A fire truck sprays water on Asiana Flight 214 after it crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6 2013.(Photo Noah Berger AP)
SAN FRANCISCO An Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul crashed on landing at San Francisco's airport Saturday forcing passengers to escape the aircraft using inflatable emergency exit slides. Two people were reported killed and 61 injured.
Ten people eight adults and two children were critically injured and being treated at San Francisco General Hospital hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said.
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Images from the scene showed smoke billowing from the plane and emergency exits open from the plane's fuselage with the tail separated from the aircraft. Gaping holes could be seen in the roof of the plane's body blackened by fire.
San Francisco Fire Department officials said two passengers were killed and 61 injured KTVU reported. The Associated Press said it was unable to confirm there were fatalities.
The plane was a Boeing 777 FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. It crashed on runway 28L at San Francisco International Airport he said.
There were 291 people aboard KCBS radio reported. The San Francisco airport was closed and incoming flights were diverted to other airports.
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The National Transportation Safety Board was dispatching a team of crash investigators including a group from Washington D.C. and three from Los Angeles who were already en route. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said the investigative team would look at all possible causes of the crash and would seek to recover cockpit voice and data recorders.
Obviously we have a lot of work to do '' Hersman said before departing Washington for the crash scene.
The investigators will work with the FAA the aircraft's manufacturer Boeing and Korea's Air and Accident Investigation Board Hersman said. Analysts in Washington D.C. will examine air traffic control records weather and aircraft maintenance issues she said. Investigators on site will examine the aircraft the cockpit data recorders and the scene.
She declined to comment on whether early evidence indicates pilot error.
We have not determined what the focus of this investigation is yet '' she said. We will be looking at everything. Everything is on the table at this point.''
Video images of the crash scene taken from TV helicopters showed the tail section separated and resting on tarmac far behind where the rest of the plane came to rest. Debris was scattered in a line from the sea wall in front of the runway threshold.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an e mail that she was on another flight from Korea landing at San Francisco at the time.
I was on another flight from Korea at the exact same time. We are OK. My friend on that flight is OK too '' Sandberg told USA TODAY.
The wreckage was sprayed with white fire retardant. Parts of the plane were scattered over a broad area though the bulk of the plane remained in one piece.
Laura Brown spokeswoman for the FAA in Washington said Asiana Flight 214 from Seoul was attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport when it crashed.
All we know is that a foreign airline Asiana Airlines Flight 214 arriving from Seoul South Korea crashed while landing '' she said. That's all I've got right now.
She said it appeared the plane crashed after touching down for a landing although the sequence of events was not clear.
A passenger David Eun tweeted after the crash Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured. Haven't felt this way since 9/11.''
Later Eun tweeted I'm fine. Most people are totally calm and trying to help. ... the majority of passengers seem OK.''
Boeing manufacturer of the plane said in a tweet from its corporate account Our thoughts are with everyone affected by today's incident at SFO. We stand ready to assist the NTSB.''
Last SlideNext SlideA graphic depicting the precise glide slope the jet followed to the runway was posted on the live flight tracking website FlightAware.com. It suggested the plane had a steeper approach angle than the same flight a day earlier.
A video clip posted to YouTube showed smoke coming from a silver colored jet on the tarmac. Passengers could be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides. Images showed the the body of the plane largely intact but with severe fire damage.
The tail of the plane was separated from the aircraft. Weather at the time was clear.
The last fatal accident involving a commercial flight in the United States was Colgan Air Flight 3407 which crashed near Buffalo killing 50 people on Feb. 12 2009.
There has not been a fatal accident involving a major domestic carrier since an American Airlines flight to the Dominican Republic crashed after takeoff in Queens N.Y. in November 2001 killing all 260 people on board.
In another crash of a Boeing 777 200ER British Airways flight 38 crashed just short of the runway at London's Heathrow on Jan. 17 2008. That crash had no fatalities but dozens were injured. That crash was blamed on ice crystals clogging the fuel line on a long flight from Beijing.
Asiana Airlines is based in Seoul. Its website says its Boeing 777 can carry from 246 to 300 passengers. Asiana flies 12 B777 200ER twin engine jets produced by Boeing. The long haul jet can fly 14 hours non stop.
The $875.5 billion airline established in 1988 operates 79 aircraft and flies 91 international routes to 71 cities in 23 countries.
A man who answered the phone at the airlines' Los Angeles office said the company had no comment. We're trying to find out what happened he said. The man declined to give his name.
The FAA investigated two accidents involving Asiana within weeks of one another in November 1998.
In the first incident on Nov. 11 1998 an Asiana plane with 220 passengers and 18 crew aboard skidded into a parked plane after landing at Anchorage International Airport in Alaska. Federal investigators blamed the pilot for excessive taxi speed and inadequate maneuvering to avoid the parked plane.
On Nov. 30 1998 an Asiana cargo plane struck and toppled a crane in the safety zone next to the taxiway after it landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The FAA faulted the co pilot for misjudging the wing's clearance.
Welch reported from Los Angeles Contributing Donna Leinwand Leger Bart Jansen USA TODAY Associated Press
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