New York (UPI) -- Kennedy International Airport was preparing for is crunch of late afternoon flights. Kevin Jennings glanced into the sky at a routine sight -- a plane taking off. Suddenly he saw "shots and sparks" and the DC8 banked and "disappeared into the ground."

Eleven crew members including seven stewardesses, were killed Tuesday when the Trans International Airline (TIA) charter, being ferried to Washington to pick up 250 young European passengers, crashed near Jamaica Bay and exploded into flames. There were no survivors.

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The dead, all from the San Francisco area, were identified as Capt. Joseph May, First Officer John Loeffler, Engineer Donald Neeley, Navigaor Warren McNaughton, and the seven stewardesses, Irmgard Russo, Dianne Beasley, Barbara Lewis, Juliet Loera, Margareta Lewenhaupt, Marchia Hanifin and Linda Brennan.