Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Nearly Boarded Flight That Crashed in San Francisco

As you're probably well aware by now, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 bound from South Korea crash-landed onto the runway at San Francisco International Airport yesterday, killing two passengers and injuring dozens more. Including the crew, there were over 300 people on board the flight, and had things gone to plan, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer (COO), Sheryl Sandberg, would have been one of them. Fortunately for her, she switched flights at the last minute in order to accumulate miles on United.

Sandberg revealed in a Facebook post that she was originally scheduled to fly on Flight 214, but ended up on a different airline that landed 20 minutes prior.

"Taking a minute to be thankful and explain what happened. My family, colleagues Debbie Frost, Charlton Gholson and Kelly Hoffman and I were originally going to take the Asiana flight that just crash-landed," Sandberg posted to Facebook. "We switched to United so we could use miles for my family's tickets. Our flight was scheduled to come in at the same time, but we were early and landed about 20 minutes before the crash. Our friend Dave David Eun was on the Asiana flight and he is fine. Thank you to everyone who is reaching out - and sorry if we worried anyone. Serious moment to give thanks."

Asiana Airlines Flight 214 Crash
Image Source: Flickr (vsivera)

All 307 people on board the flight that went down are now accounted for. According to ongoing coverage by CBS News, San Francisco General Hospital said it received 53 patients, including 26 children. Six of them were reported in critical condition. The two people who perished were both 16-year-old girls from China.

It's still not clear what caused the crash, though the FBI has said there have not been any indications of terrorism at this time.