The death toll in the crash of the Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet rose yesterday to 80 while the airline continued to stress that the pilot was was not to blame for the crash.
In addition to the 80 dead, 56 were still in hospital and another 44 had escaped virtually unscathed.
PHOTO: TONY K. YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Authorities recovered the plane's two black boxes yesterday -- the voice recorder and data recorder -- and said the two were "complete and clear."
PHOTO: TONY K. YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Investigations into reasons behind the crash were ongoing but no conclusions had yet been reached.
One possible explanation that is being closely investigated is that the pilot may have strayed onto a runway that was under repair and hit materials or equipment that were left there.
Camera footage on local television showed a damaged backhoe next to the shredded carcass of the fuselage of the plane. The backhoe appeared to have sustained damage to its hydraulic arm, although investigators could not say for certain if the damage had occurred before or after the crash.
Singapore Airlines also said that although there was a typhoon, weather conditions at the airport were within safe takeoff tolerances.
"He [the pilot] wouldn't be allowed to take off if the weather conditions were very bad," airline spokesman Rick Clements told reporters in Singapore. Clements noted that other planes were taking off around the time of the crash.
However, Clements did say that the pilot "saw an object on the runway and he tried to take off to avoid the object, and he hit the object."
Clements wouldn't say what the plane might have struck.
The government yesterday moved to minimize the possible damage that such a mishap could bring the already-embattled new government, publicly apologizing and expressing its concern for family members.
"President Chen Shui-bian (
Yu said that the president called on all departments of the government to do all they could to help passengers and their families.
Yesterday, both Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
The premier urged the Minister of Justice to send more coroners to help speed up the process of identifying the dead.
The passenger list included 47 US citizens and 55 Taiwanese, airline officials said. There were also eight Malaysians on the flight, 11 Singaporeans, five Indonesians, 11 Indians and four Mexicans. Individuals from some 19 countries were on board.
Singapore Airlines said that it would provide all families of the victims with US$25,000 in immediate compensation, Clements said.
Speaking in Singapore, the airline's chairman, Michael Fam, said: "We wish to express our sincere regret to all concerned. This is a tragic day for all of us."
The scene was frantic at Chang Gung Hospital near the airport, where emergency room workers gently lifted injured people from ambulances. Some were burned, others lay on gurneys with broken or bruised limbs.
Y.K. Soong, the hospital's vice superintendent, said that if it hadn't been for the heavy rain, the fire might have spread through the wreckage much faster.
Dr Sally Walker, 46, a professor of Geology at the University of Georgia, escaped from the burning plane alive. While Walker said she had searched long and hard for a safe airline, her first 24-hour trip "was a nightmare."
Walker and others managed to escape the burning wreckage unharmed by following one another's voices and moving forward through the dark, smoke-filled remains of the cabin.
A complete passenger list can be found on the Internet at www.singaporeair.com/report4b.html.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2