WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Department of Transportation has fined Asiana Airlines $500,000 for failing to properly assist the families of passengers aboard a flight that crashed last year in San Francisco.
With the announcement of the penalty Tuesday, the South Korea-based airline becomes the first to receive a fine under a 1997 federal law requiring carriers to provide assistance following a crash. Asiana took two days to contact just three-quarters of the families of passengers aboard Flight 214, which crashed upon landing at San Francisco Airport on July 6, killing three people. Other families weren't contacted for as many as five days.