joining me now is brian piper. brian took those pictures. he also shot video. brian, thank you for waking up and joining with us. i'd like to you where you were, what you were doing and what you were hearing as the plane made impact on the runway. >> well, alex, i was across the water at the marriott which is about a half mile from the runway. i was sitting in my hotel room on the fourth floor and i heard a boom. i knew something was wrong. i immediately turned around and saw the aircraft tumbling nose down. it's like the nose of the plane was in the dirt and the tail was up in the air and it was kind of twisting at the same time, and that's when it came to rest in a big duftball where it's still at right now. >> that's got to be shocking. what goes through your mind when you see something like that? >> i was just shocked at first. but i mean i immediately knew people are dieing in there and i had a much more grim view of what i thought was going to happen to all those people and just thank god most of them got out. >> yeah, absolutely. so, brian, you didn't se

. >> brian piper, stand by for me. brian piper is an eyewitness. let's listen in to what he saw. >> the spinning action, is that what you saw? >> i didn't see when it actually hit the ground. i think that's the boom that i heard. i heard a boom. i paused a second, turned around and looked out the window and that's when i saw it tumbling. >> immediately was there smoke or did it take some time to be smoke or fire? >> well, there was dust and then smoldering. not a lot of smoke at first. the plane wasn't on fire. i never saw flames. and i thought they had the fire put out. i would say the first responders showed up about less than five minutes after the plane crashed and they were spraying water all over the plane. >> what is your reaction to having seen this? >> i was in complete shock. i've seen plane crashes before but i've never seen one this big. >> thank you so much for joining us. appreciate you sharing your account of what happened. i can also tell you, we talked to several other witnesses. one woman told me that she didn't see the plane actu

brian piper is standing by now as well. stand that you actually saw the plane go down? or did you see the aftermath? which one? >> well, i was in my hotel room across the water here staying at marriott. i have a half a mile view of the runway. and i heard a boom. and that is when i turned around and looked out the window and i saw the plane tumbling and when i say tumbling the nose was down in the dirt. the tail was up in the air and the plane was kind of doing an acrobatic twist. and that is when i saw the plane come to a rest and land. there was a lot of dirt in the air. and i thought it landed on the top but it didn't. it landed with the belly down. >> so again, you actually saw the nose of the plane go into the dirt? >> yeah, it is like the plane was doing a flip flop or a somersault. the nose was down, tail up in the air. i mean it was bad. i knew something was wrong. i mean people were going to be injured. it was really a traumati traumc event. >> did the plane flip? did you see the plane actually flip? or you saw it c

i paused and saw it tumbling. >> the last man is brian piper. he took some dramatic video of the crash he posted on youtube. many people here share their photos and videos of what they saw. there was a bit of time, maybe even ten minutes or so before it hit the runway and the time the plane was engulfed by flames. there was apparently a bit of time for passenger to escape. back here live, you can see emergency crews are still at the crash site. we know the ntsb is en route to sfo to investigate the crash. also at about 4:15, two opposite runways, they reopened and since then we have seen quite a few planes take off and land here at sfo. live in burlingame, monte francis. nbc bay area news. >> thank you very much. i want to do a quick update. we're now hearing from st. francis hospital that they have seven patients there. california pacific telling us they have five patients, all minor injuries. not giving out any information in terms of the gender or the ages. we're continuing to watch how asiana flight 214 handed. boeing 777 crashing upon appro

we have video from a man named brian piper who said he shot

. >> 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 t

. >> reporter: brian piper saw the crash from a nearby hotel and used his phone to capture the aftermath. >> i heard the boom, saw the crash, i reached around to grab my phone, my hands were shaking, because i knew it was a terrible crash. >> reporter: on board, those who could began finding their way out. >> plane crash, are you okay? you're alive. you're sitting in your chair. you unbuckle, start looking around. door is not open. let's get out. open the door and start ushering people out. >> reporter: dozens of people are still hospitalized and hospitals from san francisco all the way to palo alto at stanford university. at least seven are in critical condition, including an infant. >> what more do we know about the two students from china who died in that crash? >> reporter: well, as you said earlier, craig, these are two 16-year-old girls from china. they were part of -- one of two groups from middle schools in china who were coming to the united states for summer camp, including tours of college campuses in the northern california area. and they were seated in the back of the plane,

. >> within seconds of the crash, brian piper grabbed his cell phone and took this dramatic video from his room at the marriott hotel near bay front park. he says almost immediately after the crash, he watched as passengers came off the plane down emergency chutes. >> maybe two minutes, i started to see some people trickle out, and everyone was walking. no one was running. i was kind of shocked about that. >> many people took photos and videos of the crash. and shared similar accounts with us of what happened. >> i saw it before the fire started to consume everything. and i saw the chutes come out of one side of the plane, people getting off. and there was a line of people getting off the other side of the plane, and then after that, it was just, you know, engulfed in flames for a while. >> several witnesses told us it appeared the plane almost missed the runway and when the nose of the plane went up, the tail of the plane hit the ground, causing the plain to spin and break apart. >> there were a couple gentlemen walking along and said do you see what happen to the plane? he said, yeah

. >> brian piper saw the crash from a nearby hotel and used his phone to capture the aftermath. >> i heard the boom, i saw the crash. i reached around to grab my phone, my hands were shaking because i knew it was a terrible crash. >> on board, those who could begin finding their way out. >> have flash, you okay, you're alive, you're sitting in your chair and start looking around, doors open, get out. open the door and start ushering people out. >> rescue crews arrived to find the evacuation underway. >> we have multiple members of people coming down the chutes and actually walking to their safety, which was a good thing. >> officials have identified the two dead as 16-year-old girls from china. and the airline says they were part of one of two groups of middle school students here for summer camp. erica. >> all right, john yang outside sfo for us. john, thanks. >> more than 182 people were transported to hospitals. some remain in critical condition this morning. miguel almaguer is covering that part of the story for us. he's at san francisco general hospital now, the trauma center th