yakel said this evening that the airport's other two runways will not reopen until NTSB investigators give approval.

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In part, the NTSB team will help determine whether the crash caused damage to the runway that will need to be repaired before service can be restored, Yakel said.

The runway closures have caused a huge number of flight cancellations and diversions to other airports including San Jose International Airport and Oakland International Airport.

A total of 242 flights originating at SFO and 186 scheduled to land at SFO were cancelled today, according to flightaware.com, a web site that offers real time flight cancellation information.

The NTSB team is expected around midnight, and will hold a joint press briefing with airport officials Sunday morning at a time that has not yet been determined, Yakel said.

Yakel noted this evening that there has been some recent construction on runway 28, the runway involved in the crash, that lengthened the runway's thresholds.

It is unclear whether that construction has any bearing on today's crash. 

San Francisco General Hospital had received 53 patients from the Asiana Airlines crash as of 9 p.m. this evening, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The patients treated by the hospital today included 27 adults ranging in age from 20 to 76 and 26 children, hospital spokeswoman Rachel Kagan said.

Six people are in critical condition, including one child. Seven people have been discharged, 15 are in hospital beds and the rest are still being diagnosed and observed, Kagan said.

The hospital initially received 10 patients in critical condition, including six females and four males, two of them children. Five of those patients were later upgraded to serious condition. --Bay City News

Updated 8:06 p.m.

All passengers on the Asiana Flight 214 that crashed Saturday morning at San Francisco International Airport have been accounted for. There are two confirmed dead and dozens injured.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said at a press conference at SFO, "This could have been much worse."

Officials said passengers were observed coming out of the water, but it was  unclear if they were thrown into water or went in voluntarily to douse themselves off. 

The next press conference with the National Transportation Safety Board will take place Sunday. 

Patch will update the story as more details come in. 

Updated 6:50 p.m.

Emergency officials said at a 5:30 p.m. news conference at SFO that only one Asiana passenger remains unaccounted for. Additionally, 132 suffered minor to moderate injuries, and 123 were uninjured.

Asiana Airlines released the nationalities of the passengers in a statement: 77 Korean citizens; 141 Chinese citizens, 61 U.S. citizens; 1 Japanese citizen. There was a 16-person crew aboard. 

"Asiana Airlines is currently investigating the specific cause of the incident as well as any injuries that may have been sustained to passengers as a result," the statement said.
 
"Asiana Airlines will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation of all associated government agencies and to facilitate this cooperation has established an emergency response center at its headquarters," the statement said.The FBI said at the Saturday evening news conference that there was no evidence that terrorism was involved with the crash.

Updated 4:45 p.m.

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said in a press conference Saturday afternoon that more than 60 passengers on the Asiana Airlines flight that crashed remain unaccounted for.

Updated 3:55 p.m.

San Francisco General Hospital is treating 10 people — including two children —who were injured in the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport this afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said.

All of the patients are in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said. She said there are six male patients and four female patients, and that the adults range in age from their 20s to their 40s. 

The hospital is expecting additional patients, and is setting up tents outside the emergency room to accommodate walk-in patients and others whose injuries might not involve trauma-level care, Kagan said. She said she does not know the total number of people injured in the crash. - Bay City News

Updated 1:50 p.m.

Two people were killed and 61 injured in the crash of an Asiana Boeing 777 airline at San Francisco International Airport Saturday morning, according to a dispatcher for the San Francisco Fire Department.

The San Francisco Fire Department transported 13 of the injured to hospitals while the San Mateo County Fire Department carried away 48 people for treatment, the dispatcher said.

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Updated 1:37 p.m. 

About 12 people injured in the 11:30 a.m. (PT) crash of a Boeing 777 airline at San Francisco International Airport this morning have been transported to local hospitals, according to a dispatcher for the San Francisco Fire Department. There are no confirmed dead in the crash, the dispatcher said.

The injured have been taken to hospitals "all over," including San Francisco General Hospital, the dispatcher said. Three people are at the St. Francis Burn Center being treated for their injuries.

Firefighters from the San Francisco Fire Department and San Mateo County Fire Department were dispatched at 11:33 a.m. to SFO after the plane crash landed on a runway, the dispatcher said.

Waves of fire companies were sent by the fire department, starting with 13 units after the crash was reported, the dispatcher said.
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A plane crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday morning, reportedly after its tail came off while it was touching down on the runway, according to KTVU.com.

The Asiana Airlines Flight 214 plane, carrying 291 people from Seoul, South Korea, was just about to land -- its landing gear had come down -- when the tail of the plane came off around 11:20 a.m., KTVU reported.

The plane, reportedly a Boeing 777, was coming from Seoul, South Korea, according to flight tracking information. There were 291 passengers on board, and witnesses have reported seeing many passengers exit the plane and walk away from the crash, according to KCBS.  

Patch will update this story as more details become available.


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