Teenage Plane Crash Survivors Get Comfort from China

Consul General delivers praise and supplies

The Chinese Consul General headed to a San Jose hotel Monday afternoon to offer comfort to 26 Chinese teenagers who survived the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash on Saturday.

The teens from Zhejiang Province listened, tired and dazed, as Yuan Nansheng praised them for their courage and for their unity in the face of such a devastating disaster. The two victims of the fatal crash – Ye Menguyan and Wang Lianjia, both 16-years-old – were their classmates. Two other classmates remain in critical condition.

The Consul General handed out small cloth bags with basic necessities, like toothbrushes and other toiletries. He also arranged for workers from the consulate’s visa department to visit the hotel this afternoon to help any student whose travel documents were lost or damaged in the crash.

“It’s up to them to decide whether they want to stay or go home,” said Nansheng. The paperwork will take at least a few days. The students are being escorted by four teachers who are working with the Los Angeles-based tour group Golden International Travel. Staff member Danny Chan says the company booked the San Jose hotel where all the students could stay together, shopped for clothing for them and is transporting them to doctor’s appointments.

“They’re doing better today,” Chan said. “Yesterday, if you just asked them how they were doing, some of them would start to cry.”

Some of the students will reunite with family members, expected to arrive this evening at San Francisco International. It’s likely they’ll see the Asiana Airlines wreckage and debris field that remains on runway 28-left.

Adam Yu’s company, Bo Yu, had been working with the students’ school in China to coordinate their activities in California. Now, he’s doing more comforting.

“The families and the students, they’re missing each other” Yu said. “I think it’s too hard for them to talk, they are very, very, sad.”

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