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Singapore Airlines jumbo jet that crashed in Taipei during a heavy rainstorm tried to take
off on the wrong runway and slammed into construction equipment being used to repair the
strip, officials confirmed Friday.
The comment by prosecutor Soong Kuo-yeh came as
officials from Taiwan, Singapore and the United States combed through the wreckage of the
Boeing 747-400 at the start of their investigation, and as dozens of American citizens
arrived in Taipei to claim the bodies of the victims.
The jetliner crashed late Tuesday night as a
typhoon bore down on the capital, with high winds, heavy rains and low visibility, killing
81 of the 179 people aboard Flight SQ006 from Taipei to Los Angeles.
CNN's Lisa Barron reported that the jetliner was
approved to take off from one runway, 5-Left, or 5L, but instead took off from the
right-sided one, 5R. Construction material, including cement blocks, were on runway 5R,
officials said.
Investigators are still checking to see what role
weather may have played in the plane ending up on the wrong runway.
In a live interview with ETTV cable TV news, Soong
said the plane crashed after hitting the two cranes being used to repair the closed runway
during the day.
"From the crash scene, it's very easy to see
that the plane had mistakenly used the wrong runway where there were scraps of steel and
two construction cranes," said Soong, a prosecutor at the Taoyuan County district
office where the Chiang Kai-shek airport is located.
Soong's remarks were the most specific account yet
of what may have happened during the crash.
The official probe has not announced any
conclusions. But it has determined that the bulk of the wreckage ended up on the closed
runway that ran parallel to the one the plane was supposed to use.
The pilot and some survivors of the crash also have
said they felt the jet hit something just before the accident broke it into three pieces
and set most of them on fire.
Another theory being discussed is that the plane
began on the correct runway, then quickly lifted off to avoid an object blown into its
path and crashed onto the closed runway.
Officials at Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council,
which is leading the investigation, could not be immediately reached for comment about the
prosecutor's remark. In Singapore, an official at Singapore Airlines home office also
declined comment.
On Friday, dozens of Americans arrived in Taipei
aboard a Singapore Airlines flight from Los Angeles, many appearing tired and very sad.
Most declined to comment to reporters.
But one, Khan Mahmood of Atlanta, who lost his
sister and his parents in the crash, criticized Singapore Airlines.
"Initially, we were disappointed. The first
day it was a frustrating experience," Mahmood said. He didn't elaborate, but appeared
to join others who have complained that Singapore Airlines took too long to notify
relatives about what had happened to the plane and the crash victims.
"All I can say is I lost my parents as well as
my sister," Mahmood said, before being led to a bus that took the Americans to a
hotel, then to a memorial hall where the bodies must be identified.
Another upset woman urged reporters to leave the
mourners alone, saying: "I just want my brother back."
People assisting the relatives of the deceased have
been more aggressive about keeping reporters and cameras away than they were when the body
identification process began earlier in the week.
There was a minor shoving match after news cameras
followed relatives into a Buddhist altar area at a funeral center in Taoyuan County. One
woman pushed a television camera down.
Meanwhile, investigators continued to comb through
the wreckage of the shattered jet, focusing on pieces ranging from a shredded tire to an
engine planted deep in the ground.
Singapore Airlines, with no previous crashes in 28
years of operation, is regarded as one of the world's best airlines.
But Tuesday's accident was the latest in Asia to
raise questions about whether pilots are given too much leeway in attempting takeoffs and
landings in bad weather.
Some survivors have questioned why the Singapore
Airlines jet even tried to take off during heavy wind and rains and poor visibility caused
by the typhoon.
Winds were blowing between 27 to 31 mph (43 to 49
kph), and the plane was traveling 145 mph (233 kph) -- too fast to abort a takeoff, said
Kay Yong, managing director of Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council. (twx/bf)
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