SAN FRANCISCO—On Saturday, July 6 at approximately at 11:30 a.m., Asiana Flight 214, a Boeing 777, carrying more than 300 passengers flying into San Francisco International Airport (SFO) from Seoul, South Korea, crash landed on the runway.
The tail of the plane was completely torn off from the rest of the plane while smoke billowed from atop the plane with flames bursting throughout the cabin. According to the latest reports, 130 passengers have been taken to area hospitals throughout San Francisco, 60 remain unaccounted for, and two have been pronounced dead. There were 291 passengers including an infant, in addition to at least 16 flight crew members.
Among the passengers there were 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans and 62 Americans on board the aircraft. Rescue teams arrived as passengers were sliding down the chute and running towards firefighters and paramedics. The San Francisco International Airport was closed at approximately 1:10 p.m. with no planes coming in-or-out and all flights to San Francisco have been diverted to surrounding airports such as Sacramento (SMF), Seattle (SEA), and Los Angeles (LAX).
Eye witnesses of the plane crashed recorded video, took photos, and later shared them to the masses on social networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter among others. Witnesses from various vantage points believe the plane crash appeared to have been an accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will be conducting investigations as to what went wrong, including looking at the aircraft maintenance, air traffic control operations and weather.
By Alice Perez
