'Get out, get out,' people on Houston plane were told as it crashed, passenger says

(CNN)One of the 21 people on a plane that crashed in Houston Tuesday was looking forward to "the trip of a lifetime," the passenger told CNN affiliate KHOU.

But the plane, carrying Houston Astros fans to their team's game against the Red Sox in Boston, never gained altitude at takeoff and crashed into a fence before bursting into flames.

"Going down the runway, and it just all the sudden they slammed on the brakes," the passenger, who didn't want to be named, told KHOU.

"Things were flying around and when it finally came to a stop, they just said 'Get out, get out' because we thought it was going to explode," the man said. "It was already on fire before we got out of it!"

Miraculously, there were no major injuries among the crew and passengers. The emergency slides deployed, and passengers were able to slide down to safety.

The passengers "were stunned, they were very, very stunned," Tim Gibson, Waller-Harris Emergency Services district director, told reporters Tuesday.

"Any time you have a plane that doesn't make a landing on a runway like it should, we're always expecting the worst but hoping for the best, and today we absolutely, positively got the best outcome we can hope for on this," Gibson said.