A young girl who was critically injured in the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 died Friday morning from her injuries, bringing the death toll to three, San Francisco General Hospital announced.
The child, whose identity and injury information was withheld by hospital officials at her parents' request, had been in intensive care ever since she was taken to the hospital following the July 6 crash landing of a 777 jetliner at San Francisco International Airport.
"I am very sad that one of the victims of the plane crash expired this morning," Dr. Margaret Knudson, chief of surgery, said in a Friday afternoon news conference. "Her parents have asked that we reveal no further information at this time. We will respect their wishes while they grieve."
While officials declined to specify the victim's injuries, Dr. Geoffrey Manley, the hospital's chief of neurosurgery, briefly spoke to reporters during the announcement.
"She received oustanding care," Manley said. "We did everything we could to take care of this young lady."
When the child's death was announced Friday afternoon, the day's news involving the crash had already taken a dour turn after starting with a glimmer of optimism following declarations that the closed SFO runway was cleared of the plane wreckage and set to re-open late Sunday.
San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr confirmed weeklong fears that a fire truck ran over one of the two 16-year-old girls who died immediately after the crash, though whether that killed her remains to be seen.
Police said the teenage victim, identified by the San Mateo County Coroner's Office as Ye Mengyuan of China, was covered in fire-retardant foam when a fire truck rolled over her at a low speed.
She was discovered in the tracks that the truck left in the foam as emergency workers responded the crash that also injured dozens of others after the jetliner "short-landed" and hit its tail on the sea wall, shearing it from the rest of the plane and sending it spinning into the runway.
Police stressed that the coroner has not officially determined the cause of death for the teenager who was hit by the fire truck and declined to comment further. Coroner Robert Foucrault said earlier this week that it could be two to three weeks before that information is released.
The San Francisco Fire Department, which oversees firefighting and rescue operations for the airport, said it would hold off on a response to the police finding until it's clear how the victim died.
"Out of respect for the family and everyone involved, the Fire Department is awaiting the results of the coroner's report so we can provide a complete and factual statement," Lt. Mindy Talmadge, SFFD spokeswoman, said in an email.
Suspicions arose soon after the crash that one of the girls might have been struck by a rescue vehicle, especially after aerial photographs of the wreckage showed a body in the trail of one of the trucks.
During a news conference Monday, Dale Carnes, assistant deputy fire chief at SFO, said the department was quickly made aware of the possibility and that officials were cooperating with a multi-agency investigation that included the NTSB and SFPD, which dispatched its hit-and-run investigation unit to the case.
During that briefing, Carnes said the following:
"At this time because we have not clearly defined and established those facts, we cannot answer your questions, anything we might offer at this point would be simply conjecture, and would also complicate the investigation and we're just not willing to do that. Once the investigation's complete, and we have met with all of the stakeholders involved in the investigation, and establish those facts, we will then be forwarding that information."
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board turned over custody of Runway 28L Wednesday night so that airport crews could start clearing debris and begin repairs to the surface and seawall where the plane's tail sheared off, and crews were quick to begin work.
Cleanup intensified overnight Thursday night as crews removed the fuselage, or main body of the plane. There was a brief but scary moment with smoke appearing as crews removed the charred and fragmented fuselage, with the aim of having the scarred runway ready for landings by the end of the weekend.
The smoke was reported at 3:30 a.m. Friday as the fuselage was being cut into two sections, San Francisco International Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said.
"They were removing the rear section from the forward section that had the wings still attached," Yakel said. "We don't know the ultimate cause but we suspect it was the cutting into metal, which caused a lot of friction. No one ever saw a fire."
A firefighting crew was on hand during the removal and quickly tended to the smoke, Yakel said.
Later in the morning, the fuselage was cleared from the field where it had been sitting since the Saturday morning crash.
Friday morning, the front section of the plane was taken to a remote lot north of the airport. At the lot, crews could be seen using a combination of cranes, flatbed trucks and forklifts to gather the aircraft pieces. Engines and fragments of landing gear and the tail rested in a pile.
"We got it entirely relocated from the site," Yakel said. "It's a huge milestone for us."
Crews will now turn to the task of cleaning spilled jet fuel and repairing the surface of the runway as well as safety lights that were damaged.
"Our goal is to reopen the runway for commercial use by the end of Sunday," Yakel said.
Before that can happen, the Federal Aviation Administration must certify the runway before clearing it for landings. Yakel said the airport has been in close contact with the agency to facilitate an expeditious return to normal operations.
"They know how important it is for us to get that open as soon as possible," Yakel said.
He added that travelers have faced delays at a minimum of 45 minutes -- though many have reported some far longer -- and that between 75 and 100 flight cancellations a day have been made since the crash.
"Having one of four runways closed its like having a lane closed on a freeway, it's going to back up traffic," Yakel said. "Even when we're starting each morning with low clouds, when that burns off, we continue to have delays because of the runway."
Should the first plane touch down late Sunday on Runway 28L as hoped, Yakel said it will be a testament to nonstop work since the tragedy.
"It'll really be an achievement for entire team," he said. "So many groups were working around the clock to get this back in service.
During its final local press briefing Thursday, the NTSB released photos of a scattered debris field of shards of airplane remnants that has since been cleaned up.
Officials said that federal authorities will transport, piece by piece, the wreckage to a secure housing area that is yet to be determined. Parts of investigatory "interest" have either already been shipped or are on their way to the agency's headquarters in Washington.
Fewer than a dozen of the victims injured in the crash still remain in the hospital, including three flight attendants who like the deceased girls were ejected from the plane on impact.
Officials at San Francisco General said they're still treating six patients: five adults and one child. Five of the patients are female, including the child. Two of the adults are in critical condition with injuries that include spinal cord and abdominal injuries, internal bleeding, road rash and fractures.
Those critical injuries are in line with the those that would have been suffered by flight attendants who survived after being ejected from the plane during the crash. But because of privacy rules it could not be confirmed who suffered which injuries.
Stanford Hospital released one patient Thursday evening, with one remaining in serious condition. One patient remains at St. Mary's Medical Center in good condition and another at St. Francis Hospital, who is stable.
On Thursday night in Los Angeles, West Valley Christian School held a vigil to honor the victims of the crash.
Mengyuan and Wang Linjia were among about 35 students who were scheduled to attend a three-week academic summer camp based at the West Hills school. The camp, which was scheduled to start last Monday, was canceled in light of the crash.
The ceremony included speeches and songs, while wreaths were laid out and students wrote condolences on large banners.
"Our general purpose is to show love and compassion for the Chinese group that came, even though they never came to us and the two that died, to show the human side of Americans as we relate to the Chinese people -- that we truly have a love and compassion for those families, the children that were in the plane crash and those that died," said West Vally Christian Church's the Rev. Glenn Kirby by telephone from a national church conference in Kentucky.
据美国媒体报道，美国旧金山总医院7月12日证实，在该院救治的一名女孩当天上午不治身亡。至此，6日发生的韩亚航空客机坠毁事故已造成3名中国人丧生。
***第3名中国女中学生遇难
当地时间12日下午3时，旧金山总医院在急诊室大楼外举行记者招待会。“我非常遗憾地宣布，今天上午韩亚航空客机坠毁事故的一名伤员过世了，”该院外科主任玛格丽特•克努森医生表示：“她的父母要求我们目前不要公布更多的信息，在他们悲伤之际我们将尊重他们的愿望。”
旧金山医院神经外科主任杰弗里•曼利医生补充道：“她入院期间得到了很好的救治，医院方面尽了一切努力来照顾这名年轻的女孩”。
根据中国驻旧金山总领事馆此前通报，这名女中学生头部和腹部受伤，伤势严重，先后接受两次外科手术，一直在重症监护病房接受救治。
***美警方确认遇难者遭消防车碾压
美国官员7日表示，韩亚航空客机坠毁事故的一名遇难者可能被消防车碾压过。12日，旧金山警察局局长格雷格•苏尔证实上述猜测属实。
旧金山圣马特奥验尸官罗伯特•J•福克劳尔特称，这名遭消防车碾压的遇难者为中国女孩叶梦圆。警方称，叶梦圆被一辆低速行驶的消防车碾过时，她身上覆盖着白色阻燃剂泡沫。
旧金山警方强调，目前验尸官还未正式确定叶梦圆的死因。据悉，验尸结果最早要在下周才能正式公布。
负责此次坠机事故现场救火工作的旧金山消防署表示，因为还不知道叶梦圆的确切死因，所以将暂缓做出回应。“出于对遇难者家属以及所有涉事人员的尊重，旧金山消防部门将等到验尸结果公布后，才出具一份完整且符合事实的声明，”旧金山消防部门发言人明迪•塔尔梅奇说。
***失事客机无机械故障
美国国家运输安全委员会主席德博拉•赫斯曼11日表示，初步调查发现，没有证据证明韩亚航空的失事客机有机械故障。
“根据现在掌握的飞机飞行记录器数据，自动驾驶、飞行指令和自动油门系统方面没有异常。”赫斯曼说，4名飞行员曾告诉调查人员，尽管降落过程中手动操作，但他们“以为”飞机航速由自动油门系统设定。而调查显示，自动油门系统的确处于开启状态，但不确定飞机失事前它是否正确运行。
美国国家运输安全委员会先前透露，客机当时飞行高度过低、速度过慢，坠毁前3秒航速为103节，远低于137节的建议速度。
据悉，美国国家运输安全委员会将把全部飞机残骸运回一个未知的安全储存地点进行全面彻底的调查，最终评估结果要一年多后才能发布。
***客机残骸清理完毕
调查人员11日结束现场勘查后，旧金山国际机场方面当晚开始清理位于机场28L跑道上的客机残骸，并启动跑道和防波堤的修复工作。
当工作人员开始切割客机机身、以便从跑道上移走客机主体时，发生了一个小事故。12日凌晨3点半左右，工作人员突然发现客机残骸冒烟了。
“当时，客机机身正被切割成前后两个部分，工作人员试图把后半段机身与有机翼的前半段机身分开，”旧金山国际机场发言人道格•亚克尔说，“我们不知道冒烟的原因是什么，我们怀疑可能是切割金属时摩擦力太大了。不过，当时没人看见明火。”随后，在一旁待命的消防人员迅速反应、扑灭了烟雾。
亚克尔说，由于旧金山国际机场只有4条跑道，所以关闭一条跑道影响巨大。“4条跑道中有1条被关闭，就像高速公路上有一条车道被封锁一样，势必会对交通产生负面影响。现在，乘客需面临至少45分钟的航班延误，事故发生后机场每天要取消少则75、多达100个航班。”
当地时间12日傍晚5点五分，28L跑道重新开放。一架美国西南航空客机首先着陆。
***3名空乘仍在医院
截至12日，还有不到12名伤员仍在医院接受治疗，其中包括3名空乘人员。失事客机撞上机场防波堤时，这三名空乘均从机舱甩了出来。
旧金山总医院表示，他们还在治疗6名伤员，其中5位成人一名儿童。2人病情危急，脊柱和腹部受伤。
其余伤者在斯坦福大学医院等医院救治。
***洛杉矶学校为遇难者守夜
在韩亚航空客机坠毁事故中遇难和受伤的浙江江山中学的学生们原本计划在洛杉矶西谷基督教会学校参加一个为期三周的夏令营。当地时间11日晚，该校师生为空难受害者守夜。
在守夜仪式上，西谷基督教会学校的学生们发表演讲、演唱歌曲，同时摆上花圈，并在横幅上写上悼唁词。
“我们想要为遭遇不幸的中国人送去爱和关心，即使他们最终没能来到这里。对于那些遭遇客机失事的中国孩子，对于他们的家人，我们真的感到同情和遗憾。”西谷基督教会学校格伦•卡比牧师表示，他们也希望借此机会，对外展示美国人人性化的一面。
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