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Video from the helmet camera of a firefighter
responding to the crash landing of an Asiana Airlines flight in San
Francisco shows at least one rescuer was aware someone was on the ground
outside the aircraft and even warned a colleague. Yet two fire trucks
subsequently ran over an injured passenger.


The video shows the girl, 16-year-old
Ye Meng Yuan, lying in the grass before she was struck, according to an
attorney for her family. A coroner concluded she was alive at the time
and died when she was later hit by a fire truck.

In the video, a firefighter with a
helmet camera tells the driver of a fire truck that there's a person in
front of him. A fire truck-mounted camera shows a firefighter directing
the truck away from the person.


What's not clear from the video is why rescuers
didn't try to move or clearly mark the presence of the person on the
ground during the chaotic aftermath of the July 6 crash at San Francisco
International Airport.Shortly after the crash, rescue
officials confirmed that one of the plane crash victims was run over by a
fire truck. Firefighters told investigators they assumed the girl was
dead and hurried on toward the damaged aircraft, according to documents
released by the NTSB.


"This is not a matter of us being
careless or callous,'' Assistant Deputy Chief Dale Carnes told the
federal safety board last month. "It was the fact we were dealing with a
very complex environment.''


The video, which was released to The Associated Press
on Wednesday by attorneys for the girl's family, reflected much of what
officials have said, only with more detail.It's still unknown how Yuan got out
of the plane. Interviews for an ongoing National Traffic Safety Board
investigation found Yuan was covered with foam and struck twice."At least five firefighters knew of
her presence before she was covered in foam. Nobody examined her, nobody
touched her, nobody protected her, moved her or did anything to take
her out of harm's way, and then they abandoned her there,'' said Anthony
Tarricone, an attorney for Yuan's family, which has filed a legal claim
against the City of San Francisco.San Francisco fire spokeswoman Mindy
Talmadge said on Wednesday she could not comment on the video because
of the pending litigation, though she confirmed there were videos and a
few still photographs of the scene that were taken by firefighters and
turned over to the department. The videos and photographs were given to
attorneys who have filed lawsuits representing victims of the crash,
Talmadge said.

San Francisco's fire chief, Joanne
Hayes-White, explicitly banned firefighters from using helmet-mounted
video cameras after images from such a recording of the Asiana Airlines
crash scene first became public. Hayes-White told the San Francisco
Chronicle she was concerned about the privacy of victims and
firefighters.


The department subsequently said it was reviewing that policy.

In all, 304 of the 307 people aboard
the Asiana flight survived after the airliner slammed into a seawall at
the end of a runway during final approach for landing.The impact ripped off the back of
the plane, tossed out three flight attendants and their seats, and
scattered pieces of the jet across the runway as it spun and skidded to a
stop.

Yuan was one of three Chinese teens who died; one died during the crash, and another died later in the hospital.
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