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A Bay Area TV station that aired four fake names of the pilots of the Boeing 777 that crash landed at San Francisco airport July 6 might face legal action from Asiana Airlines.
The airline says that it also is mulling legal action against the National Transportation Safety Board, which admitted Friday that a summer intern confirmed those fake names to the station, KTVU-TV.
“Regarding the KTVU-TV’s demeaning report of the pilots on July 12, Asiana Airlines is reviewing possible legal action against KTVU-TV and the NTSB,” the airlines said in a statement to CNN. “The reputation of the four pilots and of the company had been seriously damaged by this report. The company is reviewing taking legal action against both KTVU-TV and the NTSB.”
KTVU-TV aired a report Friday that falsely stated the airline pilots names were “Captain Sum Ting Wong,” “Wi Tu Lo,” “Ho Lee Fuk” and “Bang Ding Ow.” The network issued an on-air apology and a statement on its website explaining its mistake, although it initially maintained that “an NTSB official” confirmed those names.
The NTSB issued a statement Friday evening explaining the matter. “Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft,” the release said.
Three people have been confirmed dead in the Asiana Airlines crash landing, with many more passengers injured.
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