Airline says sorry to all of China after third fatality

Asiana Airlines issued an additional apology to China following the death of 15-year-old Liu Yipeng, the third victim of the crash of Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport.

All three victims were teenage students from the same middle school in China.

According to the airline, Liu had been in intensive care at San Francisco General Hospital and died Friday morning, local time.

The three classmates were traveling to the U.S. to attend a summer English-learning camp.

Asiana President and CEO Yoon Young-doo issued the apology directly after the news came out.

Last Friday, Asiana placed apologetic advertisements in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, the Zhejiang Daily and the Beijing Youth Daily. There were 141 Chinese passengers on Flight 214, the most of any nationality.

“We at Asiana Airlines would like express our utmost sympathy and regret for the distress experienced by the Chinese people and government,” the ad read. It was signed by both Yoon and Park Sam-koo, chairman of Kumho Asiana Group.

“We will take effective measures to prevent such an accident from happening again, and make an all-out effort to regain the trust of the Chinese people.”

According to local media reports, 31 Chinese survivors of the crash returned to their homes Saturday. Many were students and teachers from Jiangshan Middle School, which the three victims attended.

According to Asiana, among 77 Korean passengers who survived the crash, more than half have returned to Korea as of yesterday.

“We are currently trying to check passengers’ conditions and are helping them to return home whenever they want,” a spokesman from Asiana said.

BY JOO KYUNG-DON [kjoo@joongang.co.kr]