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CNN Live Today
Mission Iraq: Helicopter Down
Aired February 25, 2004 - 11:17 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: An American helicopter is shot down in the Euphrates River in western Iraq. Two crew members have died.
Our Brent Sadler is covering the story in Baghdad. He is in Baghdad -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Daryn.
U.S. officials here in Baghdad confirm that an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter has gone down in water near the western town of Hadithra (ph) about 150 miles west of the capital Baghdad. It does not seem to be the result of hostile fire. That's what investigations on the ground are saying right now. An escort helicopter did not report seeing hostile fire of any sort when the machine went down. Divers were sent in, but the two-man crew was lost.
Now the Kiowa helicopter is one of the most important eyes in the skies over Baghdad and elsewhere. It is a two-crew reconnaissance aircraft, it's armed and it provides a lot of vital information for ongoing U.S. activities throughout the Iraq theater. And five of those Kiowas have now been brought down since the end of major combat operations declared by President George W. Bush last May. This one, though, does not seem to have been brought down though, as I say, by hostile fire, according to U.S. officials right now -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Brent Sadler, with the latest from Baghdad, thank you.
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 February 25, 2004 - 11:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: An American helicopter is shot down in the Euphrates River in western Iraq. Two crew members have died.
Our Brent Sadler is covering the story in Baghdad. He is in Baghdad -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Daryn.
U.S. officials here in Baghdad confirm that an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter has gone down in water near the western town of Hadithra (ph) about 150 miles west of the capital Baghdad. It does not seem to be the result of hostile fire. That's what investigations on the ground are saying right now. An escort helicopter did not report seeing hostile fire of any sort when the machine went down. Divers were sent in, but the two-man crew was lost.
Now the Kiowa helicopter is one of the most important eyes in the skies over Baghdad and elsewhere. It is a two-crew reconnaissance aircraft, it's armed and it provides a lot of vital information for ongoing U.S. activities throughout the Iraq theater. And five of those Kiowas have now been brought down since the end of major combat operations declared by President George W. Bush last May. This one, though, does not seem to have been brought down though, as I say, by hostile fire, according to U.S. officials right now -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Brent Sadler, with the latest from Baghdad, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com