austin police department, the spokes man. let s get back to the kxan. that is the live picture, 9430 research boulevard, apd, everyone confirming it crashed into the echelon building. that could be the point of impact. the retaining wall peeling out of their cars and we could see smoke coming out of the back end of the building. it was very traumatic. i know, eric, what is your feeling? these people went to work just like you did this morning. is that crossing your mind at all? absolutely. i m sort of praying that the entire bottom floor at least had the day off or had a vacation day of some sort, because it s pretty bad in there, and then thank god the other floors were evacuated. i hope nobody else was in there. and then, ty, you said that even though you didn t see the plane crash, you felt it? yes wrs, i was in the middle teaching class to our online
okay. all right, let me get to the phones right now. helena wright is on the phone from the austin police department. helena, are you there? i am. if you would, just take your time and walk us through about what you know about what happened this morning. we understand this crash happened at about just before 10:00 a.m. local time. right. just before 10:00 a.m. we received a call of a plane crashing into a building, located at the 9400 block of research boulevard here in austin. and that s located near mopac and the capital of texas highway. our public information officers are on scene. gathering information, such as the kind of plane it was. we cannot confirm yet if this was a commercial airline or if it was a private airline. they are also gathering information on casualties. and once we gather that information, it will be provided.
we have in terms of pictures. we can also, guys, loop in that i-report from someone who i believe was probably traveling, was probably traveling on highway 183, and took out their cell phone and hit the camera and started taking some pictures. and the pictures revealed all of the smoke. it looked like some of the immediate moments after the crash. all of the smoke pouring out of the building. and you ll see that coming up here pretty soon. but we re getting these are new pictures, a different angle on the building right now, provided to us from news 8 in austin. we have been hearing some reporting on the number of windows blown out of this structure. well, you can see it firsthand for yourself here. we also understand that people are being evacuated. makes all the sense in the world. but we also understand there are two people unaccounted for. here is the i-report i was just mentioning a moment ago. great work to take that full there. let me stop and see if there s any sound on at
time what the cause might be. we talked to a gentleman who said that there that he been tracking that plane for quite some time, from quite a ways away headed toward the building and hitting the building. have you heard any reports of that? what have you heard? i have not heard any reports on that. that who be a law enforcement issue and they would have to speak to it. can you reiterate, the state of affairs at the moment? the state of affairs at the moment, we are in an offensive mode inside the office building at 9430 research boulevard. the only thing as far as law enforcement now, as chief evans said, it s very early in the investigation. we ll let the firefighters put the fire out. we have numerous streets in the area closed, so it s definitely going to affect traffic, jollyville, the frontage roads of research boulevard and 183
from witnesses, i-reporters, who snapped into action very quickly, getting us dramatic pictures, and video, of the crash site, and i know you re helping us tell the story as well. absolutely. we spoke with cynthia reed moments ago, i called every station i could find. a lot of concern for anyone who was in the building. as you were speaking with jeanne, we got a little more information from the faa, this time from ft. worth, rather than d.c., faa telling the plane did depart georgetown, texas, as you heard. 45 minutes in turned toward the south and started descending. we re also being told at the faa in texas, it was a cirrus flight. it s a breaking news situation. cnn is reaching out on every single front we have, trying to reach all the numbers we can to get you all the latest information about what s happened there in austin. let me talk to you. one of the first concerns people have is how many people might be injure today. we spoke with the representative