Asiana drops lawsuit against TV station

ASIANA Airlines says it has decided not to file a lawsuit against a US television station which aired false and offensive names for the pilots involved in the fatal San Francisco plane crash.

The South Korean airline had earlier said it was planning a defamation lawsuit against Fox network affiliate KTVU news Channel 2 in Oakland over its coverage of the crash on July 6.

The TV station identified the pilots of the Asiana Boeing 777 as "Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow".

KTVU cited the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as its source, but quickly realised the mistake and apologised.

Asiana also said it would sue the NTSB but on Monday backtracked, and on Wednesday it withdrew the same threat against KTVU.

"Asiana decided not to proceed with the suit," the airline said, citing an apology by the station.

Three people died when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Shanghai via Seoul crashed while landing at San Francisco Inteational Airport and more than 180 were injured.

The jet clipped a sea wall with its tail as it came in to land at the US airport and skidded out of control before catching fire.

Two teenage Chinese girls died at the scene and another girl, also Chinese, died from her injuries.

Four pilots have been quizzed by US aviation officials over the deadly crash.