United Airlines Flight 93 crashed inside Stoney Creek Township in Somerset County, Pa., Tuesday morning, killing all 38 passengers and seven crew members aboard, according to FBI Special Agent Jeff Killeen.
The Boeing 757 departed Newark, N.J. at 8:01 a.m. and was headed for San Francisco, according to MSNBC. The Pennsylvania State Police received the call shortly after 10 a.m., trooper Tom Spallone said, and Capt. Frank Monaco added that “there were people here in minutes.”
One man aboard the flight used his cell phone to call an emergency dispatcher from a bathroom in the plane, according to MSNBC.
“We are being hijacked! We are being hijacked!” he said, shortly before the plane crashed in a grassy reclaimed strip mine in western Pennsylvania.
Killeen confirmed that “there was a 911 call” but declined to comment further, adding that “this investigation is in its infancy.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge described the crash site as a large, gaping hole, and Killeen stated that the crash “appears to be a very high impact into the earth.”
Capt. Monaco stood at the scene as he described the black earth “where the plane initially struck and continued on into the south,” disappearing into the woods. Monaco stated that there was a lot of debris, although little was larger than the size of a phone book.
Given the minuscule size of most debris, Monaco said, as far as survivors or bodies are concerned, “none have been seen at this point.” Monaco also stated that to his knowledge, no one on the ground was hurt at the time of the crash.
Downed power lines, blackened trees and yellow police tape also marked the scene, secured by state police.
The only structures on the site are small hunting cabins, none of which were damaged by the impact, according to Monaco.
“The FBI and state police consider this a criminal investigation site,” Gov. Ridge said after flying over the scene by helicopter.
Special Agent Killeen confirmed that the FBI was treating the crash as a criminal act, but he would not yet label it as an act of terrorism.
“Our goal right now is to preserve everything as it is for tonight,” Killeen said, adding that further investigation would continue in the morning.
“The emergency response from the local community as well as the state was immediate,” Ridge said.
Salvation Army volunteers supplied water and supplies to officials at the scene, which teemed with cars, vans and helicopters. A charter bus brought members of the press to the scene throughout the day.
A second United Airlines plane flew over the crash site in midafternoon to photograph the scene, Spallone said. Hazmat crews called to the site were standard operating procedure, and there was no reason to believe hazardous materials were on board, according to Ridge.
The next step for FBI and state police, according to Killeen, is to have forensic archaeologists clean out the site of the crash, so that officials can begin the “painstaking investigation process.”
“The identification in this kind of case is significant,” Killeen said, adding that evidence collection would be conducted “slowly, deliberately, and with all due dignity.”
FBI agent Roland Corvington said that the FBI plans to eventually bring family members to the site, as long as it does not jeopardize the crime scene. 
“The FBI will follow every lead. The FBI will do all it possibly can to bring this case to a successful conclusion,” Killeen said.
Indian Lake residents Alex and Louise Majesky said their house shook from the impact.
“It just kind of rattled,” Alex Majesky said. “I thought a tree fell on the house. I figured, what else could it be?”
Several passersby stopped at an overlook in Stoney Creek to try and catch a glimpse of the tragedy.
Jim Patrick, a Johnstown resident, believed the crash to be “nothing out of the ordinary and just a coincidence.”
“With all the hills around here, it’s not out of the ordinary,” he said. “If it is part of a terrorist attack, I think George Bush should address that problem, seek them out and make them pay for their crimes.
“The dictionary is inadequate. There aren’t enough words. I guess the range of emotion goes from rage and anger to sorrow to horror,” Ridge said, characterizing the act as an “irrational, cowardly, immoral act.”
“There is no rational explanation because we don’t resolve our differences in this country this way,” Ridge added, calling for prayers and donations of blood and talent.
“I’m not sure we will ever be able to completely understand the enormity of this tragedy.”