Passengers, Witnesses Describe Fiery Crash at SFO

Passengers and witnesses describe what they saw after Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport Saturday morning: 

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said on her Facebook page that she was supposed to be on Asiana Airlines Flight 214. 

"Taking a minute to be thankful and explain what happened. My family, colleagues Debbie Frost, Charlton Gholson and Kelly Hoffman and I were originally going to take the Asiana flight that just crash-landed. We switched to United so we could use miles for my family's tickets. Our flight was scheduled to come in at the same time, but we were early and landed about 20 minutes before the crash. Our friend Dave David Eun was on the Asiana flight and he is fine. 

Thank you to everyone who is reaching out - and sorry if we worried anyone. 

Serious moment to give thanks."

Passenger David Eun, a Samsung executive, tweeted: "I don't want to divert attention away from crash. Posted updates to let everyone know that majority of passengers seem ok."

"Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured. Haven't felt this way since 9/11.…"

Nicole Hawkins via Belmont Patch Facebook: "I wasn't at the airport when the plane crashed today, but I was on the plane that was slated to land right after the Asiana flight. Everything seemed normal as we were about to land, on the approach to the runway with landing gear down, then the plane suddenly pulled up and the landing gear was retracted. We started ascending and were looking at each other like what the heck is going on?  The pilot didn't say anything and we circled down toward SJC and then on the way back up towards SFO they told us about the tragic news and the airport was closed, not sure if it would be 10 mins or indefinitely, which then they would divert us to another local airport. Since we were up in the sky and moving, I could only see the thick black smoke and the fire trucks going towards the accident. We circled a few more times then got diverted to Oakland. Thankfully the Bart strike was on hold so I could get back over to this side of the Bay. Was definitely a surreal and sad day, but nothing compared to what the poor passengers and family are going through." 

Kelly Thompson was staying at the Westin Hotel and saw the accident from her hotel room. She said the plane made a "humongous bounce" on the runway, and that she couldn't believe planes could physically move in such a manner. She also said it was "a miracle" that the plane didn't hit a nearby United 747 plane. 

High school senior Nathaniel Catunao of Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose was at Hong Kong Flower Seafood restaurant in Millbrae when he snapped the photos above.