Post date: Jul 08, 2013 1:52:36 PM
Families of students killed and injured in the Asiana plane crash prepare to leaveChina for San Francisco from Shanghai airport, as classmates of two teenagers killed hold a vigil for them.
SHANGHAI, CHINA (JULY 8, 2013) (REUTERS) - Family members of school students killed and injured in Saturday's Asiana Airlines plane crash prepared to leave China for San Francisco from Shanghai airport on Monday (July 8).
Among the 12 parents in the delegation were those of Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, the two teenagers who died when the Boeing 777 crashed.Asiana said that 141 of the plane's 291 passengers were Chinese, among them a large group of school students.
The delegation of parents and local government officials from Jiangshan City in the country's eastern Zhejiang Province arrived at the airport on a bus.
The uncle of deceased student Ye Mengyuan shouted at a representative from Asiana Airlines, complaining that the route of their flights was inconvenient.
"We are not satisfied with your work. You should arrange us family members to go there in the most simple, most direct way. Now you are offering us the most complicated route with three transfers. You are an airline, not a transferring company. You have no sincerity," he said.
Director of Jiangshan City's foreign affairs office, Mr. Jiang, said the group would visit the injured students.
"First of all, we will go to visit the injured students. Secondly, we will get in touch with the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco and strengthen our communication with them. Thirdly, we will make representations to the airline company. And we can help family members with subsequent arrangements," he said.
The parents of Wang Linjia, the other deceased student, walked towards customs surrounded by media.
"To see my daughter," was all her father said when asked what he planned to do.
"Please understand. I feel terrible. Please understand," he said to media.
The San Francisco Fire Department said that one of the two Chinese teenagers killed may have been run over by an emergency vehicle as first responders scrambled to the scene.
A fire department spokeswoman said that one of the deceased had "injuries consistent with having been run over by a vehicle."
Autopsies to determine the cause of death will be conducted by the San Mateo County coroner's office, officials said.
Of the over 180 people injured, more than 30 remained hospitalised late on Sunday (July 7). Eight were listed in critical condition, including two with paralysis from spinal injuries, according to hospital officials.
In Jiangshan City, the classmates of the deceased students held a candlelit vigil in their memory on Sunday night, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Over 30 students gathered in front of Jiangshan Middle School, and arranged dozens of small candles in the shape of a heart around which they stood in silence.
"It's so hard to believe. Two days ago she was standing in front of us, and now you're telling me that she... I really can hardly believe it," said Zhou Yanan, a classmate of Wang Linjia.
"I hope that they can be at peace, and that they can be as happy in heaven as they they were here," another student told CCTV.
The flight had been flying "significantly below" its intended speed and its crew tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before it hit a seawall in front of the runway, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) said on Sunday.
Information collected from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder indicated that there were no signs of trouble until seven seconds before impact, when the crew tried to accelerate, NTSB's chairwoman said.
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