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CNN Live Today
Six Soldiers Killed in Crash
Aired November 07, 2003 - 10:01 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Iraq where at least seven U.S. soldiers have been killed in two separate incidents. The deadliest, the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. There are no survivors.
Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us with more.
Nic, hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, the investigation has been going on through the daylight hours. It's become dark in the last hour or so. Helicopters have been patrolling the area about two miles from this base, where the helicopter came down.
Now, according to local people who told a senior military official here they told him that they seen some fired at the helicopter. The coalition officials are saying they cannot confirm that, that the investigation is going on.
But what we have learned is at the crash site itself the debris is strewn over a very large area, about a kilometer, strewn sort of in a long line in a kilometer-long area, perhaps about three quarters of a mile. That is quite uncommon, they say, in comparison -- or it could contrast quite starkly with the shooting down of a helicopter, a Black Hawk helicopter, here two weeks ago, shot down by a rocket propelled grenade. That helicopter was able to make its way to the ground, the crew members and personnel onboard able to get off.
This helicopter, we are told, from the large impact site, we are told, that it hit the ground with a lot of force and with a lot of speed. Now the investigators are likely looking inside the helicopter to try and ascertain, was the helicopter hit in any way before it hit the ground? Will they be able to see indications of that from the state of the crew members and the troop inside the helicopter? Will they be able to see it from any of the mechanical remains in the wreckage? Those, we are told, would be likely to see the things the investigators are looking for at this time -- Daryn.
HEMMER: Other than the fact it looked like the two helicopters came down in similar manners, does it appear that the two are related?
ROBERTSON: Daryn, I'm sorry, I'm having a very hard time hearing you, if you could ask me again, please. KAGAN: All right, we'll try one more time. Does it appear the two attacks are related? Perhaps carried out by the same group or same individuals?
ROBERTSON: That's not clear at this stage. Coalition officials are telling us that their investigation, they hope to have more information perhaps within the next 12 hours or so, but they say it's really too early to link these two events together. They say it would just be speculation at this moment to say that the two were linked. But they're not ruling anything out. They are looking to see if there is mechanical damage. They are looking to see if the aircraft was, indeed, struck by some kind of missile -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson joining us from near Tikrit, Iraq. Thank you for that.
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 November 7, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Iraq where at least seven U.S. soldiers have been killed in two separate incidents. The deadliest, the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. There are no survivors.
Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us with more.
Nic, hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Well, the investigation has been going on through the daylight hours. It's become dark in the last hour or so. Helicopters have been patrolling the area about two miles from this base, where the helicopter came down.
Now, according to local people who told a senior military official here they told him that they seen some fired at the helicopter. The coalition officials are saying they cannot confirm that, that the investigation is going on.
But what we have learned is at the crash site itself the debris is strewn over a very large area, about a kilometer, strewn sort of in a long line in a kilometer-long area, perhaps about three quarters of a mile. That is quite uncommon, they say, in comparison -- or it could contrast quite starkly with the shooting down of a helicopter, a Black Hawk helicopter, here two weeks ago, shot down by a rocket propelled grenade. That helicopter was able to make its way to the ground, the crew members and personnel onboard able to get off.
This helicopter, we are told, from the large impact site, we are told, that it hit the ground with a lot of force and with a lot of speed. Now the investigators are likely looking inside the helicopter to try and ascertain, was the helicopter hit in any way before it hit the ground? Will they be able to see indications of that from the state of the crew members and the troop inside the helicopter? Will they be able to see it from any of the mechanical remains in the wreckage? Those, we are told, would be likely to see the things the investigators are looking for at this time -- Daryn.
HEMMER: Other than the fact it looked like the two helicopters came down in similar manners, does it appear that the two are related?
ROBERTSON: Daryn, I'm sorry, I'm having a very hard time hearing you, if you could ask me again, please. KAGAN: All right, we'll try one more time. Does it appear the two attacks are related? Perhaps carried out by the same group or same individuals?
ROBERTSON: That's not clear at this stage. Coalition officials are telling us that their investigation, they hope to have more information perhaps within the next 12 hours or so, but they say it's really too early to link these two events together. They say it would just be speculation at this moment to say that the two were linked. But they're not ruling anything out. They are looking to see if there is mechanical damage. They are looking to see if the aircraft was, indeed, struck by some kind of missile -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Nic Robertson joining us from near Tikrit, Iraq. Thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
