that flight, flight 214. the ntsb, its go-team joining the fbi. they'll be there this evening to look at that flight, the runway. >> we're documenting all this as it happens. we have more than 20 reporters and photographers covering this sims it happened this morning. among them, cheryl hurd who joins us from sfo. it's been a clear sense of communication here throughout the day from mayor lee, from the fire chief at sfo, even the ntsb and the fbi. >> reporter: they're being very careful as to what information they put out there. everyone is awaiting the arrival of the ntsb from washington, d.c. that group expected to arrive in about aphour. they will probably do what they

can tonight. most likely wait until daybreak to continue their investigation. officials have been briefing us all day long, trying to tell us what happened here early this morning. it was the kind of briefing that officials haven't had to deliver for more than seven decades. >> there's been a tragic accident for sfo and all of san francisco. >> reporter: this morning, asiana airlines flight 214 from seoul, korea, with 291 passengers and 16 crew members, slammed into the runway at sfo. tearing away the plane's tale. the plane then burst into flames as fire crews arrived on scene. >> my hat goes off to the people who went into the cabin of the plane to do what they could.

>> reporter: two people are confirmed dead. miraculously 123 people walked away from the plane. include thing teenage passenger. >> the top just totally collapsed on a lot of people. so a lot of people were injured. >> reporter: the mare chan of the ntsb was expected to land at sfo around midnight to take charge of the investigation. the san francisco mayor visited the plane's wreckage sitting on the runway. >> having visited the site with staff and police and the fire department, it is incredible that we have so many survivors. >> reporter: the san francisco fire chief credited members of the planes crew. >> i interacted with the cabin manager. she was so composed and i

thought he had come from the terminal. >> reporter: we've been monitoring a number of international television stations. one of them is chinese state tv. they said that 141 chinese were on board flight 214. they also said it included 34 chinese high school students with a teach whoerp planned to attend a summer camp here in the u.s. i asked the fire chief about that and she said it's not something she could confirm ant that. >> a tragic beginning to that camp for sure. within minutes of the crash, nine bay area hospitals went into their emergency response plans. among those was san francisco general who took the most critically injured, including ten. we're talking top level trauma

center and really the only one in the city. >> reporter: yeah, and one child and five adults remain in critical season here. but many injured passengers have been discharged. >> a lot of people were confused and traumatized. lots of teamers on the plane. >> reporter: levy and more than 50 others were taken to san francisco general hospital. one of several hospitals that add mitted throughout the day.

>> the most critically injured, some of them have burns. from them, folks had broken bones, head injuries, spinal cord injuries. >> reporter: this san francisco resident can't believe the injuries were not worse. >> there was no warning, no call from the captain to brace for emergency landing, nothing. >> reporter: levy's wife was supposed to be on that flight with him, but she decided to come home early to care for their two young children here in san francisco. mean while, hospital officials say more injured passengers should be discharged shortly. another briefing here first thing tomorrow morning. live in san francisco, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, elise. you can hear more of benjamin levy's statement on our website at nbcbayarea.com.

>> he was so cool and collected when he gave us that interview. he gave that interview from sf general. we're joined but steven stock. some of the things that we're learning from this night that you mentioned, some of the things that stick out to me, in the next 48 hours they'll take this airlines flight away to help put it together, we don't know where yet. and in the next 48 hours, you say they'll have an understanding of what causes a crash though they might not reveal it. >> they will have a very good idea about exactly what happens and will be able to piece that together. there had been construction repairs on this runway. i just got confirmation from sfo that there had been this construction going on.

the vertical guidance system had been shut off, was not working. but everyone was flying under visual flight rules. the weather was clear. it's a situation that commercial pilots train for all the time. this time apparently with a little bit of a tail wind behind that boeing 777, as it landed, something went very wrong. according to witnesses, including ben levy, this boeing approached the runway, and the tail clipped the runway and the tail came off, and the spin ended up just short of taxiway f there. now with want to show you a map of this airport.

this is essentially runways 1-9, r and l and also 1 from this direction. this is 2-8 l, where the airplane is currently right now. that's where the crash happened. this is 2-8 r. that's the longest runway that sfo has. it handles the biggest airplanes and it's over 11,000 feet long. this runway is over 10,000 feet long. these two runways will remain closed until the ntsb concludes its investigation. and more just as importantly, the ntsb is going to canvas this area, because that's where damage is on the runway. they want to make sure the runway is safe because they start having planes take off and land.

it could be several days before all four runways are open again. that will impact air travel for days to come. >> so a huge domino effect. teach, those are the two longer runways, so in theory, that will be affecting the international flights, the bigger planes. >> that's right. the really big planes have to use the longer runways. they're less than 10,000 feet. this one is about 7700 feet. so the really big planes have to use these longer runways and they'll not be able to take off and land until they're cleared to do that. they just want to be safe about this. >> thank you very much, steven stock. within just a minute of that crash, we saw photos pouring in, one taken just a minute right

after them. some of the best photos we got were taken across from the airport. monty francis joins us now. people normally are out there on the weekends any way, because it's a pretty place to sit and watch the planes come in. >> the view of the runway here is excellent. all of these folks here were here well after the fact. there were a number of people here this morning who watched in horror as this 777 crashed right before their eyes. >> i heard a thunder rouse pool and paused for a second and looked out the window and saw the plane tumbling. >> reporter: brian piper grabbed his cell phone and says almost

immediately after the crash, he watched as passengers came off the plane, down emergency chutes. >> maybe two minutes i started to see someone was walking, everyone was running. >> many took photos and videos of the cash. >> i saw it before the fire started to consume everybody. there was a line of people getting off on the other side of the plane. after that, it was just, you know, engulfed in flames for a while. >> reporter: several witnesses said it appeared the plane almost missed the runway. causing the plane to spin and break apart. >> a couple of gentleman said, did you see what happened to that plane? he said yeah, the tail hit and it started a cartwheel and came to a stop right there.

>> reporter: also among those gathered at the airport, those waiting for loved ones that were diverted. >> i feel horrible for the people on the lane. and the 777s hold so many people. >> reporter: back here live. you can see that almost 12 hours later, emergency crews are still here. we expect them to be here all night long. we now the ntsb is enroute to sfo. we expect them to -- >> we're having some trouble with the live shot there. but the ntsb is expected to arrive in the next 45 minutes.

coming up, a legal expert that will tell us a little bit more about what happens next from a legal standpoint after a plane crash of this magnitude. ♪

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a tragic day indeed. july 6, 2013 will go down in history in san francisco and california. the worst airline crash in the history of sfo, dating back more than 75 years. this is the front page for tomorrow, sunday morning, july 7 of the san francisco chronicle, saying it all. a tragic day. we should note that will be much more than federal investigation. it has a lasting human aspect for the 305 survivors. one of the leading airline passenger lawyers in the country is based here in the bay area and is with us tonight from his offices. we bring in frank. are you with us? >> good evening. how are you? >> doing well. thanks for your time. you're one of the leading lawyers, alaska airlines you

were the lead co-counsel in that crash in 2000. singapore airlines crash, you were the lead co-counsel, as well. and in 1987, the psa crash. from a legal stand point, what are the two things that you're looking at? >> in a case like this, raj, there's never a rush to judgment. it's a pain staking process. the first thing that will happen is the ntsb is going to be on the ground looking at a variety of different issues. they're going to be looking at technical issues, mechanical issues, looking at the structures, the operating system, the power plant, the operations of the aircraft. they're going to try to determine from looking at the communications that pilots had with air traffic controllers, the flight data recorders, they're going to try to piece together what happened. and that's going to take time. >> if i can jump in, that's the

ntsb investigation. as an attorney, specially one that specializes in aviation, what are you looking at and will you start to investigate if you're hired on? >> absolutely. we do parallel proceedings. we take a look at witness accounts of what happened. we consult with our own experts that we've dealt with before in a variety of different areas. we want to follow along with the ntsb, find out what they know and go further. just like in the pg&e case, there was a report, but sometimes the ntsb doesn't get it all. >> one last question, frank. have you been contacted already by anyone, any passengers or anyone involved with this flight? >> i've been contacted by people who want to know whether i'm available and i said absolutely. >> appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> you heard 182 people were

initially take on the hospitals. at this hour, there are just a few that are in critical condition. sadly two people did die. diane, i know you have information as to the two people that were on board that died. >> reporter: we've learned one of the victims is just 16 years old. the other victim is an adult. both are female, and they were traveling on chinese passports. both the girl and the woman were wearing street clothes, so it appears the woman was not a flight attendant. one body was found near the tail, at the end of the runway, the other body found just below the inflatable chute. the coroner will be doing autopsies tomorrow there are indications that the girl was traveling with one other person, but officials have not tracked that person down. as you've been reporting. there was a group of teenage

exchange students on that plane. no word if the young victim was part of that group. investigators are working to contact family. >> one of the key components is the weather. traditionally very windy and foggy. we bring in anthony slaughter. >> today it was a picture perfect day. we had no hazards. visibility was clear at the time of impact and winds calm today, only up to 5 to 15 miles per hour. so weatherer likely not playing a factor in the crash. tomorrow, back to 71 degrees in oakland. 88 in livermore. we are headed to see a hot streak of weather head our way. not going to be as hot as it was last week, but 93 will be the top temperature monday. then a steady decline next

weekend with 80s returning by thursday and even a little fog and drizzle at the coast. so hot days ahead. back to you. >> thank you very much, anthony. when we come back, we'll take a quick break from all of this coverage of this airline disaster and we're going to look at sports. look at 'em.

living on cloud nine with that u-verse wireless receiver. you see in my day, when my mom was repainting the house, you couldn't just set up a tv in the basement. i mean, come on! nope. we could only watch tv in the rooms that had a tv outlet. yeah if we wanted to watch tv someplace else, we'd have to go to my aunt sally's. have you ever sat on a plastic covered couch? [ kids cheering ] you're missing a good game over here. those kids wouldn't have lasted one day in our shoes. [ male announcer ] add a wireless receiver. call to get u-verse tv for just $19 a month with qualifying bundles. rethink possible.

welcome back to nbc bay area. mlb all-star rosters were announced today.

giants send three players, scutaro, buster posey and madison bumgarner. action against the dodgers. game two of a three-game set. bumgarner and the giants trying to take care of business. bases loaded in the second. mad bum walks, belt scores. 1-0, giants. bottom of the fourth, bumgarner, a sac fly to right. torres will come in. 4-0, san francisco. top of the sixth, bumgarner strikes out puig, who struck out four times today. giants win 4-2. that will do it from the sports desk. more news after the break. ♪

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we want to thank you for being with us throughout this day, what started out at 11:27 a.m. has turned into an event that will last for weeks and months to come. live pictures right now of that tarmac at sfo. if you're on 101, you can see this asiana airlines flight 214 that's essentially just baeeach there. two of the runways remain closed. in theory, this plane will be transported and rebuilt to we can figure out what happened at sfo. >> south korea's ministry of transport said two dead are from china. we're hearing that many of the passengers on board, at least 30 of them, were chirp. so we'll be following this. at least a dozen people remain in critical condition. >> flights right now out of sfo,

as we reported several hours of delay. we'll follow the story throughout the night and into tomorrow. >> good evening. [ male announcer ] now at your local subway, gotta-try-'em flavors like the chicken & bacon ranch melt are built fresh from the bread up. grilled chicken covered with melty monterey cheddar, cool ranch and mmm...bacon. you gotta try it today! subway. eat fresh.

[ applause ] good evening, everyone. hello. as you probably know, last night i signed an executive order authorizing $85 billion in federal budget cuts.

now, most americans still don't understand what this whole sequester really means. i could explain it in financial terms or in human terms. but since i really have no idea about how money works or the budget works, i'll go with human terms instead. you see, we're all going to feel the pain from these cuts. even in the white house. from now on, my wife michelle will only do four television appearances a week. [ laughter ] down from a usual 75. i also had to sit joe biden down and tell him that he couldn't order another fathead poster for his bedroom wall. [ laughter ] but tonight, i want to show you some of the everyday men and women these cuts are going to affect. people like our air traffic controllers. and our border patrol agents. okay. how will your departments handle the budget cuts? >> well, before we can look at our radar screens, we have to watch a 20-second ad for doritos.