Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Plane Crash in Egypt
Aired January 05, 2004 - 05:03 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: Turning now to that plane crash in Egypt, a French robot will dive into the Red Sea today to search for the flight recorder of a charter jet that crashed over the weekend. All 148 people on board, most of them French tourists, were killed.
CNN's Chris Burns joins us from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort with more -- good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
A very surreal atmosphere. As you can see, a beautiful sunny day, very warm, lots of people out in their shorts going skin diving today. But there are other divers busy today, as well.
If you can look over my shoulder, very surreal. As it's beautiful here, there is that haunting vision out there in the ocean just a few miles offshore of those Egyptian Navy ships that are in the process of searching the waters for the wreckage of that Boeing 737, that Flash Airlines plane.
Now, as that search goes on, officials are saying now that it is about 150 meters deep. That's about 450 feet deep or so. That is still beyond what normal divers can do and that is why the French have sent a robotic submarine to go down and try to find the wreckage and especially, as you say, that black box flight recorder that they've got to find to try to figure out exactly what went on.
There was no communication with the pilot. He gave no distress signal as he plunged from 5,000 feet down to the surface of the Red Sea in 17 seconds. What went wrong in that period is a very big question.
At the same time, a few of the families have trickled over here. But most of them will be coming to grieve for their loved ones in a couple of days. But the French right now are focusing on the search. They're sending a submarine hunting frigate that is supposed to arrive some time later today to engage in the sonar detection of that black box and other wreckage. The main thing they're trying to confirm is exactly what caused this crash -- back to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris, there is word this morning that this plane had technical problems before.
Could you help us understand that better?
BURNS: Well, Carol, there is debate over that. Now, the Swiss, a couple of years ago, banned the Flash Airlines and their two Boeing 737 planes from flying and landing in their air space. But also there were two emergency landings by Flash Airlines in 2002 in Europe. That raised a number of signals, but at the same time, the French government says they checked those planes three times over the past couple of years and they found that the planes were fine.
So that is the big question -- where those planes safe? Again, the French are saying, really, the bottom line is they've got to find out, find that black box and really determine what caused this crash -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns reporting live from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this morning.
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 January 5, 2004 - 05:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to that plane crash in Egypt, a French robot will dive into the Red Sea today to search for the flight recorder of a charter jet that crashed over the weekend. All 148 people on board, most of them French tourists, were killed.
CNN's Chris Burns joins us from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort with more -- good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
A very surreal atmosphere. As you can see, a beautiful sunny day, very warm, lots of people out in their shorts going skin diving today. But there are other divers busy today, as well.
If you can look over my shoulder, very surreal. As it's beautiful here, there is that haunting vision out there in the ocean just a few miles offshore of those Egyptian Navy ships that are in the process of searching the waters for the wreckage of that Boeing 737, that Flash Airlines plane.
Now, as that search goes on, officials are saying now that it is about 150 meters deep. That's about 450 feet deep or so. That is still beyond what normal divers can do and that is why the French have sent a robotic submarine to go down and try to find the wreckage and especially, as you say, that black box flight recorder that they've got to find to try to figure out exactly what went on.
There was no communication with the pilot. He gave no distress signal as he plunged from 5,000 feet down to the surface of the Red Sea in 17 seconds. What went wrong in that period is a very big question.
At the same time, a few of the families have trickled over here. But most of them will be coming to grieve for their loved ones in a couple of days. But the French right now are focusing on the search. They're sending a submarine hunting frigate that is supposed to arrive some time later today to engage in the sonar detection of that black box and other wreckage. The main thing they're trying to confirm is exactly what caused this crash -- back to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris, there is word this morning that this plane had technical problems before.
Could you help us understand that better?
BURNS: Well, Carol, there is debate over that. Now, the Swiss, a couple of years ago, banned the Flash Airlines and their two Boeing 737 planes from flying and landing in their air space. But also there were two emergency landings by Flash Airlines in 2002 in Europe. That raised a number of signals, but at the same time, the French government says they checked those planes three times over the past couple of years and they found that the planes were fine.
So that is the big question -- where those planes safe? Again, the French are saying, really, the bottom line is they've got to find out, find that black box and really determine what caused this crash -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns reporting live from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
