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CNN Live At Daybreak
Rescue Helicopter Crashes on Mount Hood, Five Injured
Aired May 31, 2002 - 06:32 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: Five injuries reported in the crash of a military helicopter on a mountaintop rescue mission. One crew member says the helicopter was having problems maneuvering at the high altitude of Mount Hood.
And on Oregon's Mount Hood, a rescue effort goes from bad to worse, but the disaster -- full disaster I should say, is narrowly averted.
CNN's Eric Horng is at the scene for us with this live update -- good morning, Eric.
ERIC HORNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. Certainly, when you look at the pictures, it's pretty remarkable no one aboard that Pavehawk helicopter was killed; even more remarkable that only one crewmember was seriously injured.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HORNG (voice-over): In the words of one official, it was a rescue operation that went from bad to worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out. Look out, guys! Here we are talking about things going wrong. Hang on, fellows. Oh, my goodness! Oh, that is horrible.
HORNG: An Air Force Pavehawk helicopter twirling out of control, crashing into the side of Mount Hood.
As the chopper tumbled down the mountainside, stunned witnesses watched in disbelief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The side of the helicopter just, you know, exploded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then all of a sudden the next thing you knew you saw this helicopter rolling down the hill. So I mean, it was just bizarre looking. I mean, you see these bodies flying out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw the two airmen get ejected, and one was sitting up in a daze kind of looking towards me.
HORNG: The chopper was attempting to rescue a team of injured climbers who had fallen into a 20 to 30 foot crevasse earlier in the day. Three climbers were killed in the initial fall; six others injured. Rescue teams scrambled to the scene about 800 feet from the 11,000 foot high summit. The chopper was attempting to lift a climber on a gurney when the aircraft began losing altitude. Officials say the crew released the cable moments before it lost control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the aircraft went down, they did have somebody on the hoist, and I believe it was a flight engineer cut the cable at the critical moment and probably saved that person's life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HORNG: All of the injured climbers, as well as the five people aboard that chopper, have been taken off Mount Hood. Three remain hospitalized today in serious condition.
On Mount Hood, Oregon, I am Eric Horng reporting live -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: So no one knows right now exactly why the helicopter crashed, Eric. Is it because it's just hard to fly in that part of the world?
HORNG: Well, certainly they will be looking at the issue of elevation. The Pavehawk helicopter is designed for search-and-rescue operations at high altitudes, something like a ceiling of 14,000 feet. This operation taking place around 11,000 feet. And weather conditions, we should mention, at the time were ideal. So it's certainly a mystery at this point. Investigators say it could be several weeks before they come to a conclusion on all of this.
COSTELLO: All right. Eric Horng, thank you very much for that live update.
You know, one of the climbers who was not injured in the fall was the first to alert authorities. Cleve Joiner called for help on his cell phone.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911, what is the location of your emergency?
CLEVE JOINER, CLIMBER: This is on Mount Hood on the south side about 800 feet from the peak. We have seven people down, possibly four injured. They fell into the crevasse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the south side?
JOINER: South side, above the lift, about 800 feet from the top.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you see them at all? Or can you...
JOINER: I can't see them. I am down (AUDIO GAP) the crevasse. But the report is -- we've got a couple of paramedics up here. The report is that we've got seven down in there, and I've got four that are injured. Can you take a look, Karen (ph), and see what we've got?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Speaking about it later, Joiner compared it to hockey players throwing themselves on the ice to block a shot -- dangerous stuff there.
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