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CNN Live At Daybreak
Utah Avalanche: 1 of 3 Bodies Found
Aired December 29, 2003 - 05:38 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Utah, high winds and snow have hampered the search for two snowboarders. One body was pulled from beneath the snow Sunday, two days after an avalanche swept across a group of five.
Susan Wood of CNN affiliate KTVX has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you see the crowning, the rounding effect on the snow here? That is where a majority of the build-up was at.
SUSAN WOOD, KTVX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where a group of five friends was hiking up the mountainside on Friday to take a few afternoon runs on their snowboards. But as they got midway up the mountainside, a huge slab of snow broke lose above.
SHERIFF JIM TRACE, UTAH COUNTY, UTAH: This area is =-- is - is massive. The chutes when they broke and ran avalanche, were just about 200 feet from the top of the highest mountain peak that you can see here.
J.D. SETILE, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: You know what it looked like when it comes off that horn is just pure white coming at you. It's nothing but white and you feel it. It rumbles. It's - best way I can describe it is just, like, snow making an earthquake. You can feel it under your feet.
WOOD: J.D. Setile was one of the five caught in the snow as it rumbled down. The first slide buried him to the waist, but he was able to get out, and used a broke tree branch to start digging for his friend.
But then a second wave of snow hit. He was thrown farther down the mountain, and buried underneath it.
SETILE: I couldn't do anything. All I could think about was calm down my breathing so that I didn't panic.
WOOD: Two men in the area freed him from the snow, which can set up like concrete.
Nearly 48 hours after the slides hit, traces of J.D.'s friends are found by search dogs: two hats, a backpack and a snowboard. Then the body of one of the men, Mike Hebert - news that his family had come to expect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of tears, a lot of hugging.
SETILE: I want to go up and help find my friends. That's all I want to do, help their families out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That was Susan Wood of our Salt Lake City affiliate, KTVX.
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 December 29, 2003 - 05:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Utah, high winds and snow have hampered the search for two snowboarders. One body was pulled from beneath the snow Sunday, two days after an avalanche swept across a group of five.
Susan Wood of CNN affiliate KTVX has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you see the crowning, the rounding effect on the snow here? That is where a majority of the build-up was at.
SUSAN WOOD, KTVX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where a group of five friends was hiking up the mountainside on Friday to take a few afternoon runs on their snowboards. But as they got midway up the mountainside, a huge slab of snow broke lose above.
SHERIFF JIM TRACE, UTAH COUNTY, UTAH: This area is =-- is - is massive. The chutes when they broke and ran avalanche, were just about 200 feet from the top of the highest mountain peak that you can see here.
J.D. SETILE, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: You know what it looked like when it comes off that horn is just pure white coming at you. It's nothing but white and you feel it. It rumbles. It's - best way I can describe it is just, like, snow making an earthquake. You can feel it under your feet.
WOOD: J.D. Setile was one of the five caught in the snow as it rumbled down. The first slide buried him to the waist, but he was able to get out, and used a broke tree branch to start digging for his friend.
But then a second wave of snow hit. He was thrown farther down the mountain, and buried underneath it.
SETILE: I couldn't do anything. All I could think about was calm down my breathing so that I didn't panic.
WOOD: Two men in the area freed him from the snow, which can set up like concrete.
Nearly 48 hours after the slides hit, traces of J.D.'s friends are found by search dogs: two hats, a backpack and a snowboard. Then the body of one of the men, Mike Hebert - news that his family had come to expect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of tears, a lot of hugging.
SETILE: I want to go up and help find my friends. That's all I want to do, help their families out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That was Susan Wood of our Salt Lake City affiliate, KTVX.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
