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?"
据《旧金山纪事报》8月5日报道，一段现场视频披露了中国女生叶梦圆幸免韩亚空难后却在旧金山机场被两辆救援车辆碾压而死的过程。
***两次碾轧
马克•约翰逊是当地消防部门的主管，坠机事故当天曾参加救援行动。他佩戴的头盔上安装有摄像头，全程拍摄。应消防局、警方和国家交通安全委员会调查人员的要求，约翰逊上交了这段视频，供调查分析之用。
事故发生后1个小时之内，约翰逊就乘车赶 到现场附近的中转区。应急处理负责人、消防队长安东尼•罗宾逊告诉约翰逊：“所有乘客都下了飞机。他们刚刚完成了第二遍检查，飞机上没有人了。”但罗宾逊 没有告知任何有关叶梦圆的信息。约翰逊随后走向事故现场，指挥灭火和救援工作。飞机左翼区域烟雾弥漫，约翰逊看到负责灭火的“10号救援车”从那里开出。
10号救援车驾驶员事后表示，曾看到叶梦圆蜷着身子躺在地上。他们开车绕过叶梦圆，并向其他消防员指明，有人躺在这里。此前，消防员克里斯蒂娜•埃蒙斯等人发现叶梦圆，并误判她已经遇难。
救援人员发现叶梦圆，本应上报，但视频显示，从罗宾逊到消防员，没有任何人告诉约翰逊有关叶梦圆的信息。目前没有证据显示，约翰逊对此是否知情。
验尸官则表示，坠机之后，叶梦圆还活着，先后2次被车辆碾轧。她第一次被碾轧过后还存活了几分钟，直到车辆再次从她身上开过才最终遇难。而消防员为何认定叶梦圆已死，依然有待确定。
10号救援车开走之后，约翰逊继续在事故现场监督救援工作。这时救火车辆还在飞机左翼喷沫灭火。约翰逊通过对讲机请求援助，继续灭火。他说：“我们需要带泡沫的。机身旁边还有火，我们得扑灭它。”
“37号救援车”的女驾驶员外出给同事买午餐，回来以后才发现大家都不在，接到约翰逊求援后就赶赴现场。她作业几分钟后，告诉约翰逊说喷沫用完了，需要回去补充。在返回途中，37号车从叶梦圆身上开了过去。当时，叶梦圆整个身体被灭火泡沫所覆盖。
值得注意的是，旧金山机场消防车配有热感应系统，防火烟雾影响能见度的时候，依然可以发现伤者和工作人员，但是37号救援车上却没有这套系统。
***发现尸体
37号车碾过叶梦圆的时候，约翰逊并不知情，继续指挥灭火。而埃蒙斯等消防员则要求最后一次赶回飞机，搜索幸存者。此前，埃蒙斯等人已经帮助5名乘客离开飞机。但叶梦圆是不是5人之一，后来又为什么被留在飞机左翼一带，这些都不清楚。
约翰逊回应道：“现在不论谁在这儿，都已经死了。他们告诉我，所有人都下了飞机。伙计们，进去也没用。”
不过，埃蒙斯等消防员还是赶到现场，很快 发现了叶梦圆的尸体，上面还有救援车辆开过的痕迹。有人告诉约翰逊：“这儿有个尸体。”约翰逊一边感叹“我的上帝”，一边叫人用布盖住尸体，并很快通过对 讲机上报这一发现。最后，在约翰逊的监督下，消防员进行了第三次、也是最后一次搜索行动，寻找空难受害者。
当时，约翰逊还就救援车辆的隐患发出警告，他说：“所有人看好这些绿色的家伙（指救援车辆）行吗？他们不打招呼就随处乱开。”
韩亚航空214号航班7月6日在旧金山机场着陆时失事。事故中，共有181人受伤，3名中国女学生死亡。7月19日，加州当地法医和消防官员宣布，空难中遇难的16岁女生叶梦圆系救援车辆碾轧致死。