'Pillars of smoke,' 'several flips': Witnesses recount scene at San Francisco plane crash

Eyewitness of the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash describes the dramatic scene as the aircraft came in for a landing.

By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

Witnesses watched in horror as a plane crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.

Stefanie Turner was walking to her hotel on the waterfront across from the runway at the airport when she saw a landing plane coming in at a bad angle, its tail very low.?

"As we were watching, we saw the Asiana flight approaching, and we saw that the angle was wrong," she said. "The tail was too low as it was approaching.?

A Boeing 777 jetliner crashed after a flight across the Pacific Ocean from South Korea. Early reports from NBC Bay Area said at least two people were killed and dozens of people hurt, but the full extent of the casualties was not clear.?

The plane, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Seoul, came to rest beside the runway ? missing its tail, spewing black smoke and with most of the top of the fuselage ripped or burned off.

"The tail kind of clipped the runway. I think that?s when the tail broke off,? Turner said.?

She said she was worried the plane would hit another jet that was parked on the runway.

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"I was very, very nervous,? she added.

The witness recounted then seeing the aircraft do "several flips, cartwheels down the runway."

"It really went through quite a few acrobatics on the runway," Turner said, adding she then saw "flames and smoke billowing out of the fuselage."

Chloe Harrington, 13, was on a plane on the runway when the crash happened. She said she saw "pillars of smoke" and a plane that was "practically cut in two."

Early reports said at least 291 people were on board. An airport spokesman said he did not have a firm number. Video footage showed at least some passengers sliding down the inflatable emergency chutes.

On Twitter and Instagram, witnesses shared dramatic images and firsthand accounts from the scene of the crash.?

Among them,?Samsung executive David Eun, said he was aboard the plane that crashed. Eun described his experience as "surreal" and added that "most everyone seems fine."?

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NBC News' Stephanie Haberman contributed to this report.?

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