Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Investigators Looking Into Cause of Plane Crash in Milan
Aired April 19, 2002 - 12:22 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Italian authorities are still trying to pinpoint the exact cause of that crash yesterday of a small plane into a skyscraper in Milan. CNN's Chris Burns is in Milan and he has more on the investigation from there -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, bits of plane wreckage and a sea of documents over my shoulder at the foot of the tallest building in Milan. If you'll swing up to the hole in the building, you see that it blasted a hole straight through the building. The other side looks pretty much the same. It was a twin- engine plane that hit, that struck that building. Police are now looking at the possibility that it was a suicide.
They're saying, they're counting out a terrorist attack, saying that there was no evidence of that, but they are looking at the possibility that the pilot whose name is Luigi Gino Fasulo (ph), 68 years old, an art dealer who is said to be in serious debt, perhaps wanted to take his own life. Even his sons suggest that on TV last night, and that is the possibility that they're looking at right now.
What does that do to the public here? Now we've talked to some people, quite a few people looking here in a daze at that building, at the tallest building in Milan, and Ulisse Ferrari is a travel agent in here, not far away, and you actually heard what happened. How do you feel now the day after that happened? How worried are you about your own security here?
ULISSE FERRARI, TRAVEL AGENT: We are afraid, because it is what happened yesterday. We say we have not enough security.
BURNS: Because it was not a terrorist attack.
FERRARI: Yes.
Burns: And now they're talking though about a suicide attack and that is perhaps almost as troubling, isn't it?
FERRARI: Yes. All the people that it's not attack of terrorist because it maybe is just an accident. But for this reason, we see that we have not enough security. You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is very, very strange.
BURNS: The problem is how do you stop something like this, somebody in a plane, either intentionally or unintentionally crashing into the tallest building in your city?
FERRARI: Yes, this is a question that I ask for myself too. I can't answer your question because everybody's - this is a question everybody, how it's possible to happen in a city like Milan, you know. What can I say yesterday was my office behind this building and we heard like a bomb, you know, and the window was open immediately.
BURNS: By the concussion of the...
FERRARI: Right. In the beginning we were afraid the bomb in the street. Railroad station is very near.
BURNS: Thank you. Thank you Ulisse.
FERRARI: OK.
BURNS: Ulisse Ferrari, a travel agent here, that there are concerns and worries, but at least a bit of relief that this was not a terror attack. At least people feel better about that. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. Chris Burns from Milan.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
