Coroner: Teen in Asiana crash killed by vehicle

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Mateo County Coroner says one of the girls killed the day Asiana Airlines Fligth 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport survived the crash only to be killed by being run over by an emergency vehicle responding to the crash. It has taken the two weeks since the crash for 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan's cause of death to be confirmed.

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said the girl, a Chinese student, died of multiple blunt injuries consistent with being run over by a motor vehicle.

"Our forensic examination revealed that she was still alive when she sustained those injuries," Foucrault said..

Yuan and her middle school classmate, 16-year-old Wang Linjia, died on July 6 at SFO. The other victim, 15-year-old Liu Yipeng, died at a hospital July 12. Dozens of others were injured. They were part of a group of students and teachers from the school who were heading to summer camp in Southern California. Yuan and Linjia were seated at the back of the plane, federal investigators have said.

Yuan's body was found near the left wing about an hour after the crash where she had been covered with at least a foot of firefighting foam.

"My understanding is she was not standing up; she was on the ground when our rig, or rigs made contact with her, rig or possibly two, not determined either," San Francisco Fire Chief Joanna Hayes-White said.

Hayes-White says the kind of vehicle that hit Yuan is likely one or more of the specialized aircraft rescue firefighting trucks stationed at the airport.

NTSB photos of the crash site show the large debris field on the runway around the plane. Firefighters were making rescues out of the plane while also fighting a growing fire, worried about an explosion.

Hayes-White says the department is devastated by the coroner's report, calling it a tragic accident.

"When [Foucrault] contacted me yesterday afternoon, it was very difficult to hear -- devastating," said Hayes-White.

The Chinese consulate issued a statement today saying in part, "We have noted the efforts made by the U.S. side to look into Mengyuan's death and disclose the truth. We urge the involved parties of the U.S. side to deal properly with the aftermath of Mengyuan's death and investigate and affix responsibility for this tragic accident."

Meanwhile, the probe into the crash itself continues. Investigators have said the plane came in too low and too slow, clipping its landing gear and then its tail on a rocky seawall just short of the runway.

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Asiana Airlines crash, plane crash, crash, san francisco international airport, sffd, peninsula news, heather ishimaru

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