Officials: Third casualty in Asiana plane crash

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hospital officials say a girl on the Asiana Airlines flight that crashed last Saturday has died from her injuries, becoming the third fatality from the accident.

The girl had been in critical condition since arriving at the San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Margaret Knudson, chief of surgery, said the child died Friday.

Officials did not identify the girl at the request of her parents. Her age also was withheld.

Authorities revealed Friday that one of the two Chinese teenagers killed in the Asiana Airlines disaster was hit by a fire truck while covered with firefighting foam, a startling detail that suggested she could have survived the crash only to die in its chaotic aftermath.

However, it wasn't clear whether Ye Meng Yuan, 16, was already dead when she was run over or whether the truck killed her moments after Saturday's crash.

"The first truck did go over the victim at least one time. Now the other question is what was the cause of death?" police spokesman Albie Esparza said. "That's what we are trying to determine right now."

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said the results of his initial inquiry into the deaths of Ye and her friend Wang Linjia, also 16, would probably be released sometime next week.

Police said Ye was on the ground and covered in foam that rescuers had sprayed on the burning wreckage of Flight 214. When the truck moved while battling the flames, rescuers discovered her body in the tire track, Esparza said.

The airliner collided with a rocky seawall just short of the runway. Dozens of other passengers were injured, although most suffered only minor injuries.