Family sues over death after US air crash

City faces lawsuit over death of Ye Meng Yuan, thrown alive from crashed aircraft but then hit by emergency vehicles.

Ye Meng Yuan was thrown from the aircraft as it crashed on the runway [Al Jazeera]

The parents of a teenager run over and killed by two emergency vehicles after an Asiana Airlines crash have filed a claim against the city of San Francisco, saying rescuers were reckless and poorly trained.

In a claim filed this week, lawyers for the parents of 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan say firefighters who first saw the girl after the July 6 crash should have examined her and moved her somewhere safe.

Yuan was among several people catapulted from the aircraft as it broke up after hitting a seawall at the end of the runway while landing.

Emergency vehicles then hit Yuan as they travelled to the crash scene.

A post-mortem examination revealed Yuan was alive before the vehicles hit her.

Firefighters told investigators they assumed she was dead and hurried on toward the damaged aircraft.

Investigations after the crash showed that emergency services were at first slow to respond, and that emergency calls revealed an urgent need for more ambulances and medics.

In all, 304 of the 307 people aboard the plane survived the crash.

Source: News Agencies