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CNN Live Today

America Under Attack: New News In Pennsylvania

Aired September 12, 2001 - 13:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And there were, of course, four ill- fated flights yesterday that ended in disaster. One of those flights landed in Pennsylvania, crashed in Pennsylvania, Somerset County. It was the United Airlines flight 93 out of Newark, New Jersey. Its intended destination was San Francisco. Of course it never made it.

Sometime when it was turning back toward the east to a destination unknown, it did crash. We have from the location CNN's Brian Cabell. He's there along with so many investigators trying to put the pieces together to what happened with this one. Brian, what can you tell us?

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Natalie, the recovery operation is well under way right now. We're told there are 80 investigators out in the field about a half mile behind me combing those fields, mapping debris in the fields and starting to picking up some of the debris; but we have been warned that what they are finding is very small, tiny and some cases. We're talking about both debris and human remains.

There were 45 people onboard this plane. The largest piece, we were told by one official, was a part of a jet engine. Of course, the top priority right now is to find the black box. The FBI official who talked to us about an hour ago said they have not yet found it. They have not heard a beacon from it yet.

That was not especially promising and Congressman John Murtha, who is from this area, spoke to us a couple of hours ago. He said he spoke to some searchers earlier today and he said they were pessimistic about finding the black box.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I personally think that this black box in this incident could be a key because I think personally there was a struggle in that airplane before it hit the ground and somebody made a heroic effort to keep that from hitting a populated area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABELL: Congressman Murtha also mentioned that he noticed in the last month or so increased security around the Pentagon and also at two U.S. military installations outside of D.C. He's not sure what to attribute that to.

As for the scene here, as I say, it's about a half mile behind me. We're told it's a three-mile perimeter. There is a crater in the middle of it, 8 to 10 feet deep we have been told. And the search we're told may take between three and five weeks.

The big question remaining here, of course, Natalie, is where was this plane going. It left Newark around 8 a.m., went to the Cleveland airspace, turned around and came back east. The thought it might go into Pittsburgh. They thought it might go into Johnstown, a little bit north of here, but then ended up in a field, as I say, in rural Somerset County.

The question is: Was there a fight on the plane? Did somebody deliberately turn this plane down into this field.

I'm Brian Cabell, CNN live in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

NATALIE: Brian Cabell, thank you. Will we ever know as investigators look for the black box there. We'll stay in touch with Brian for any further developments.

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