Eugene Anthony Rah
A photo taken by Eugene Anthony Rah, a passenger on Asiana Airlines Flight 214, shows passengers leaving the plane after it crash landed at San Francisco International Airport.
Chinese filled almost half the 291 passenger seats on Asiana Airlines Flight 214 when it landed hard in San Francisco and skidded off the runway after a flight from Seoul. China’s consulate in San Francisco said 120 of its citizens were confirmed as OK, indicating up to 19 could be injured among the total 141 on board.Among the lucky majority who walked away from the jetliner crash was a woman in a green blouse. Even as black smoke billowed from the broken fuselage behind her, she was photographed wheeling away a giant suitcase and with another bag over her shoulder.While the woman’s identity and nationality weren’t apparent, many on the Internet drew their own conclusions about her and others photographed tugging bags away from the wreck. “When I see people escaping the plane with their luggage I know they must be Chinese,” said one user on Sina Corp.'s Twitter-like service, Weibo.Around the world, flight attendants routinely use the plane’s public address system to thank passengers moments after a jetliner lands, welcoming them to the destination point.But the message is usually a bit different on flights crowded with Chinese passengers because one or two Chinese passengers typically stand and start gathering their belongings from overhead bins, sometimes before the craft has touched down. Flight attendant admonishments are common: “Please return to your seats!”It is unclear what instructions the Asiana crew gave to passengers on Flight 214 and in what language. There were 12 flight attendants on board. Asiana says it can’t immediately confirm how many speak Chinese.Grabbing bags on the plane didn’t put anyone in danger, according to crash survivor Xu Da. The executive of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao service was among the first to publicize the crash in Chinese. Writing on Weibo, he said that after the plane stopped, “we immediately grabbed our luggage. My wife was very calm and organized the belongings.”By Sunday, between posts about the blue skies in San Francisco, he was defending the action in response to widespread criticism.“The three of us were sitting in the same row and the luggage compartment was just overhead,” Mr Xu wrote (in Chinese). “We didn’t block the aisle. Our passports and money were in the bags. If we didn’t grab them, we would have been in trouble…”Surviving a jetliner crash is rare enough. And it’s mantra that getting out quickly after impact offers the best chance of living. Furthermore, airline safety experts warn escape slides can get pierced by sharp objects, so instruct anyone exiting during an emergency to remove spiky heels and jewelry – and forget the luggage.Others on the Internet defended the passengers, with one saying that their actions were “instinctive.” No one could be expected to be thinking rationally at such a moment, the poster said.Mr. Xu explained that the emergency exit was anything but by-the-book for his wife and son, who were seated near the rear of Asiana’s Boeing 777. The plane’s tail was broken off, leaving a big round hole where the kitchen galley had been. They just jumped out the back, no slide needed.“When the crash happened, everyone rushed to the front,” Mr. Xu wrote. “My son said we could go through the back, which is how we got out.”–James T . Areddy and Fanfan Wang. Follow James on Twitter @jamestareddyLike China Real Time on Facebook and follow us Twitter for the latest updates.Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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