On Tuesday, officials of the US Department of Transportation said that South Korean airline Asiana Airlines will pay a $500,000 for failure to oversee prompt communication of families of passengers who were involved in a San Francisco International airport crash happened last year, The Associated Press said in a report published on ABC News. The US agency said that its investigation revealed that Asiana took five days to contact all families of the 291 passengers of Asiana Flight 214. Moreover, the dedicated hotline required by the US Department of Transportation in lieu of the crash was initially directed to the airline's automated reservations line.
The July 6 crash of Asiana Flight 214 resulted to the deaths of three of its passengers and caused injuries to a dozen others. The airplane reportedly clipped a seawall while attempting to land. AP said that the confusion of the crash resulted to the death of a 16 year-old passenger who was run over by a fire truck after she was ejected off the plane.
US Department of Transportation believed that Asiana was at fault for not providing crucial support to the families of the passengers following the plane crash. AP pointed out that majority of the passengers came from South Korea or China, and that Asiana was their main source of information regarding the crash, which happened on US soil.
In a statement, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, "The last thing families and passengers should have to worry about at such a stressful time is how to get information from their carrier."
Asiana spokeswoman Hyomin Lee meanwhile, in a response to the sanction imposed by the US agency, said in an emailed statement to the news wire agency, "(The airline) provided extensive support to the passengers and their families following the accident and will continue to do so." Pointing to the findings the US Department of Transportation shared regarding its investigation regarding the airline's purported negligence of duty, Asiana blamed the lack of experienced staff during a holiday weekend for its inability to communicate quickly with the victims' families.
