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American Morning

Deadly Chopper Crash

Aired November 07, 2003 - 09:01   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. military investigators trying to find out why a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed, killing everyone on board. It happened near the town of Tikrit. That's the hometown, the ancestral hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Back to Nic Robertson, live at the scene for more.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The crash took place only a couple of miles from the base where I'm standing at the moment. If you look over my shoulder, you can see the ridgeline. In the last few minutes, helicopters have still been patrolling over the heavily populated town on that ridgeline. Right at the end of that ridgeline is where the Black Hawk helicopter came down. According to local townspeople, who told us the U.S. military officials, they saw something fired at the helicopter. Now we understand from coalition officials that this time their investigation is still under way.

They don't know what caused the crash. But what they will likely be looking for as they look at the wreckage, and they've been doing that throughout the daylight hours, throughout the afternoon here, is they look at the wreckage. They will try to ascertain how quickly the helicopter came down out of the sky. Did it make any maneuvers? Did it try and steer out of trouble? And also likely look inside the helicopter, the condition of the soldiers. Does it appear that they sustained injuries before the helicopter crash?

So they will look at all this evidence and through the afternoon. We're going to see many helicopters patrolling the air. Dust coming up from the site where the helicopter crashed. All six people onboard were killed, and we're told by coalition officials that much of the delicate equipment on that helicopter has now been destroyed. So they cannot fall into enemy hands -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic Robertson from Tikrit.

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 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. military investigators trying to find out why a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed, killing everyone on board. It happened near the town of Tikrit. That's the hometown, the ancestral hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Back to Nic Robertson, live at the scene for more.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

The crash took place only a couple of miles from the base where I'm standing at the moment. If you look over my shoulder, you can see the ridgeline. In the last few minutes, helicopters have still been patrolling over the heavily populated town on that ridgeline. Right at the end of that ridgeline is where the Black Hawk helicopter came down. According to local townspeople, who told us the U.S. military officials, they saw something fired at the helicopter. Now we understand from coalition officials that this time their investigation is still under way.

They don't know what caused the crash. But what they will likely be looking for as they look at the wreckage, and they've been doing that throughout the daylight hours, throughout the afternoon here, is they look at the wreckage. They will try to ascertain how quickly the helicopter came down out of the sky. Did it make any maneuvers? Did it try and steer out of trouble? And also likely look inside the helicopter, the condition of the soldiers. Does it appear that they sustained injuries before the helicopter crash?

So they will look at all this evidence and through the afternoon. We're going to see many helicopters patrolling the air. Dust coming up from the site where the helicopter crashed. All six people onboard were killed, and we're told by coalition officials that much of the delicate equipment on that helicopter has now been destroyed. So they cannot fall into enemy hands -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic Robertson from Tikrit.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com