[Linda Stouffer, Cnn Anchor:] Authorities are scrambling to understand what caused a Concorde jet to erupt into flames just before it crashed in a Paris suburb yesterday. Everyone on board was killed, as were four people on the ground. Investigators will be aided by the late night recovery of the supersonic jet's flight recorders. For the latest on the crash, we go to CNN's Tom Mintier who is live at the crash site. Tom, hello.
[Tom Mintier, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Linda. Those flight data recorders may provide the information that investigators need so desperately as to what happened in the final seconds of the Concorde flight. They were recovered late last night in that hillside behind, just a few hundred yards back over the top of this next hill. It is there where the remains of this small hotel are, where the Concorde slammed into, in a fireball. It is a fireball that is going to make it difficult for investigators to identify those who were onboard. Many of the families of the 96 German tourists have made their way to Paris. There is a counseling set up at the Charles de Gaulle airport nearby. And we also expect within the hour to hear from Air France officials with the information they have. But for now, the investigators, in recovering the remains of those who perished in this disaster, are the top priority here at the scene. Now we've only seen a couple of ambulances this morning making their way slowly out of here. But it is going to be a very slow process, done piece-by-piece and inch-by-inch.
[Mintier:] The Concorde carries more than 100,000 liters of jet fuel. When Air France Flight 4950 slammed into the small hotel just outside Paris, it was incinerated quickly. All that remained was part of the hotel's foundation, mixed in with the wreckage of the Concorde. Firemen used water and foam on what continued to burn, but there was little left. There were no survivors. All 100 passengers, the majority of them German tourists on a charter, and nine crew members onboard, were apparently killed instantly. Four people on the ground were killed, apparently workers at the small hotel. This man says he saw the plane coming in very, very low. He says he could see one of the engines on fire. Within two seconds, he says, it was all over, a huge explosion occurred about 300 meters from where he says he works. If it had been just a little closer, he says, we would all be dead now. Police and emergency workers, despite arriving at the crash site minutes after the accident, could do little more than just watch. As darkness came over the crash scene, the fires continued to burn. The smoke and the smell from the fires could be detected at least a mile from the crash site. Police, fearing that toxic fumes from the fires or remaining fuel might explode, cordoned off a large area around the crash site. Only a few ambulances could be seen leaving the area, all were driving slowly. The German tourists were scheduled to fly to New York and then board a cruise ship for a two-week voyage. There were two Danes, one Austrian, and one American. The airline says the American apparently was a retired Air France employee. Just a couple of seconds ago, a cream-colored truck, panel-truck, just made their way through the police lines here, going to the accident site just a few hundred yards away to begin the process of recovering the victims of the Concorde disaster. Now there is picture that's rather spectacular that bears note. It is taken by an amateur photographer as this plane was taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport. And you can see clearly in the photograph a stream of fire coming out of the back of the plane. Now this was taken just a few seconds before it attempted to climb, nosed up, apparently lost power, rolled over, and then flattened down on top of this small hotel here just outside of Paris. It is going to be a day, very cloudy, rainy day here, where investigators are going to try to recover the remains, taking them to a nearby temporary morgue set up in a theater in a small village just outside the airport Linda.
[Stouffer:] Tom Mintier, live from France, thank you very much.