Enlarge By Mario Tama, Getty Images Rescue workers assist a New York City Fire Department boat that has pulled near a US Airways plane floating in the water after it went down in the Hudson River.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte when the incident occurred.

Brown said the jet, an Airbus 320, appears to have been hit by birds, which disabled two engines. The jet went down in the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.

"There were eyewitness reports the plane may have flown into a flock of birds," Brown said. She added, "Right now we don't have any indication this was anything other than an accident."

The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows. Rescue crews opened the door and pulled passengers in yellow life vests from the plane. Ferry boats surrounded the plane.

The plane eventually sank in the near-freezing water on one of the coldest days of the year, with the mercury around 20 degrees.

Doug Parker, US Airways Chairman and CEO, said "we're working to care for those who have been touched by this accident" and asked people not to jump to conclusions until the accident was investigated.

St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital spokesman Bruce Lander said the hospital was treating three passengers for non-life threatening injuries — a flight attendant with a broken leg and a man and his wife for hypothermia.

He said emergency officials told the hospital to expect between 25 and 50 passengers who were mostly suffering from exposure to the elements.

Witness Barbara Sambriski, a researcher for the Associated Press who witnessed the event, said, "I just thought, 'Why is it so low?' And, splash, it hit the water."

The water temperature for the river near Battery Park was 41.5 degrees.

Jeff Kolodjay, a passenger on the plane, was in seat 23A when he saw fire in the engine under the wing.

He said they circled over the river."I thought by chance we'd make it back to LaGuardia and land," he said.

He said the captain told everyone to "brace for impact. Everyone started saying prayers, just kinda looking at each other, not knowing what to say or what to do. How would you feel? 'Brace for impact' is not what you want to hear."

Kolodjay said the plane came in at high rate of speed but the "landing wasn?t as bad as I thought it would be."

Adam Weiner was in a conference room at 1515 Broadway overlooking the Hudson River. He told CNN he saw the plane gliding into the river.

"It looked looked like a float plane that came in for a water landing," he said.

Weiner said he was on a conference call with people in Los Angeles. He said he saw "the door blow off and it looked like a life raft opened up," he said, adding that the ferry boats immediately left the piers and were on the scene in less than two minutes.

"We were like 'I think a plane just crashed in the Hudson River,'" Weiner said he told to people on the conference call.

Troy Keitt, 46, works for Ready Willing & Able, a group that helps the homeless. He was near Pier 84 collecting garbage when he saw the plane in the water.

"I thought there was a movie being filmed," he said. "I saw the plane floating and there were people on the wings."

Alberto Panero, a passenger on the plane who was rescued, told CNN, "Within a couple of minutes, all of the sudden, you heard a loud bang, the plane shook a bit … you could smell smoke, fire … the plane started turning directions … out of control … all of the sudden, the captain came on … and that's when we knew we were going down … somehow the plane stayed afloat, and we were able to get on the raft. It's just incredible right now that everybody is still alive."

Panero said he went to the front of plane where one of the rescue boats was helping people out. He said the rescue boats got right up to the exit so people could jump off the plane into the boats.

Dramatic pictures on TV showed passengers standing on the wings of the plane, waiting to be rescued.

Panero was interviewed from a building on 42nd Street in the city where passengers were taken.

"I actually grabbed one of the seats … some people grabbed the yellow, inflatable ones. … It seemed like immediately there were boats coming," he said.

Panero said, "At first there was a little bit of a panic, but there were a couple people who came and took charge." He didn't know whether they were passengers or flight attendants.

"After the impact alone, it felt like a car crash," Panero told CNN, "and then all of the sudden it was get out get out now."

He said there was yelling and crying.

"I pretty much just said to myself, 'This is it, let's just do it,' " he said as he made his way to escape the plane.

Contributing: Kevin McCoy in New York; Carolyn Pesce and Marisol Bello in McLean, Va.; Associated Press; CNN