The NTSB summer intern who mistakenly confirmed the names of the Asiana pilots to KTVU-TV, has been fired, a source with knowledge of the case reports.
Asiana Airlines is considering suing the the TV station for the incorrect and racially insensitive announcement made by the Oakland TV station due to the mistake made by the summer intern.
The Fox affiliate ran with the story on Friday and displayed the names on screen while the anchor reading the news read them aloud. The false names were supposedly “Captain Sum Ting Wong,” “Wi Tu Lo,” “Ho Lee Fuk” and “Bang Ding Ow.”
Flight 214 crashed while landing at the San Francisco International airport killing three passengers and injuring several others, some of which are still in the hospital. The real names of the pilots have been released.
KTVU has not said who provided the names to them, but that they were confirmed by an National Transportation Safety Board official. The agency later stated that a summer intern was to blame for the mistake.
The incident has created a public relations nightmare of the Fox affiliate. As reported by The Inquisitr on Monday, ailines officials also want to sue KTVU, but the station has not answered repeated question of how they obtained the false pilot names. They have, however, apologized several times to Asiana Airlines.
KTVU not only apoligized on air, but released statements on its website and its social media pages. The NTSB has also apologized for the incident, but Asiana believes that the incident has damaged its reputation.
In their statement of apology the NTSB said that “We work hard to ensure that only appropriate factual information regarding an investigation is released and deeply regret today’s incident.” The statement added that appropriate action would be taken to ensure the incident is not repeated.
The summer intern lost his job at the NTSB over the false pilot names. We have yet to know who gave the information to KTVU.