New York  - A US Airways passenger plane carrying 148 passengers crashed Thursday into New York's Hudson River, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

All the passengers had been able to escape the aircraft, the FAA said, as the plane slowly sank into the freezing waters off Manhattan.

The Airbus 320 headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport at 3:26 pm and crashed less than three minutes after takeoff, FAA spokesman Laura Brown said.

A passenger named Alberto told CNN he believed everybody on the plane had got out of the plane when US Coast Guard vessels and ferries on the river surrounded the plane and dropped life-saving vests and rafts to help them escape.

CNN reported that the passengers were taken ashore in Manhattan and were given blankets in the frigid temperatures that hit New York City this week.

Half of the fuselage of the Airbus 320 and the tail were seen floating, surrounded by the vessels and ferries.

There were also five or six crew members also on board, Brown said.