August 27, 1999
Web posted at: 9:23 p.m. EDT (0123 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

HONG KONG (CNN) -- The fatalities from the crash of a Taiwan jetliner at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport rose to three Friday with the death of a man suffering from severe burns.

The 49-year-old Hong Kong man sustained second and third degree burns over more than half his body Sunday when a China Airlines MD-11 flying from Bangkok crash-landed during a tropical storm. One wing hit the ground, sending the plane skidding across the runway in flames and flipping it onto its back.

Of the 315 people aboard, a Portuguese woman and a Taiwanese man were killed almost instantly and 212 were injured. Thirty-one of the injured remained hospitalized, including one in critical condition. The others were in stable or satisfactory condition.

Airport officials said it's uncertain when the southern runway would reopen.

The wreckage must still be removed and the runway repaired and given a safety inspection, a Hong Kong Airport Authority spokesman said.

Chek Lap Kok's northern runway remains open and operational.

Airport authorities tried to winch the battered hull of the jet onto a long tow truck. That plan was scrapped because it appeared the fuselage would collapse.

"As we lowered the fuselage on the trailers, it became evident that there was a very real danger of the fuselage beginning to break up, which would have caused a lot of complications, including possibly blocking taxiways," said another spokesman, Chris Donnelley.

"There is also the danger of damage to some of our recovery equipment and physical danger to some of the recovery workers and the possibility of losing evidence from the cockpit," he said.

Crews returned the fuselage to the ground and opted to cut it into three pieces and haul them away.

In a preliminary report from the investigation into the accident -- the first since the airport opened last year -- Taiwan aviation officials said that crosswinds whipped up by Tropical Storm Sam were blowing at 26 knots on Sunday. That was significantly higher than the standard safety limit of 24 knots and the co-pilot's account of winds that night as 22.7 knots.

Correspondent Ty Marega and Reuters contributed to this report.

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