SAN FRANCISCO — Three flight attendants were ejected from Asiana Flight 214 when it crash landed Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, and two others were pinned by emergency chutes that opened inside the plane, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Deborah Hershman said six of the 12 flight attendants — including the three ejected from the plane and one pinned by a chute — are hospitalized and have not been able to talk to investigators.
No other people were ejected from the plane while in their seats, she said.
Hershman also said when the Boeing 777 came to rest, an evacuation wasn’t immediately ordered. It started about 90 seconds later, once a flight attendant saw a fire outside and had the pilots notified. She said the delay occurred as the pilot checked with the tower at the airport.
Hershman said 20 NTSB investigators are working on the crash that killed two 16-year-old Chinese girls, injured dozens and has left 14 still in Bay Area hospitals.
Meanwhile, about the same time as NTSB briefing, at a chaotic news conference at the San Francisco airport, six Asiana Flight 214 crew members posed for photographs Wednesday, but only one spoke briefly. A translator said the atmosphere of news cameras and camera flashes exacerbated their emotional state.
“This was a very emotional event,” said the translator who refused to give her name.
Lee Yoon Hye, cabin manager, said she hoped all the victims and their families recover.
“We are working as quickly as possible,” she said.
