From the San Fran Chronicle: The death of a 16-year-old survivor of the Asiana Airlines crash who was run over by a rescue vehicle was a "tragic accident" that doesn't warrant any immediate disciplinary action against firefighters, San Francisco's fire chief said Friday.
Chief Joanne Hayes-White said firefighters had to contend with chaotic and hazardous conditions as they rescued people from the burning Boeing 777 following the July 6 crash at San Francisco International Airport. Somehow during that response, Chinese student Ye Meng Yuan was hit by at least one vehicle and killed, San Mateo County's coroner said.
Ye's body was found in a foot-deep layer of fire-retardant foam that Fire Department airport rigs were spraying on the plane. At a news conference with Hayes-White, Coroner Robert Foucrault said Ye had been alive when she was hit.
Asked at the San Mateo news conference whether any firefighters could be disciplined as a result of Ye's death, Hayes-White first discounted the question as speculative, then said, "At this very moment? No, I consider it a tragic accident." http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Coroner-Crash-survivor-was-run-over-4674928.php
There are at least two firefighters in the front cab of an airport fire truck, one of should have been watching the road for debris and people in front of the path of the fire truck. Obviously, no one was looking at the small picture, i.e. bodies in the way of the truck, and were probably looking at the bigger picture, the burning airplane. This is what the airport firefighters train for, just about everyday.
Yes, it was a sad accident, but it also should have been preventable.
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