TAIWAN: SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ006 CRASH WRAP

(2 Nov 2000) Mandarin/Eng/Nat
XFA
Sobbing and holding onto one another, grieving relatives of Singapore Airlines crash victims began the grim process of identifying the bodies of their loved ones at Taipei's airport on Thursday.
No new evidence or findings have emerged about what may have caused the Boeing 747-400 to burst into flames while taking off for Los Angeles as a typhoon approached Taiwan's capital.
Officials are still analysing the plane's "black boxes," or flight data and voice cockpit recorders.
The accident killed 79 people, most of them Americans or Taiwanese.
Most of the corpses are being stored in body bags in a vacant terminal at the Chiang Kai-shek airport.
Lined up in neat rows, the 70 or so bodies were laid next to caskets of honey pine and dark cherry wood.
Some of the relatives wailed loudly and others covered their faces with their coats to shield themselves as they walked past television crews and photographers while entering the terminal.
In addition to the 79 people who died in the accident, 40 were hospitalised and 58 suffered minor injuries or escaped unhurt and two remained unaccounted for.
Some relatives of those who died have blamed the pilot, Captain C.K. Foong, for his decision to take off in such bad weather.
The airline, which had not had a major accident in 28 years, defended its captain's decision but refused to comment further while the investigation was still under way.
As investigators probed and victims' loved ones hurled accusations, medical workers continued to identify the bodies, many of which were badly burned.
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"It is upon the pilot's knowledge and experience to decide if he was going to take off in such weather. Different airline companies have different regulations regarding the decision in taking off in such conditions, but if the pilot takes off, he should be responsible. "
SUPER CAPTION: Chang Yo-hen, Civil Aviation Bureau director
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This tragic accident in Taipei - the cause has not been determined so I think it's premature to talk about what we think about our safety record."
SUPER CAPTION: Dr Choong Kong, CEO of Singapore Airlines
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In Singapore we didn't know what is happening until 10 o'clock news tonight. So we want to find out what is really happening. Even now when we arrived they didn't tell us what is happening. And they didn't tell us what is happened to him - if he's alive or whether he's on the list. No mention at all. I feel they should give us an answer rather than give us hope and hope and come here and break it. "
SUPER CAPTION: Chua Geok Hong, sister-in-law of passenger listed as "unaccounted for" by airline
SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"We are investigating several possibilities of causes for the crash. For example, whether bad weather conditions breached safety guyidline; if the construction site nearby sis a factor to consider and if the air traffic control centre did its job right. "
SUPER CAPTION: Hsih Chin-hui, government legal watchdog
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[@user-qp2cw3po4h]

01:49 the windswept look

[@andrewanane9715]

awwww! Sorry to the families of those who died in the crash.

[@devilfamily8491]

01:47 ... singapore ang mo kio aji no moto msg bald head superhero "the boeing double headed lightning bolt flash vr man" speaks ... listen listen

[@samesamebutnotsame1172]

Just some people are stalking passenger's relative

[@chimmichua1986]

Alot of gays died as it was pride