"We are proud of our airport operations team, especially the experienced and alert (air traffic control) professionals who denied runway access to the aircraft," said Lori Booker, a spokeswoman for the airport.
Lori Booker, an airport spokesperson, said that the damage to the plane was so severe that the identifying tail number was unreadable. She said investigators could not initially say for certain how many victims were aboard. Earlier Wednesday evening, Booker said three people died in the crash.