the same 747 seep at jfk airport in new york two years before the tragedy. this is twa 800 now. most of the fuselage reassembled at a hangar outside washington, d.c. without the wings, tail or cockpit. you can actually see where the plane came apart. see those dark smoke marks behind the rip in the plane s body? ahead of it, the front part is clean. that s where the first class section and cockpit fell off. the explosion was here, in the center fuel tank. i m really struck by the size. you really could park a couple of cars in here. the fuel tank is the size of about a two-car garage. reporter: the center tank just below the passenger area is rarely used. how much fuel was in here at the time of the flight?
reporter: the center tank just below the passenger area is rarely used. how much fuel was in here at the time of the flight? the fuel tank was basically empty. 50 gallons was the residual amount. reporter: only a thin layer of fuel on the bottom. but the fumes were more than enough to bring down a plane. jim wildy shows us where the blast blew out the tank wall. it fractured across the top. reporter: this just takes place in a matter of a second. less than a portion of a second. reporter: when the tank exploded, brenna and krisha were in coach, right up here close to these windows. where were they sitting? right over the center fuel tank. reporter: what do you think happened to them? i would like to think, and i think that it happened
fuel tank. the wreckage from the 747 has been reconstructed. it s in a hangar in northern virginia. a correspondent got an opportunity to go inside that fuel tank a few years ago with ntsb investigators. let s look. reporter: the explosion was here. in the center fuel tank. i m really struck by the size. you really could park a couple of cars in here. the fuel tank is the size of about a two-car garage. reporter: the center tank just below the passenger area is rarely used. how much fuel was in here at the time of the flight? the fuel tank was basically empty. i think it was 50 gallons is what they calculate was the residual amount. reporter: only a thin layer of fuel on the bottom. but the fumes were more than enough to bring down the plane. that s the stuff that can ignite and burn rapidly burn. that comes from a 2006 cnn documentary which david and i did together. we were told the explosion
brown wasn t hurt and is cooperating with investigators. someone smelled smoke in the back and banged on the partition for brown to stop. according to the san francisco chronicle he mistakenly believed ask whether the women could smoke. by the time brown stopped the car to get out to check the back of the limo was a ball of flames. driver was able to get out. some good samaritans did stop to assist to try to pull people from the fire but unfortunately it was an unfortunate situation. we have no idea what happened yet. everything as i said is still under investigation. reporter: the coroner said all five victims were huddled near the partition that separates the driver from the passenger area. one woman managed to squeeze through the partition to escape. she and other three survivors are now at local hospitals recovering from smoke inhalation and burns. martha? martha: what a nightmare. so sad, in the middle of what should have been a really happy time for all these friends. what
they said they won t be able to determine an official cause for that fire until the vehicle inspection is done. that s expected to be completed some time later today. but when i spoke to the chp yesterday, christine, they told me they believe the fire started somewhere outside of the passenger area of the vehicle, perhaps even underneath the limousine or in the back in the trunk. now, over the weekend at the scene, one of the chp officers that responded to the incident said they were still searching for many answers. the driver was able to get out. some good samaritans did stop and assist and try to pull people from the fire, but unfortunately, it s just an unfortunate situation. we have no idea what actually happened yet. everything, like i said, is still under investigation. now, cnn has repeatedly reached out to the limousine company, limostop inc. we ve left messages, we ve tried to call. they have not called us back, unfortunately, but they did release a statement to the media