SURVIVOR DESCRIBES HARROWING ESCAPE.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen, Jason Kandel and Orith Goldberg Staff Writers

In the moments after Singapore Airlines Flight SQ006 crashed, passenger John Diaz of Santa Monica struggled through flames and smoke to an exit, only to find it blocked.

``I ran to the door and there were two girls trying to open the door, and it was stuck. I hit the door with my shoulder and it popped open,'' Diaz said in an interview with CNN in Taipei.

Diaz was among the 102 people who survived the runway crash of the Los Angeles-bound Boeing 747. Seventy-seven people were killed.

At Los Angeles International Airport, worried relatives and friends of passengers arrived and were hustled into private rooms where counselors and members of the American Red Cross attended to them.

David Ralph, 54, and Christina Reed, 25, who both work at Antelope Valley Christian School, were also among the survivors.

Ralph, a Palmdale resident and the founder and president of the school, suffered severe burns to his hands and arms and minor burns to his face, said his son, Sheldon, 29. He remained in a Taipei hospital's intensive care unit.

Reed had less serious burns to her hands and arms, the family said.

Ralph's children said their father's survival was nothing short of miraculous.

``The only thing you can attribute it to is the protective hand of God putting him in the right seat of the plane,'' Sheldon said.

``I feel extreme relief. It's been a chaotic day . . . You see the images and you wonder what is going on. We're very blessed.''

Ralph's daughter, Stacy Schmidt, said her father and Reed were sitting together near the tail of the plane.

The two were on a trip to Taiwan to recruit children for their High Desert boarding school.

Singapore Airlines officials said family members were expected to be flown to Taipei today.

``We have an operation here under way whereby relatives of the passengers are being met here at the airport and taken to a hotel in the LAX area,'' said James Boyd, Singapore Airlines spokesman. ``We'll be doing everything we can to assist the families.''

In Taiwan, Diaz, 50, recalled how the plane caught fire immediately and began to split apart.

``It was just getting ready to lift off when it felt like we hit something,'' he said. ``The next thing, the whole plane was shaking and sliding.

``There were flames everywhere, smoke everywhere,'' he said. ``There was jet fuel everywhere.''

Ignoring the inflatable slides, he said, he jumped out of the plane and ``just started running, and the whole thing blew up.'' He injured his shoulder.

``We were right on the ground. I jumped out of the plane, got caught up in the slide, freed myself and one other person and just started running and the whole thing blew up.

His wife told KABC-TV (Channel 7) that the horror of the crash is only now beginning to set in.

``He said that he saw people that were torched from jet fuel. This is just now hitting him, and I think he is going to be in bad shape for a while.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) DIAZ

(2 -- color) RALPH

Box: CREW AND PASSENGER LIST OF SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ006