The dramatic evacuation of a Boeing 777 that crashed onto the runway in San Francisco has been captured on film.(Video)
Two teenagers were killed and around 180 people were injured, many of them seriously, when Asiana Airlines flight 214 slammed into the runway.
The pilot who was flying the plane when it crashed in San Francisco had just 43 hours’ experience flying the plane, aviation officials have said.
The amateur video taken immediately after the crash shows black smoke billowing out of the plane as the 305 passengers and crew evacuate along emergency chutes.
It can also clearly shows that the aircraft’s tail has been torn off and other parts of the plane were significantly damaged.
Air crash investigators said the crew tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before impact.
Although the captain, Lee Gang-guk, had spent nearly 10,000 hours at the controls of other planes, he had never landed at San Francisco before.
He was sitting alongside another pilot who had flown 3,200 hours in 777s and around 12,000 hours in total.
Meanwhile, officials are looking at whether one of the two teenagers killed in the crash was run over by a rescue vehicle.
It is not clear whether she died during the crash or whether she was knocked down as emergency crews rushed to the scene.
As air crash investigators continue to look for the cause of the crash, they published a series of pictures, including one taken inside the wreckage of the plane, showing oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling of the cabin and seats bent at various angles.
They have recovered both black boxes from the 777, which should reveal exactly why the aircraft came down.
Deborah Hersman, head of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane was travelling well below its target speed of 157mph.
She said a piece of safety equipment that warns pilots of an impending stall went off moments before the crash.
They have recovered both black boxes from the 777, which should reveal exactly why the aircraft came down.
Deborah Hersman, head of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane was travelling well below its target speed of 157mph.
She said a piece of safety equipment that warns pilots of an impending stall went off moments before the crash.
Amateur video obtained by CNN shows the plane landing on the runway and then appearing to spin counter-clockwise before crashing down again with black smoke billowing from its tail.
Meanwhile, further tales from those on the flight from Shanghai, which travelled to San Francisco via a stop-off in Seoul, have emerged.
Fei Xiong, who was taking her eight-year-old son on a trip to Disneyland, said: “My son told me, ‘The plane will fall down, it’s too close to the sea.’ I told him, ‘Baby, it’s OK, we’ll be fine.'”
Xu Da, who was sitting near the back of the plane with his wife and teenage son, described seeing sparks – possibly from exposed electrical wires – and a gaping hole through which he could see the runway.
Wen Zhang climbed from the wreckage with her four-year-old son, who hit the seat in front of him and broke his leg in the crash.
“I had no time to be scared,” she said.
The two pilots – part of a crew of 16 – had more than 10,000 flying hours between them.
There were 291 passengers on board, many of whom were Chinese.