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CNN Live At Daybreak
Death Toll From Hotel Bombing Rises to 20
Aired March 28, 2002 - 06:02 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more on that suicide bombing massacre that's complicating U.S. efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians to agree to a cease-fire. CNN's John Vause has been inside that seaside hotel restaurant, where the bomber took so many lives -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, we are outside that hotel right now, and the destruction outside is fairly amazing as well. Here in the parking lot outside the hotel, it's covered in glass from the windows, which were blown out by that massive blast, as hundreds of people sat down for Seder, for the meal, which marks the start of Jewish Passover.
I'd like to get Jonathan (ph), our cameraman, to zoom up on these windows here, take a look at the damage which was caused. Now, if we look at the second floor to start off with, these windows are on the second floor. They were also damaged by the blast. They have blown out. They have scattered this entire area with broken pieces of glass. And if we can tilt down, what we can see there, that's the row of windows. That's the structure of the building, which has just been torn away with the full force of that explosion. These cars in the parking lot covered by glass and debris by the force of that explosion.
Now, all day long here, hundreds of people have been gathering. There is security. There is a very heavy security force here. But as I said, hundreds of people have been gathering here just to take a look at the scene of this devastation, trying to take it in, trying to understand what's happened here.
This is the 60th suicide bombing, which has taken place since that intifada, since that uprising began in September, 2000, 18 months ago. The damage to this hotel quite extensive, as we pan around and take a look. It's nothing compared to the damage that was inside.
I'd like to roll some tape now, which we have for you, which we shot earlier of the damage inside the hotel. If you look at these pictures, it's very chilling, if you look at those tables still with their tablecloths on them with broken plates. There is cutlery on the ground, knives and forks. On those tables, there is food left behind from meals, which were to be eaten, which these people never got around to.
As I said, this was the meal, the very religious holiday to mark the start of the Jewish Passover. We are told there was 227 people inside at the time of the explosion, 20 people in a critical condition, including children. Inside, we saw evidence of children there, strollers, bottles still with milk in them for their mothers to give to their children.
On the dance floor, what is a dance floor in that banquet room that was being used with tables and chairs as part of this celebratory dinner, pools of blood mixed in with water, because when the blast happened, it burst all of the water pipes.
Now, one Israeli man, who was inside at the time of the blast, he said, "All of a sudden, I was in hell. There was complete darkness. There was total chaos." As we said, 20 people in a critical condition; another 48 listed in a moderate condition. And the death toll from this blast now stands at 19 people, plus the suicide bomber.
And among the dead, we are told, a number of tourists notably from Sweden. And that will make identifying all of the victims in this blast a lot more difficult -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, it seemed to be such a big blast. There must have been a lot of explosives on the suicide bomber. Was there?
VAUSE: Well, actually, Carol, that is what the police are investigating at the moment, but what we are told is that it was a mid-sized explosion. It wasn't a huge -- a mount of explosives used, but the reason why there was so much damage is because it was contained, because it was inside. The blast really had nowhere to go. It blew out the windows, but it was contained inside that banquet room. So that is the reason why there has been so much damage and so much loss of life and so many people wounded -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Awful. Thank you -- John Vause, reporting live for us at the scene of that suicide bombing, at least the latest one.
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