Third Chinese schoolgirl dies in Asiana air crash - Reuters

By Gerry Shih and Sarah McBride

SAN FRANCISCO | Sat Jul 13, 2013 3:19am EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Chinese girl died in a San Francisco hospital on Friday, becoming the third fatality in the crash of an Asiana Airlines jet at the city's airport last Saturday, doctors and Chinese officials said.

The teenage girl, who died on Friday morning, had been in critical condition, according to a statement from two doctors at San Francisco General Hospital. Her parents asked the hospital not to release further information.

The girl was a Chinese national, according to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. She was part of a group of students from eastern China who were visiting the United States to attend summer camp, one of the trip organizers said. He said she was 16.

The crash landing of the Boeing 777 also killed two other Chinese girls from the school group and injured more than 180 people. Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, the two teenagers who died on Saturday, were sitting in the back of the plane, which hit the seawall and suffered the most damage.

One of the girls was run over by a fire truck rushing to the scene, the San Francisco Police Department said on Friday, although it was unclear whether she was still alive at the time.

She was obscured by fire retardant foam and was found in the fire truck's tracks when it moved to fight flames in the fuselage, police spokesman Albie Esparza said.

The coroner in San Mateo County, where the airport is located, has said he will release the autopsy results of the two girls who died on Saturday within two weeks.

Most of the injured passengers were taken to San Francisco General Hospital and to Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

San Francisco General, which originally received 67 patients, still has six, including two in critical condition. The six suffered a combination of spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, abdominal injuries, internal bleeding, road rash and fractures, the hospital said.

Stanford still has one patient, who is in serious condition, a spokesman said. It treated 55 patients from the crash.

At least seven patients remain at other hospitals.

(Reporting By Sarah McBride, Gerry Shih and Kristina Cooke; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)