Taipei Crash Victims Sent to Burn Center

Two Singapore Airlines crash survivors were airlifted Friday night to the Grossman Burn Center, where they will undergo surgery Monday for second- and third-degree burns, a hospital spokesman said.

David L. Ralph, a 54-year-old Palmdale resident and marketing associate professor at Pepperdine University, was in serious but stable condition Friday night, spokesman Larry Weinberg said. Up to 15% of his body surface area was burned, affecting his face and the left side of his body, Weinberg said.

“The worst burns were on his hands, especially the top of his hands,” Weinberg said.

Ralph’s assistant, Christina Reed, 26, of Rosamond, was in fair condition with burns covering up to 15% of her body, including her face and the left side of her body.

“Ralph’s burns are more serious, but, in our judgment, she’s in worse condition than was first described to us,” Weinberg said.

Monday’s operations will be the first of an undetermined number of surgeries for both patients, Weinberg said.

Ralph and Reed were flown to Los Angeles International Airport from Taipei on Singapore Airlines Flight 006, the same flight involved in the accident that killed 81 people on the runway at Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.

They were transported by helicopter to the internationally recognized burn center.

Ralph, founder of Antelope Valley Christian School in Lancaster, and Reed were returning from a student recruiting trip to Taiwan.