Crime & Safety

Parents of Girls Killed in Plane Crash Meet With Coroner

Authorities are trying to determine whether 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan was struck and killed by an emergency vehicle.

By Bay City News

The families of two Chinese girls killed in Saturday's crash at San Francisco International Airport arrived in the Bay Area Monday night with questions about which of the two girls was potentially hit by a fire truck responding to the crash site, San Mateo County Coroner San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said today.

A representative from the coroner's office met with the two families Tuesday and revealed that authorities are trying to determine whether 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan was struck and possibly killed by an emergency vehicle, Foucrault said.

However, Foucrault said that the coroner's office has not yet determined Ye's cause of death or whether an emergency vehicle struck her at all. He said the families knew that one of the girls' deaths was being investigated for that possibility but did not know which of the two.

The incident is also being investigated by San Francisco police
and the National Transportation Safety Board while the fire department is
conducting its own internal investigation, San Francisco Assistant Deputy
Fire Chief Dale Carnes said Monday.

NTSB officials said Monday that video of the incident was inconclusive.

Ye and the other girl killed, 16-year-old Wang Lin Jia, were part of a group of Chinese students slated to attend a Southern California school with a group of 35 students in an exchange program.

The program was cancelled following the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, which in addition to killing the two girls sent 180 of the plane's passengers to Bay Area hospitals.

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.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Belmont