Images taken from a camera mounted on the helmet of a fire battalion chief, from top, show the Rescue 37 rig as it nears and then strikes Ye Meng Yuan and a firefighter covering her body, which was obscured by flame-retardant foam. |
The San Francisco Fire Department supervisors who took charge of the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash scene were not alerted by firefighters that a 16-year-old passenger had been found near the plane, leaving them powerless to prevent the girl from being run over by a rig after she was covered by fire-retardant foam, footage of the incident shows. The footage was recorded by a camera mounted on the helmet of a battalion chief who took charge of the firefighting and rescue response within an hour after the Boeing 777 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6. The footage reveals what Battalion Chief Mark Johnson did and was told at the scene. It also shows in graphic detail the events that ended with crash survivor Ye Meng Yuan being crushed by a foam-spraying rig. One mystery arises from the footage: Johnson arrived not long after firefighters found Ye and mistakenly concluded she was dead, according to what the firefighters have told investigators - but there is no evidence Johnson was ever informed of the discovery. Probe of girl's death Johnson has turned over the footage to investigators from the fire and police departments and the National Transportation Safety Board, who are probing how the girl was put in harm's way, mistaken for dead and run over. The Chronicle reviewed a copy of the footage supplied by a source, who stipulated that it not be posted online because of the investigation. The footage picks up as Johnson, who oversees firehouses in the Bayview-Hunters Point area, arrived at a staging area several hundred feet from the burning plane. He and Assistant Fire Chief Tom Siragusa were briefed by fire Capt. Anthony Robinson, who coordinated the initial emergency response. "All of the passengers are off the plane," Robinson told the two. "They just completed a secondary search. There are no passengers on the plane." Siragusa then put Johnson in command of the firefighting and rescue effort, and the battalion chief started walking toward the wreckage. Johnson looked toward the area in front of the left wing where Ye was found, but only foam was visible. Crucial moment As Johnson walked toward the back of the jet, the footage shows, a foam-spraying rig called Rescue 10 was in the distance, driving away from the area where Ye was discovered. It was a crucial moment in the events leading to the Chinese schoolgirl's death. The two firefighters aboard Rescue 10, Roger Phillips and Jimmy Yee, have told investigators they spotted Ye in the fetal position on the ground just before they drove off, according to Fire Department sources and others involved in the probe. Fire Lt. Christine Emmons and at least one other firefighter looked at the girl and concluded she was dead, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the probe publicly. According to the San Mateo County coroner, however, Ye was alive for several more minutes, until a second rig ran over her. It is not clear how Emmons or the other firefighter, who has not been identified, decided she was dead. No one told him Phillips and Yee have told investigators they steered their rig around the girl after pointing her out to fire supervisors. By the time Johnson's helmet camera recorded their rig leaving the scene, Ye would have been found, a discovery that should have been communicated to the battalion chief whether she was alive or dead. However, Robinson said nothing to Johnson about either a survivor or a body being located, and the audio from Johnson's helmet-camera footage shows no such discovery was communicated to him in the minutes that followed. Emmons has declined to comment since a news conference two days after the crash, at which she described her rescue efforts. Attempts to reach Phillips and Yee have been unsuccessful. Johnson said Friday he could not comment without the approval of Fire Department superiors. Chief Joanne Hayes-White, who has called Ye's death "a tragic accident," did not respond to phone calls. Foam builds up When Johnson reached a spot about 25 feet from the back of the plane, he came upon an engine spraying foam on the jet and told the driver to redirect his aim. The footage shows that for a few seconds, the foam arced into the area in front of the left wing where, according to the Rescue 10 firefighters, Ye had already been found. By this time, foam sprayed by other rigs elsewhere around the plane was building up by the wing, the footage shows. Seeing smoke billowing from the front of the plane, Johnson radioed for a rig to move to the spot Rescue 10 had vacated. "We're going to need somebody with foam here," he said. "We need to get the fire right in front of the fuselage." Rescue 37, a foam-spraying rig operated by a lone firefighter, pulled up to do just that. Its driver, who had been out buying lunch for colleagues after getting off her shift, returned to the airport fire station to find everyone gone and rushed out to the scene. Out of foam She sprayed foam for several minutes on the front of the plane, then told Johnson she was out of foam and had to drive off to get more. As she did so, Rescue 37 ran over Ye, who by this time was covered in foam. The rig lacked heat-sensing equipment, installed on other firefighting vehicles at the airport, that could have detected a body obscured by the fire retardant. Johnson did not immediately realize what had happened, the footage shows, and continued calling for help fighting the fire. About that time, Emmons and at least one other firefighter told Johnson they wanted to head toward the back of the plane to search for survivors. Emmons had already joined a crew of firefighters and police officers who had taken five people off the jet - it has never been made clear whether Ye was among them, or how she ended up near the left wing. Johnson asked why they wanted to return, the footage shows. "Anybody who is in there right now, they're dead," he said. "They told me everybody's off. It's useless to go in there, you guys." 'You've got a body' Emmons, however, headed off with other firefighters. About one minute later, another lieutenant approached Johnson and told him, "You've got a body over here." Johnson looked at the girl, whose crushed body was in the tracks of the rig that had run over her. "My God," he exclaimed. Johnson then asked that someone cover the girl. Another firefighter draped a yellow plastic tarp over her. The battalion chief soon radioed commanders about having found the body, then oversaw one last effort to check the plane for any passengers or crew. As firefighters scrambled up a ladder to look in the cockpit, Johnson told others on the ground, "Everybody watch these green things (rigs) - they move around without telling anybody, all right?" |
據(jù)《舊金山紀事報》8月5日報道,一段現(xiàn)場視頻披露了中國女生葉夢圓幸免韓亞空難后卻在舊金山機場被兩輛救援車輛碾壓而死的過程。 ***兩次碾軋 馬克?約翰遜是當?shù)叵啦块T的主管,墜機事故當天曾參加救援行動。他佩戴的頭盔上安裝有攝像頭,全程拍攝。應消防局、警方和國家交通安全委員會調查人員的要求,約翰遜上交了這段視頻,供調查分析之用。 事故發(fā)生后1個小時之內,約翰遜就乘車趕到現(xiàn)場附近的中轉區(qū)。應急處理負責人、消防隊長安東尼?羅賓遜告訴約翰遜:“所有乘客都下了飛機。他們剛剛完成了第二遍檢查,飛機上沒有人了?!钡_賓遜沒有告知任何有關葉夢圓的信息。約翰遜隨后走向事故現(xiàn)場,指揮滅火和救援工作。飛機左翼區(qū)域煙霧彌漫,約翰遜看到負責滅火的“10號救援車”從那里開出。 10號救援車駕駛員事后表示,曾看到葉夢圓蜷著身子躺在地上。他們開車繞過葉夢圓,并向其他消防員指明,有人躺在這里。此前,消防員克里斯蒂娜?埃蒙斯等人發(fā)現(xiàn)葉夢圓,并誤判她已經(jīng)遇難。 救援人員發(fā)現(xiàn)葉夢圓,本應上報,但視頻顯示,從羅賓遜到消防員,沒有任何人告訴約翰遜有關葉夢圓的信息。目前沒有證據(jù)顯示,約翰遜對此是否知情。 驗尸官則表示,墜機之后,葉夢圓還活著,先后2次被車輛碾軋。她第一次被碾軋過后還存活了幾分鐘,直到車輛再次從她身上開過才最終遇難。而消防員為何認定葉夢圓已死,依然有待確定。 10號救援車開走之后,約翰遜繼續(xù)在事故現(xiàn)場監(jiān)督救援工作。這時救火車輛還在飛機左翼噴沫滅火。約翰遜通過對講機請求援助,繼續(xù)滅火。他說:“我們需要帶泡沫的。機身旁邊還有火,我們得撲滅它?!?/p> “37號救援車”的女駕駛員外出給同事買午餐,回來以后才發(fā)現(xiàn)大家都不在,接到約翰遜求援后就趕赴現(xiàn)場。她作業(yè)幾分鐘后,告訴約翰遜說噴沫用完了,需要回去補充。在返回途中,37號車從葉夢圓身上開了過去。當時,葉夢圓整個身體被滅火泡沫所覆蓋。 值得注意的是,舊金山機場消防車配有熱感應系統(tǒng),防火煙霧影響能見度的時候,依然可以發(fā)現(xiàn)傷者和工作人員,但是37號救援車上卻沒有這套系統(tǒng)。 ***發(fā)現(xiàn)尸體 37號車碾過葉夢圓的時候,約翰遜并不知情,繼續(xù)指揮滅火。而埃蒙斯等消防員則要求最后一次趕回飛機,搜索幸存者。此前,埃蒙斯等人已經(jīng)幫助5名乘客離開飛機。但葉夢圓是不是5人之一,后來又為什么被留在飛機左翼一帶,這些都不清楚。 約翰遜回應道:“現(xiàn)在不論誰在這兒,都已經(jīng)死了。他們告訴我,所有人都下了飛機?;镉媯儯M去也沒用。” 不過,埃蒙斯等消防員還是趕到現(xiàn)場,很快發(fā)現(xiàn)了葉夢圓的尸體,上面還有救援車輛開過的痕跡。有人告訴約翰遜:“這兒有個尸體?!奔s翰遜一邊感嘆“我的上帝”,一邊叫人用布蓋住尸體,并很快通過對講機上報這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。最后,在約翰遜的監(jiān)督下,消防員進行了第三次、也是最后一次搜索行動,尋找空難受害者。 當時,約翰遜還就救援車輛的隱患發(fā)出警告,他說:“所有人看好這些綠色的家伙(指救援車輛)行嗎?他們不打招呼就隨處亂開。” 韓亞航空214號航班7月6日在舊金山機場著陸時失事。事故中,共有181人受傷,3名中國女學生死亡。7月19日,加州當?shù)胤ㄡt(yī)和消防官員宣布,空難中遇難的16歲女生葉夢圓系救援車輛碾軋致死。 相關閱讀 (王琦琛 編輯:信蓮) |