A witness described to ABC News what he saw when the plane was landing.

"The nose of the plane was higher than usual for a plane coming in to land and I thought that was odd," Stephen Dear said. "It got closer and closer. I saw the back tail hit the ground."

Dear said the plane then "caught fire immediately."

Asiana Airlines Crash Kills Two in San Francisco
Dominic Garcia, who also witnessed the crash, told ABC News that when the plane hit the runway, he saw what appeared to be "a huge mushroom cloud."

"Within 15 seconds it was just black smoke," he said. "It looked like an explosion."

The Boeing 777 is one of the safest airplanes in use, ABC News aviation analyst John Nance said.

"These airplanes are over the water, over the ocean all the time and Asiana has been running them for many years very successfully," Nance said.

Boeing issued a statement to ABCNews.com on the news of the crash.

"Boeing extends its concern for the safety of those on board Asiana Airlines Flight 214," the company said. "Boeing is preparing to provide technical assistance to the National Transportation Safety Board as it investigates the accident."

The last Boeing 777 to crash was a British Airways jet en route from Beijing to London's Heathrow airport, which crash landed short of the runway in January 2008. There were no fatalities, but 47 people on board sustained injuries.

The plane was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, according to a statement from the company's spokeswoman Pratt & Whitney.

Pratt & Whitney said it was cooperating with authorities, but declined to comment further.

Rhino.5dm:


1. We can as well argue that Dana airline is not a Nigerian airliner.

2. Dana airline was piloted by an AMERICAN pilot.

3.US got her independence 237 years ago, while Nigeria is barely 50 years.

I thought I should help you out. Stop comparing US with Nigeria.

50calibre: Boeing 777 is a beast of the sky, seems miraculous there weren't more fatalities

ogugua88:

Have they given you reason to believe? Every time you vote for a new face, Nigerians are often met with the same old disappointments. San Francisco international airport has army and health personnel on ground 24/7. By the time local stations were showing the news, most of the fire was out, and I'm only 2 hours away.

Can the same be said about MMA?

riskit33: America just marked her 237th anniversary, while Nigeria is yet to mark her 53th, the difference is clear so pls spare us the sermon.

browncool: San Fransisco airport will not speak Mandarin (Chinese language)and the girls voice on the video background were Filipinos as they were speaking Tagalog

Yomieluv: If this has happened in Nigeria,so people would have been ranting rubbish blaming FAAN,FG,and so on,now it happened in oyinbo land,all we can say is "Thank God,no life lost".

Lordave: use your head!
This crash happened in the airport, so there were so many security personnel and fire fighters around/in the airport, that's why they were able to quickly put off the fire and avert more disaster.
Now, could this have been the story if this crash happened in a bush or in an isolated place?

pDude:


What is this one talking sef?

riskit33: It's beats me that NLs keep fighting over trivial things.

riskit33: Pls help me ask them that question once more bro. It's beats me that NLs keep fighting over trivial things. How did we manage to move from the topic to criticizing the nigerian system. Let it be known to all of us that the only way to move this country forward is by LOVING her NOT hating! That's how U.S got to where they are. So please grow up!

Lordave: use your head!
This crash happened in the airport, so there were so many security personnel and fire fighters around/in the airport, that's why they were able to quickly put off the fire and avert more disaster.
Now, could this have been the story if this crash happened in a bush or in an isolated place?

A-ZeD:

When America was 50 the president didn't have an aircraft but Gej has one.

naptu2:

Unfortunately I have to do this.

Key words: Sosoliso, plane crash, Port Harcourt Airport, Fire Fighters, water, ambulance, dead.

riskit33: Pls help me ask them that question once more bro. It beats me that NLs keep fighting over trivial things. How did we manage to move from the topic to criticizing the nigerian system. Let it be known to all of us that the only way to move this country forward is by LOVING her NOT hating! That's how U.S got to where they are. So please grow up!

bittyend: Americans trying to give the almighty Boeing a bad name.

Airbus is the crash master, stop playing games with the European birds, spying and espionage addicted Americans!

naptu2:

Unfortunately I have to do this.

Key words: Sosoliso, plane crash, Port Harcourt Airport, Fire Fighters, water, ambulance, dead.

ogugua88:

My city is a two hour drive from San Francisco. The response was so fast that by the time news broke on local television, there was only smoke. No flames.