THE CALIFORNIA-BASED TV station KTVU was left red-faced and apologetic after it broadcast fake and racist names for the pilots of the Asiana Airlines Flight which crashed in San Francisco last weekend.
Three people are now confirmed to have died in the crash at the city’s international airport with the pilots actions coming under scrutiny.
But those pilots’ names are not “Sum Ting Wong,” “Wi Tu Lo,” “Ho Lee Fuk,” and “Bang Ding Ow” as KTVU, a Fox affiliate, reported:
YouTube: Paul Bartels
The station later broadcast a statement apologising for the error but claimed that the names had been confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the crash.
The NTSB later put out its own statement apologising for the “inaccurate and offensive names that were mistakenly confirmed as those of the pilots of Asiana flight 214″.
The agency blamed a “summer intern” saying that he “acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft”.
“Appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated,” the NTSB added, saying it never releases or confirms the names of crew members or people involved in accidents.
Meanwhile, officials at San Francisco General Hospital have confirmed that a third girl, reportedly Chinese, has died from injuries sustained in the crash. More than 180 people were injured.
In Seoul, Asiana Airlines earlier identified the pilot flying the Boeing 777 that crashed as Lee Kang-Kuk, 46.
- additional reporting from AFP
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