Voices and Reactions

“It was a big orange fireball . . . you saw nothing but flames. My initial reaction was what is it? . . . Oh my God, it’s an airplane!”

--Eyewitness Eileen Daly

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‘I looked up, and I saw what appeared to be a glowing ball. It pulsed, and it got brighter. Then it got less bright, and then it got brighter. Then it burst into the wildest fireworks display I have ever seen. [The plane] broke into two major pieces . . . ‘

--Eyewitness Mike Gilligan

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‘The flames were so bright I didn’t see anything else. . . . Then as it hit the water I saw one flame come up from the water and that was it, it was gone. I didn’t even hear anything.’

--Eyewitness Robert Siriani

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‘The president was informed about the reports we were getting shortly before 10 p.m. He is deeply concerned and we are monitoring the situation closely. There is an extensive search and rescue effort underway. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were aboard Flight 800.’

--White House spokesman Mike McCurry

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‘They’ve got bodies down all over the place. I’ve been listening to air and sea rescue. All they have is bodies floating. There’s no sign of recovery.’

--Andrew Feldman, with Suffolk County chapter of the American Red Cross

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‘I don’t think I need to tell you how concerned and upset that we at TWA are about this. This is the worst possible thing that could happen.’

--TWA Vice President Mike Kelly

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‘The focus needs to be on the hope that there might be some survivors.’

--NTSB chief James Hall

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‘A C-130 from the National Guard reported seeing life rafts in the water, but we have no word if anyone was in those rafts. In fact, airline life rafts are supposed to deploy automatically in this kind of situation.’

--Jeff Fenn of Coast Guard