Crime & Safety

Students Fly Home to China After Surviving Asiana Flight 214

The students were to attend a three-week summer program, which has since been canceled.

Written by Bay City News

A group of students and teachers who survived Saturday's plane crash at San Francisco International Airport departed San Francisco for China Friday, according to a statement from the Chinese consulate general in San Francisco.

The 31 students and teachers from Zhejiang Province in China were among the 141 Chinese passengers on board Asiana Airlines Flight 214, which crashed around 11:30 a.m. Saturday as it came in for a landing at SFO.

Two 16-year-old girls killed in the crash, Ye Meng Yuan and Wang Lin Jia, were traveling as part of the group, which was headed to a Southern California school for a three-week summer program.

That program has since been canceled.

The group departed back for China via Air China Flight 986, and were seen off by Song Ru'an and Yi Xianrong, deputy consuls general for China, and Xu Yongji, the consulate's education counselor, officials said.

Another group of 35 students and teachers from China's Shanxi Province left earlier today by bus shuttle from San Francisco to continue their tour of the U.S., according to the consulate.

Yuan Nansheng, China's consul general in San Francisco, has met with victims' relatives who flew in after the crash and also has visited survivors at hospitals and hotels. On Monday, he met with the group from Zhejiang at a hotel in San Jose.

The consulate is providing assistance for Chinese travelers who need new travel documents and is also offering legal help.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.



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