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CNN Live Today
Family Members Visit Grim Scene on Sunday
Aired February 24, 2003 - 11:28 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Fire inspectors are fanning out across Rhode Island today. They are checking on nightclub safety. A moratorium on indoor pyrotechnics took effect today. That is three days after 97 people died at an inferno at a club called The Station.
Our Whitney Casey is on the scene of the tragedy. She is in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Whitney, hello.
WHITNEY CASE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
I just want to update you on some of these numbers; 42 victims have been identified out of the 97 that you were talking about; 180 people had been admitted to area hospitals after this tragedy. Now 80 remain in hospitals, and dozens remain in critical condition. And government officials are optimistic, though. They hope that the death toll will not go up. However, there are those dozens that are in area hospitals. Those are the numbers of this tragedy.
Behind me, I'm just going to show you the pictures of this tragedy. Yesterday, family members were allowed to come here for the very first time. And as you can see, it is still open to family members. They can come and pay their respects here. And in the interim, the investigation continues, and the questions continue to swirl over who was responsible for this? Was it indeed the club owner's responsibility, Jeffrey Didarian (ph) or Michael Didarian (ph), or was it Great White's?
And as those questions continue, the governor has underscored that what is most imperative to him is identifying those victims, 55 of whom are still unidentified, Daryn. And as you said, he has placed a moratorium in the state of Rhode Island only for buildings that have the capacity -- smaller buildings like this one, between 50 and 250, on those pyrotechnics.
And he also has said that he will send 200 fire marshals out into the field.
But I do want to show you something, Daryn, that a lot of the people here in this community have said has assuaged some of their sadness today. This is the local paper, the "Providence Journal," and these are profiles of victims. These are the faces of the disaster, and the first time that we've actually seen so many of them.
I don't know if you remember this, Daryn, but around 9/11 "The New York Times" did something like this, the profiles of the victims from 9/11, and they were very poignant, very eloquent, just like these are here, and we expect to see more of these, along with more memorials and more funerals -- Daryn.
KAGAN: I certainly do remember those profiles, Whitney. And it really brought home as it put faces and stories, not just numbers of people who died in that tragedy, and it's doing the same thing here in Rhode Island.
Whitney Casey, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 24, 2003 - 11:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Fire inspectors are fanning out across Rhode Island today. They are checking on nightclub safety. A moratorium on indoor pyrotechnics took effect today. That is three days after 97 people died at an inferno at a club called The Station.
Our Whitney Casey is on the scene of the tragedy. She is in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Whitney, hello.
WHITNEY CASE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
I just want to update you on some of these numbers; 42 victims have been identified out of the 97 that you were talking about; 180 people had been admitted to area hospitals after this tragedy. Now 80 remain in hospitals, and dozens remain in critical condition. And government officials are optimistic, though. They hope that the death toll will not go up. However, there are those dozens that are in area hospitals. Those are the numbers of this tragedy.
Behind me, I'm just going to show you the pictures of this tragedy. Yesterday, family members were allowed to come here for the very first time. And as you can see, it is still open to family members. They can come and pay their respects here. And in the interim, the investigation continues, and the questions continue to swirl over who was responsible for this? Was it indeed the club owner's responsibility, Jeffrey Didarian (ph) or Michael Didarian (ph), or was it Great White's?
And as those questions continue, the governor has underscored that what is most imperative to him is identifying those victims, 55 of whom are still unidentified, Daryn. And as you said, he has placed a moratorium in the state of Rhode Island only for buildings that have the capacity -- smaller buildings like this one, between 50 and 250, on those pyrotechnics.
And he also has said that he will send 200 fire marshals out into the field.
But I do want to show you something, Daryn, that a lot of the people here in this community have said has assuaged some of their sadness today. This is the local paper, the "Providence Journal," and these are profiles of victims. These are the faces of the disaster, and the first time that we've actually seen so many of them.
I don't know if you remember this, Daryn, but around 9/11 "The New York Times" did something like this, the profiles of the victims from 9/11, and they were very poignant, very eloquent, just like these are here, and we expect to see more of these, along with more memorials and more funerals -- Daryn.
KAGAN: I certainly do remember those profiles, Whitney. And it really brought home as it put faces and stories, not just numbers of people who died in that tragedy, and it's doing the same thing here in Rhode Island.
Whitney Casey, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
