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CNN Live Event/Special
Police Say Explosive Device on a Plane in Ancona, Italy
Aired June 12, 2003 - 19:31 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Italy say a suspicious package found aboard a passenger plane may -- and we say may -- have contained explosive materials.
We have CNN's Alessio Vinci now on the phone live in Rome.
Alessio, what's the latest?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Anderson.
Well, in a short news release, police officials in Ancona, which is about 300 kilometers to the west from the east side from here, from Rome said that they received an anonymous phone call at around 2:30 p.m. local time here in Italy. It was about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
And the caller, according to police sources, was a male with a distinctive Italian accent and told police to search the plane that was due to leave about 30 minutes later for Rome. Now, after the police searched the plane, they found a package underneath one of the seats in the rear part of the plane and a package that police officials described in their news release as suspicious and containing some explosive material.
Now, the package was eventually removed from the plane and detonated in a controlled explosion. Police officials would not say how much explosive they had found in this package, nor whether there was enough of it to blow up the plane should that plane have taken off with that explosive material on board. At no time there were any passengers in danger, as the plane was still empty when the police conducted this search, and passengers booked on the flight eventually flew to Rome on another jet.
Now, police are, of course, investigating the content of this suspicious package, whatever is left of it after the explosion. And of course, they have many answer -- many questions to answer. First of all, how's it possible they made it to the plane. Secondly, was the attacker -- the would be attacker -- just a lone person or was it behind a terrorist organization. And finally, why would somebody want to blow up a plane, put up the explosive aboard and then call the police? -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Certainly a lot of questions tonight. Alessio Vinci, thanks for the update.
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 June 12, 2003 - 19:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Italy say a suspicious package found aboard a passenger plane may -- and we say may -- have contained explosive materials.
We have CNN's Alessio Vinci now on the phone live in Rome.
Alessio, what's the latest?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Anderson.
Well, in a short news release, police officials in Ancona, which is about 300 kilometers to the west from the east side from here, from Rome said that they received an anonymous phone call at around 2:30 p.m. local time here in Italy. It was about 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
And the caller, according to police sources, was a male with a distinctive Italian accent and told police to search the plane that was due to leave about 30 minutes later for Rome. Now, after the police searched the plane, they found a package underneath one of the seats in the rear part of the plane and a package that police officials described in their news release as suspicious and containing some explosive material.
Now, the package was eventually removed from the plane and detonated in a controlled explosion. Police officials would not say how much explosive they had found in this package, nor whether there was enough of it to blow up the plane should that plane have taken off with that explosive material on board. At no time there were any passengers in danger, as the plane was still empty when the police conducted this search, and passengers booked on the flight eventually flew to Rome on another jet.
Now, police are, of course, investigating the content of this suspicious package, whatever is left of it after the explosion. And of course, they have many answer -- many questions to answer. First of all, how's it possible they made it to the plane. Secondly, was the attacker -- the would be attacker -- just a lone person or was it behind a terrorist organization. And finally, why would somebody want to blow up a plane, put up the explosive aboard and then call the police? -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Certainly a lot of questions tonight. Alessio Vinci, thanks for the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
