SIA Refrains From Confirming Cause of Airliner CrashThe Singapore Airlines (SIA) has refrained from confirming the cause of the crash of its flight SQ 006 although Taiwan authorities officially stated that the plane was on the wrong runway before the crash Tuesday."We understand that the Taiwanese authorities have officially stated that this was the case that the aircraft was on the wrong runway," SIA spokesman Rick Clements told a press conference here Friday. "On behalf of the SIA, I would like to say we are deeply shocked about the conclusions that have been reached." But Clements stressed that the conclusions were made by the Taiwan authorities and not by SIA. "This is not SIA that said the aircraft was on the wrong runway." "We will await the official report from the Taiwanese authorities who are responsible for the investigation," he said, adding, "Let me clarify that what we were saying was that the Taiwanese authorities, the Taiwanese officials have said the aircraft was on the wrong runway." Clements also said that if that is the case, SIA wants to understand how this happened to make sure that such a mistake never happens again. He also confirmed that a team of experienced investigators have been sent to Taiwan to help in the investigation and more than 150 trained SIA staff have been sent to Taipei to support and comfort families of the deceased and injured passengers. |
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