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CNN Live Today

High Drama on Mt. Hood

Aired May 31, 2002 - 10:02   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: High drama here on Mt. Hood. An Air Force reserve helicopters on a mission to rescue a group of hikers crashes and tumbles down the side of a mountain, and a horrified audience watches it, live on television.

CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley joins us from Oregon's tallest mountain with more on that.

Hi there, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

The latest information is that seven people remain hospitalized, four climbers and three members of that helicopters crew that went down in the Pavehawk helicopter. The video just so dramatic, something we have never seen before, a helicopters involved in midrescue attempting to pull up a climber who was stranded. The helicopters suddenly went into the side of the mountain and rolled down approximately a thousand feet. A horrific site for those of white house watched it live on television, and even more horrific perhaps for this man who is with me right now.

Steve Rollins was right on the ground. You were right underneath the helicopter when is rescue was taking place. You are with Portland Mountain Rescue. Tell us from your perspective on the ground, what was happening?

STEVE ROLLINS, PORTLAND MOUNTAIN RESCUE: Well, it was very, very chaotic to begin with. Those helicopters have a tremendous rotor wash. There is 110-mile an hour winds coming down, blowing ice and snow. So you are doing your best to cover your eyes and that kind of thing, but keep track of the patient and the helicopter, that kind of thing.

I looked up and saw the helicopters pitch off to the left in kind of an awkward position, like it was losing power. I then saw one of the blades strike the snow slope, and I knew it was going to crash at that point. So I just dove over the ridge, trying to stay out of the way of flying debris, and that's when the helicopters flipped over and came to rest in the crater.

BUCKLEY: Steve, we saw some people running down the hill, at least one person in the video, running down the hill, after the helo, after it rolled all the way down the hill and came to a stop. It might have been you. You said you were one of the first on the scene to see the helicopter. What did you find when you got the helicopter?

ROLLINS: Well, first thing, obviously, we made sure that our existing patient at the crevasse was stable, and then our additional personnel, we ran down to check on the personnel, military personnel, that was in the helicopter. They are very dazed. There were personnel all over the place down there. There was, it seems like, about five flight crew and pair rescue jumpers laying in different areas. Some of them seriously injured, some of them able to walk.

BUCKLEY: And helicopter pilot and copilot, I believed they remained strapped in. Were the people still strapped in when you got to the helicopter, or had they already extricated themselves?

ROLLINS: As I approached, the ones in the helicopters still were just bailing out of the helicopter and some of them were actually thrown free of the helicopters during the crash.

BUCKLEY: You have been involved in this business for a while. I know you are a volunteer. You don't get paid for what do you. But have you ever been involved in a rescue that turned into something like this.

ROLLINS: Nothing like this at all. We work with the helicopters, we do train with them and everything. But this was an unusual rescue to begin with. We had a lot of patients up there. It was very serious. We had a lot of helicopters, which always increases the risk in a rescue situation, then to have a crash in the middle of a rescue, that changes the entire dynamic immediately.

BUCKLEY: People have said the third climber was being hooked up, was in the litter, was about to go up on the hoist, and what could have happened? We understand the flight engineer, or someone on that helicopter, disconnected the hoist, or the cable. What would have happened if that hadn't been disconnected.

ROLLINS: The litter was attached. So the entire attachment would have gone down with the helicopters into the crater most likely. So it definitely wouldn't have been a good situation. It appears that fast action on the part of the flight crew averted a worse disaster.

BUCKLEY: It amazes us that everyone has survived. The most serious of the injuries on the helicopters, the flight engineer, Martin Mills, is listed in serious condition. He is 36 years old, at the hospital. Does that amaze you as much as it amazes us?

ROLLINS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, you see a crash like that, and, you know, your immediate thought is, you know, oh, my God, do we have additional fatalities now, or critically injured patients. They are extremely skilled pilots. They are extremely skilled pararescue jumpers.

So from that aspect, I'm not surprised that they did as well as they did, but a crash like that, it's spectacular.

BUCKLEY: We know today that the effort will begin to finally bring down the third climber who is deceased. There were three climbers in all who were deceased among the original group of nine. Tell us the process that will take place to recover that third body.

ROLLINS: We are going to send a crew up in a snowcat, as high as the snowcat can go on the mountain. It's pretty tricky with the snow conditions and steep faults up there. At that point, the crew will get out of the snowcat and will climb to where the last patient is secured. Then it's matter of using technical rope systems to bring the litter back to an area the snowcat can bring it back down to the lodge here.

BUCKLEY: Okay, Steve Rollins, with Portland Mountain Rescue.

One thing I want you to get in, you wanted to say that it wasn't just your group, and we also know, of course, 939th rescue wing was involved. Who else was involved in the rescue effort.

ROLLINS: Yes, we also had the American medical response rat team up here, and Mountain Wave, also a volunteer rescue organization that provided communications in the timberline ski patrol. And there was just tremendous communication and cooperation up there. Wonderful.

BUCKLEY: Well on behalf of all of the climbers who are involved here, that count on you to be here to rescue them, thank you. You don't get paid for what you do. This is completely voluntary. You were telling me you don't even get reimbursed for your gas expenses, and I'm sure they thank you very much for your services.

ROLLINS: Thank you.

BUCKLEY: Thank you very much. Steve Rollins From Portland Mount and Rescue. An incredible perspective on what we've all seen now on television -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Frank, so amazing that all six crew members onboard that helicopters were able to survive that incredible, harrowing crash, you know, into the side of the mountain.

ROLLINS: Amazing also given the fact we have also seen as the helicopters was rolling over, it appeared as one of the flight crew was ejected, and it seems as though the helicopters rolled right over the top of him, and it seemed as though that person must have surely perished. We are told that the most serious of the injured is to the flight engineer, who suffered some internal injuries, a broken wrist, a leg injury. But all of the crew members, thankfully, are expected to survive.

WHITFIELD: Incredibly lucky. Thank you very much, Frank Buckley, for that report from Mt. Hood.

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