2 dead, 1 missing in Boeing 777 crash

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(CNN) — Two people died and others were unaccounted for after a Boeing 777 from South Korea crashed Saturday upon landing at San Francisco’s airport, sending up a huge fireball, shedding its tail and spinning before screeching to a stop.

Asiana Airlines Flight 214 left Seoul’s Incheon International Airport earlier Saturday, according to FlightAware, a website that offers tracking services for private and commercial air traffic. An airline spokesman in Seoul told CNN that 291 passengers and 16 staff members were aboard when it crashed around 11:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET).

Two people have died, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.

“Upwards of approximately 60 people” are unaccounted for, the chief said. Just over an hour later, Francis Zamora of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management told CNN that four were unaccounted for, though he didn’t explain the discrepancy.

At least 130 others are being treated, or will soon be treated, at nine Bay Area hospitals, Hayes-White said around 4:10 p.m.

Eight injured adults and two children at San Francisco General Hospital are in critical condition, said San Francisco General Hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan.

Authorities warned the numbers of dead, injured and unaccounted for at San Francisco International Airport could change in the coming hours. First responders have gone on the plane “doing search and rescue attempts,” Hayes-White said.

“This is still a fluid and active scene,” Mayor Edwin Lee told reporters.

Air traffic control audio — between the airport’s tower and Flight 214 crew members — suggested that those on the ground knew there was some sort of problem, promising that “emergency vehicles are responding.”

“We have everyone on their way,” the air traffic controller said, according to LiveATC.net, a website that provides air traffic control audio.

One of those on the flight, Elliott Stone, told CNN that he thought the plane was approaching “a little high (then came) down a little sharp.

“All of a sudden, boom, the back end just hit and flies up into the air and everyone’s head goes up the ceiling,” said Stone, who added that he ended up jumping out the plane without using the stairs or an evacuation slide.