It had been an uneventful 10-plus hour flight from Seoul , South Korea , approaching San Francisco 's airport on a clear summer day . Then , in a few horrifying seconds , that calm was shattered . A fireball erupted after the Boeing 777 airliner hit the runway hard around 11:30 a.m. , rocked back and forth , spun around , shearing off the plane 's tail . Scores of passengers and crew climbed out -- some jumping , others sliding down evacuation chutes as flames and smoke billowed from the aircraft 's windows . Two people were found dead outside the plane , according to San Francisco fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White . `` My understanding is that they were found on the runway , '' she said . The airline identified the dead girls as students Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan , both 16 . Somehow , 305 others survived . Said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee : `` This could have been much worse . '' Follow latest developments in the story . That 's an understandable sentiment for anyone who heard passenger and eyewitness accounts , or saw the distressing , distorted images showing what remained of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 . Some photos painted an almost otherworldly scene -- like one posted online by David Eun of passengers walking from the burning plane . Some dragged their carry-on bags . One man held his hands steady to snap a picture . `` I just crash landed at SFO , '' Eun wrote . `` Tail ripped off . Most everyone seems fine . I 'm ok. Surreal ... '' CNN iReporter Timothy Clark watched from an eighth-floor balcony of a nearby hotel . He recalled hearing a bang , seeing a `` dust cloud , '' then seeing `` people running from the plane , then flames . '' Elliott Stone was one of them . He was `` 10 seconds away from being home '' when the airplane dipped `` kind of sharp , '' followed by another adjustment `` and then just boom , the back end just hit and flies up in the air and everybody 's head goes up to the ceiling . '' The first announcement `` was everybody calm , '' Stone said , but he and others unbuckled anyway . He told CNN he jumped out a door , before slides had deployed and before first responders had arrived . When they did , they saw some people climbing out of San Francisco Bay around the airport , Hayes-White said . Video taken soon after the crash and posted on YouTube showed dark gray smoke rising from the plane , which was upright on its belly , with no landing gear evident . Its roof was charred and , in spots , gone entirely . The back of the plane appeared to have been lopped off entirely . ' I just crash landed at SFO . I 'm ok. Surreal ' Eunice Bird Rah provided CNN a photo shot by her father , showing flames and smoke bursting out of many of the aircraft 's windows . Some 182 passengers and crew were being treated at Bay Area hospitals , with everything from spinal fractures to bumps and bruises , San Francisco deputy fire chief Dale Carnes said . Rah 's father is one of the 123 people who escaped -- physically , at least -- uninjured , according to Carnes . He 's `` doing fine , thank God , '' his daughter said . It 's not lost on her how horrible the whole scene was and how much more horrible it could have been . `` It 's heartbreaking , '' she said . No explanation yet on why this happened . Investigators from Washington and Seoul are heading to northern California trying to answer a simple question . How did this happen ? While the exact cause will take months to determine , the South Korean Transport Ministry said `` the tail of the Asiana flight hit the runway and the aircraft veered to the left out of the runway . '' Why this crash was survivable . Members of South Korea 's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board will travel to San Francisco , that agency said . They 'll be joined by a `` go-to '' team from the United States ' National Transportation Safety Board , led by chairman Deborah Hersman . Right now , they 're not sure what they 'll find , though a U.S. national security official has said there are no signs of terrorism . `` We have not determined what the focus of this investigation is yet , '' Hersman said . `` Everything is on the table at this point . '' Watching from a nearby hotel , Anthony Castorani saw the plane touch the ground , then noticed a large plume of smoke . `` You heard a pop and you immediately saw a large , brief fireball that came from underneath the aircraft , '' he told CNN . Kristina Stapchuck saw the dramatic scene unfold from her seat on a plane on the airport 's tarmac . Soon after Flight 214 touched down , `` it looked like the tires slipped a little bit and it rocked back , '' she told CNN . Parts of the plane began to break off as it rocked and then began to spin . `` It all happened so suddenly , '' Stapchuck told CNN . Flight data recorders recovered from Asiana crash . 'Serious moment to give thanks ' Well after the crash , debris extended through a large swath of the airport -- right up the water 's edge . But the recovery will go well beyond that . There were 16 crew members on the flight , in addition to 291 passengers , according to Asiana Airlines . The manifest included 141 Chinese passengers , 77 South Koreans and 61 Americans . Carnes said that 49 of those treated at area hospitals were in `` serious '' condition . Fifty-two of them are at San Francisco General Hospital , including five patients in critical condition , hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said . Another 45 have been treated at a Stanford University hospital , some of them suffering from `` life-threatening injuries , '' said Dr. David Spain , the chief of trauma . `` Many are critically injured , '' Lee stated Saturday evening . The crisis Saturday had trickle-down effects as well . At one point , flights destined for San Francisco International Airport were diverted to airports in Oakland , Sacramento , San Jose and Los Angeles , said Francis Zamora of San Francisco 's emergency management department . Expert on crash : Should n't have been close to hitting seawall . By 3:30 p.m. , though , two of the San Francisco airport 's four runways were open -- though the other two were still closed over eight hours later . The spotlight shone , too , on Asiana Airlines and the plane it received in 2006 . One of South Korea 's two major airlines , the other being Korean Air , it flies to 23 other countries . Many of the 25-year-old airline 's flight go out of Incheon International Airport , which is the largest airport in South Korea and considered among the busiest in the world . What happened to the flight is one part of the story . But there are 307 more personal stories out there -- of people who were moments from wrapping up a long flight , but instead endured a nightmare . Some who were n't on board also have stories to tell -- whether they saw the horror from an aircraft , tried to track down family members , or counted their blessings in other ways . Sheryl Sandberg , Facebook 's chief operating officer and author of the book `` Lean In , '' is in the latter category . She was supposed to be on Flight 214 , but switched to a United flight , arriving about 20 minutes before the Asiana flight crashed . `` Serious moment to give thanks , '' she wrote on her own Facebook page .
`` It could have been much worse , '' Seoul mayor says . Facebook Flight 214 was arriving from San Francisco 's when it crashed . 123 people total were treated at local hospitals ; 182 were uninjured , says officials . Everyone who had been on the plane is now accounted for .