Plane crash in San Francisco leaves Boeing in smoke, tail snapped off

A Boeing 777 operated by the Korean airline Asiana crashed while landing Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Images and video (see below) of the crash showed the plane on fire, with smoke billowing from the crumpled fuselage, lying on its belly on scrub grass at the airport. It had lost its tail.

The debris field from the crash began at the seawall at the start of the runway 28, according to aerial video images. Both wings remained attached but one engine was ripped off. The tail was snapped off some distance from where the plane finally came to rest in the grass off the runway.

The plane was Flight 214 from Seoul, South Korea, a spokesman for the F.A.A., Lynn Lunsford, said.

Firefighters were on the scene, but there were no immediate reports of the extent of casualties. It was not clear how many people had been on board.

David Eun, who said in a Twitter message that he had been a passenger on the plane, posted a picture of a downed Asiana jetliner from ground level, which showed some passengers walking away from the aircraft.

An aviation official, who did not want to be identified discussing a fluid situation, said that the plane was not making an emergency landing, and that the situation had been entirely normal until the crash. The cause was also unclear.

Stefanie Turner, who posted on Twitter that she had witnessed the crash, said that the “plane came in at a bad angle, flipped, exploded.”

CBS Station KPIX reports witnesses heard a loud bang, and saw a huge cloud of smoke.

Rescue vehicles were on the scene immediately afterwards.

The airport has been closed — no flights were being allowed in or out of SFO at this time.

Photo from video coverage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/06/asiana-airlines-plane-cra_n_3555309.html