Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Several Wounded Taken From School Area in Russia Where Hostages Being Held

Aired September 03, 2004 - 05:29   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: You're listening to Ryan Chilcote. He is actually talking to one of our international news anchors on CNN International and we're simulcasting that report for you now.
Let's listen in.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you see this ambulance in front of us, Jonathan?

Yes. Yes. They're moving the cars out of the way. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: Let's bring in Eli Flournoy, our international editor -- Eli, I'm going to wait for Ryan to start speaking again.

But just so our viewers understand what is happening right now...

CHILCOTE: Well, what they said specifically was that they would not pursue...

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SR. INTL. EDITOR: Right. I think we can pick up Ryan to give us a description of it.

COSTELLO: So, let's listen.

CHILCOTE: They would not try to go into the school until there -- unless there was no other option, unless the hostage takers gave them no other choices. And perhaps what we are seeing here, Jonathan, is that very situation, because the first gunfire we heard came from the school. So -- one second.

So -- we're going to put the camera back on the ambulance and the crowd here. Remember, there's just two of us. This is a pretty chaotic situation. We almost got ran over by a lot of people that were running away.

But now you can see pictures of an ambulance evacuating people wounded in this most recent bout of fighting in the last 15 or 20 minutes. More wounded being brought out, Jonathan. We're going to try and get a good shot of what's going on over there.

But we have, again, attack helicopters in the air. It's called the Crocodile.

OK, they're getting this ambulance out of here. We're going to watch this ambulance as it leaves the scene, a scene of absolute devastation and a very disappointing development here, obviously. We've seen at least two wounded people in front of our very own eyes within about five meters of us. We have Russian attack helicopters called the Crocodile in front of us flying on station above the school. And that, of course, was an ambulance.

Could you see that ambulance, Jonathan?

JONATHAN: Yes, we did, Ryan.

You said that there are several injured and among them you mentioned you saw a young boy being put into an ambulance.

You say two and possibly more, right?

CHILCOTE: Oh, yes. I think many more. It's just what we can see from our vantage point. We're literally tied to this camera to share this experience with you. But...

JONATHAN: Right. I understand.

And let me ask you...

CHILCOTE: But we believe that there are many more.

JONATHAN: ... as you said, some of these -- some of those who were injured or hit apparently were hit close to you. So, these are people within the crowd who have been milling about for quite some time?

CHILCOTE: It's difficult to say. They were not hostages, that I can say for sure. So, the one gentleman we saw was definitely not a hostage. He was, I'm being told right now he was a cameraman. He was holding a camera. So, he obviously got caught up in the crossfire.

The other person that we saw we just don't know. He could have been a hostage.

We have more small arms fire. We are going to step behind this car. I'll just move over here. OK, we've got -- we're -- hang with us for a second here, if you don't mind. We're going to -- got more small arms firing. We didn't have very good cover. We now do.

But anyway, if you can see me, Alex (ph).

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we can see you fine.

CHILCOTE: OK, well lift up, Kevin (ph), more. OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's those helicopters. Why don't we pull the camera off them? We're going to connect our shots for you.

AIKEN: As Ryan adjusts things, let me bring our viewers up to date. We have been watching a volley of gunfire in the direction of this school in which militants have been holding as many as 300, at least 350 people, and possibly many, many more hostage. But for three days now, this in Beslan in southern Russia.

And as Ryan has been reporting from a position about 200 meters away from this school, he began about half an hour ago. Fifteen minutes afterward, there was the beginning of what has been a constant exchange of automatic gunfire and also loud reports, some coming from very close to Ryan's position. Again, with a group of people, including many family and relatives who have been waiting about 200 meters away shepherded there by Russian security forces.

This shot that you were looking at now is in the general direction of the school. And as Ryan has pointed out, the geography, the school appears to be behind the cluster of trees to the right of your screen. You can see that right outbuilding to the right hand side of your screen, the trees behind it, the school appears to be some distance behind there.

So as Ryan has been telling us, his view of the school has been obscured, and it's difficult for him to get a direct look at what is going on. But it appears as though this automatic gunfire, which has been sustained now for the better part of 20 minutes.

CHILCOTE: If you can hear me, we've settled here.

AIKEN: I'm sorry, Ryan, go ahead.

CHILCOTE: All right, well, we're back. I don't know how much of the chaos you just saw, but we were trying to get ourselves into a safer position. We've been able to do that. The gunfire continues. And now the Interfax News Agency is reporting that the school's roof has collapsed. We have no way of confirming that, but that is obviously a very, very ominous report that the school No 1., with hundreds of hostages inside, at least up until very recently, the roof of that school has collapsed.

And let's -- we're going to show you the scene out here in the square. I'm going to step out of the shot. We still have grenade launcher fire coming from the direction of the school. Going to try and get myself positioned. We still have Russian helicopters on station above. We have not heard any of the Russian attack helicopters fire, but we do have reports from the Interfax News Agency that the roof of the school has collapsed.

AIKEN: There was...

CHILCOTE: You are looking at a picture of a couple hundred relatives, and maybe a couple dozen journalists, that are out about 50 meters from or 100 meters from the wall that really makes the cordon that separates the school from the people outside of the school, the relatives that have been holding vigil.

It has been a chaotic scene here. Just to recap, we've seen ambulances taking people away. I saw one cameraman, who had been shot, was carried away by some colleagues. We saw one boy being put into a car. I'm getting some more small arms fire. We're going to hunker down here a bit.

AIKEN: While Ryan repositions himself, we want to again...

CHILCOTE: You can hear the Russian helicopters above. AIKEN: ... want to greet our viewers in the United States watching on CNN and explain that we have been watching unfolding, for about the past nearly 30 minutes now, a steady rain of automatic gunfire and loud reports coming from the vicinity of this besieged school in Beslan. According to the Interfax News Agency, the school's roof has collapsed.

Or Ryan has reported that there have been people in the crowd not far from him who have taken hits on this gunfire. Several people have been wounded and carried away by ambulance. Ryan is also reporting there are Russian attack helicopters hovering near the school. And security forces have, at one point, about 20 minutes ago, pushed people back.

CHILCOTE: Jonathan.

AIKEN: Ryan, let's go back...

CHILCOTE: Jonathan, I don't know if you can here me over the helicopters. Jonathan, we have now we can confirm two more wounded. I don't know if you can see, but it's a disturbing picture of a man who appears to have been injured in front of us right now.

AIKEN: And as you say, Ryan,...

CHILCOTE: (INAUDIBLE) coming up to him giving him water.

AIKEN: And as you say, these crowds are roughly 200 meters away from the school itself, right?

CHILCOTE: That's right. This is where people are being brought. This is a safer position. There's a large building. It's something like a civic center. We have another man being carried away right now. This is the third man in two minutes I've seen, so one. We saw another man being brought into the school on a stretcher. This young man appears to have been wounded by some small arms fire. Just being loaded into a car, carried away. More small arms fire.

AIKEN: So, by your count, that would be...

CHILCOTE: Russian helicopters flying above.

AIKEN: Including those earlier, Ryan, that would be five people in your vicinity injured, roughly?

CHILCOTE: That's correct. I have now seen five people. We have more cars rushing in. And we have a man, if you can focus over on the car over there, on a stretcher that is being loaded into that car. And more cars being brought in to bring more wounded away.

Right above us right now a Russian cargo helicopter circling.

AIKEN: And yet no...

CHILCOTE: Another car being brought in.

AIKEN: And yet no effort by security forces to push you back even further?

CHILCOTE: Russian security forces are not pushing anyone back any further right now. What we are seeing right now is an evacuation of wounded people and security forces that are clearly not here, they have moved forward and are in the vicinity of the school. We do not see any Russian soldiers where we are right now, or a real serious police presence.

These are the relatives of the hostages that we're seeing right now and they are evacuating wounded. Now we can't tell you whether these wounded are coming from inside the school, from outside the school, it's a very chaotic situation. But if you'd like, I can recap for you right now with what we know and that is...

AIKEN: Please do.

CHILCOTE: ... that Russian forces took a position out -- have taken positions up outside the school. There has been a lot of gunfire over the last 40 minutes. We have seen at least five people wounded in front of us being evacuated on stretchers, on their own feet, in all different conditions. The Interfax News Agency is saying that 30 people escaped from the school, 30 hostages escaped from the school. And the Interfax News Agency is reporting that the school's roof has collapsed.

We can also tell you that Russian attack helicopter, the Crocodile helicopter is circling above. Also, the Russian cargo helicopters above.

This is a -- we'll try and show it to you. We apologize that this is coming to you via videophone, but this is what we have to work with. And if it wasn't for this videophone, we probably wouldn't be able to do this, because obviously satellite dishes are stationary and much more difficult to move around with. But...

AIKEN: We are seeing, however, we are seeing pictures, Ryan, of people being led away.

CHILCOTE: More cars...

AIKEN: And I'm curious if they are being led away in an area where you can see where this is happening? There appear to be people shepherding individuals, especially children across the street.

CHILCOTE: Yes. Well we don't -- we can't see that. What we can see is this evacuation there. We're going to change our position a little bit, which means that your -- what you're seeing from us is going to pixoid (ph). But we're going to put our camera right on the wall that separates the school from the school's grounds from the crowd that we are standing with. And we're going to try and give you an idea of what's going on in the street just outside the vicinity of the school.

AIKEN: Let me ask you something -- Ryan.

CHILCOTE: OK. AIKEN: As you reposition yourself, Interfax is reporting that the roof has collapsed. There were other reports that there were explosions from...

CHILCOTE: Right.

AIKEN: ... within the school at some point over the past 24 hours. Is there any indication, from anything you can see, whether or not this roof collapsed of its own or as the result of incoming?

CHILCOTE: No, we cannot confirm that the school's roof is confirmed. We cannot see the school from where we are. What we can see are a large number of Russian soldiers moving around the outer perimeter of the school's grounds, taking up positions. And we can tell you that there are helicopters on station, both attack and cargo helicopters.

AIKEN: And what we're watching, Ryan, as you're talking to us, we're watching Russian security forces leading people away, one in a stretcher, one covered in what appeared to be a windbreaker, a red windbreaker of some kind. And they are milling around an entrance, a fenced entrance. And as people become available to them, they are shepherding them with some speed across the street and over towards a military vehicle.

CHILCOTE: Well, unfortunately we don't have the same vantage point. What we can see from here is the, off to my left, off camera, the continued evacuation of injured. More cars have been brought up.

If you'd like, why don't we break away for a couple of minutes, try and get a better feel of what's going on around us and then, Jonathan, we can come back to you. That's a Russian attack helicopter above us.

AIKEN: OK, Ryan, that sounds fair. As Ryan repositions, let's keep looking at some of these other pictures that we have available from...

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And you are watching DAYBREAK on CNN Domestic right now. We've been simulcasting with CNN International. Our Ryan Chilcote on the scene of that elementary school where hostages have been taken and we've seen some very dramatic pictures.

Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy is here to help us sort this through.

If you're just joining us, there has been gunfire and explosions around that elementary school since about 5:00 a.m. Eastern. And we've seen dramatic pictures of children running from the school. There have been people injured. They appear to have been shot.

You can see that the children have run out of the school with no clothes on. And the reason for that, it was so hot inside the school that the children stripped down to be cooler, and then they started running outside of that school.

But we have reports, too, from the Russian Interfax Agency, Eli, that the roof of the school collapsed.

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: That's correct. Now we, on some of these pictures that you're seeing now, what you're seeing now full screen is a picture that we're getting from Associate Press television, which has a different vantage point, obviously, than what Ryan Chilcote is seeing.

You can see this makeshift clinic and field treatment center that they have set up there just outside of the school with the Russian soldiers now taking care of children and adults who came out of the school. Obviously there doesn't appear to be immediate fighting going on right there in that area, so it's not clear what's happened to the rebels who are holding these children. Obviously we've seen a large number of children earlier.

Now you can see a pretty good shot right here of the school or several of the school buildings. Difficult to tell there whether any of the roofs have collapsed. In an earlier picture, it looked like there was damage to one of the buildings. But at least what we're seeing here doesn't appear to be any damaged planks (ph).

COSTELLO: Well what we do know is Russian attack helicopters are flying overhead. You can hear the helicopter sound on the background of these pictures. And we know that gunfire was coming from inside the school and then Russian soldiers were returning gunfire. We had early reports, and Ryan could not confirm them, that Russian troops did storm the school, but we don't know that for sure right now.

FLOURNOY: That is correct, we don't know that for sure, although it does appear that that was the case. Or at least they stormed the grounds of the school. They are in closer than they were before. The soldiers that we were seeing treating children and taking care of the people from the school earlier, that was on the school grounds. That's closer than where the soldiers were before when they were just surrounding the perimeter.

COSTELLO: We have some dramatic pictures to show people right now from earlier when things got really intense. Let's listen to the sounds of battle around this elementary school.

(GUNFIRE & EXPLOSION SOUNDS)

COSTELLO: And you know, as Ryan Chilcote was reporting, the sound of this small arms fire, his camera centered on a picture of a photographer being shot, apparently shot and on the ground, and an ambulance taking him away. As we've seen people running from the school, some appear to have been injured, but we don't know if they are collapsing from the heat or if they were hit by gunfire in any way.

FLOURNOY: Right. We've seen several people injured with blood. Appears that they were shot. The cameraman, as you mentioned, who was right in front of Ryan, taking fire from inside of the school. Now Ryan himself was some 200 meters outside the school. So obviously gunfire was going right around. You can see the shot there, that's the cameraman. COSTELLO: That's the photographer.

FLOURNOY: Photographer who was right in front of Ryan Chilcote. So obviously the arms fire was spread out around the compound. And it would appear that was fire that was coming from within the school to the outside to where Ryan was. And if we go back to some of the pictures of the scene around the compound there, you can see these pictures from earlier, soldiers bringing wounded, looks like an adult, but it could be an older child.

COSTELLO: Well Ryan did tell us of one young boy he saw that had been hit and taken away by ambulance.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. Now from the where Ryan was, about 200 meters outside of the school, there was an ambulance. At least one child and one adult were brought out to that area, put in the ambulance and then the ambulance left from there.

These pictures that we're seeing now are much closer and right in the school compound, as opposed to where Ryan was about 200 meters outside. They were seeing that they have set up, it appears to be a makeshift treatment facility to try and process, try and help some of the wounded who are there and deal with some of the children who are there.

COSTELLO: You know I think the most frustrating part about all of this is we're really not sure what these hostage takers wanted. They kept changing their tune as the days went by.

FLOURNOY: Right, that's true. We heard several different demands come out, including the most recent demand was an independent Chechnya agree, you know a vague demand, which was very worrisome for Russian officials and all of the family members who were waiting outside. Because we're looking for you know some point of negotiation, some achievable negotiation back and forth. And of course...

COSTELLO: And we know there was some contact with the hostage takers. So there was some negotiation, but we don't know how long that negotiation went on.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. And we know that as of up to just a few hours ago, we know that the Russian soldiers, Russian officials were in phone contact with the rebels. They had been negotiating. They had resolved an earlier skirmish that had happened, say, about eight hours ago. There was grenade fire, then small arms fire returned from the soldiers. They spoke to each other on the phone. The Russian officials assured the rebels that they were not encroaching on the school and it appeared to be resolved. It was quiet for several hours.

And then this most recent incident, as you said, which began at around 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time, prolonged fire, which has continued. And now we're seeing some of the aftermath and what appears to be dozens, if not hundreds of people, coming out from the school. But we don't know how many people are still in the school or whether people were being held in several different areas of the school.

COSTELLO: You know initially we thought there were hundreds of people inside that school. But Ryan told us earlier there might be as many as a thousand people inside that school.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. Some of the people who had been released last night or early this morning from the school, the rebels released a couple dozen people. And some of them reported that in fact there were a thousand or more people, as opposed to the 350 or so which we had initially believed, were in the school.

COSTELLO: We're going to rejoin CNN International right now. We're going to simulcast. And here is correspondent Ryan Chilcote.

CHILCOTE: A Russian wire reports, Russian agency. They are saying that at the very moment that Russian forces or Russian authorities were gathering the bodies of the seven people that had been killed when the school was seized, some of the armed men tried to break out. They came out guns blazing out of the school.

That is exactly when two bombs went off somewhere in the vicinity of the school. People are theorizing that they were set off by the hostage takers. We can't confirm that. Then apparently a group of children tried to escape from the school. And the hostage takers inside the school then opened fire on the children escaping from the school.

Now that's how we understand the situation from Russian wire reports. Of course what followed that was what we have been reporting on our air and what you have been seeing for the last 45 minutes to an hour of sustained gun battle, involving grenade launchers, involving small arms fire, involving attack helicopters and involving Russian cargo plane. There are also APCs just outside of this school.

Now I saw one more wounded individual, a wounded boy who looked like he was about 17 years old, only slightly wounded. He was being evacuated from the area. He was receiving medical attention in an ambulance and then a group of men came and moved him to a car to get him out of here.

I also saw what was obviously a hostage, a very small girl that looked very shook up. She was probably about 6 or 7 years old. She was in her mother's arms being carried out of the area. She was unharmed and she was being escorted by a Russian official. That's what I was able to see in just about two minutes here.

Just to back up with where we are, I'm sorry, I'm going to -- just to back up with what we know at this point, the roof of this school, we understand from the Interfax News Agency, has collapsed. Thirty children, this is according to earlier reports, so things you know are very fluid here and probably have changed. But 30 children managed to escape, but of course we don't know

And there's a lot more that we don't know than what we do know, Jonathan, because Russian officials had initially reported that there were 354 people inside this school. And then last night they began to say that they think that number is inaccurate and that there are actually hundreds more hostages inside.

What we don't know is the fate of all of those hostages. We know that according to these reports, 30 released today, 26 -- 30 escaped today, 26 released yesterday. But that's, you know, at best about 55 people, 56 people. So obviously not the anywhere close to the number 800 that some people here are talking about, that a lot of the relatives believe were in that school when it was seized -- Jonathan.

AIKEN: All right, Ryan Chilcote reporting from the scene at Beslan. We're going to let you go and gather some more material. Stay safe. And we are going to recap the situation for our views now. Ryan Chilcote reporting live.

COSTELLO: And you are watching DAYBREAK. This is Carol Costello. We have been simulcasting with CNN International for dramatic happenings in Russian -- in Russia, rather, at that elementary school near the Chechen border. Gunfire this morning. Reports of loud explosions.

Ryan Chilcote just confirmed for us that the roof of the school has collapsed and about 30 children have managed to escape. The hostage takers from inside the school actually opening fire on the children. He did report one 17-year-old boy hit by gunfire. And we have seen, with our own eyes, that other people standing outside the school have been injured as well.

Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy is here to help us sort this situation out.

Eli, this seems to be coming from the end, although Ryan said that there still could be many more people inside that school.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. I mean we've seen the pictures before. What we saw were probably dozens of people there that children and adults who had come out from some wounded, some appeared to be treated, appeared to be unharmed. But if there are a thousand or more people in there, we haven't seen hundreds of people come out yet in the pictures. So it's very likely there could still be people in there.

COSTELLO: We have Ryan Chilcote again.

Ryan, you've been doing a wonderful job there.

CHILCOTE: Yes.

COSTELLO: I hope you're staying safe. You don't seem to be very protected, and I know there has been...

CHILCOTE: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... sporadic gunfire throughout the morning. Bring us up to date -- Ryan.

CHILCOTE: Yes, go ahead, show this. Well what we're going to start with is some pictures. What we're going to start with is some pictures. I have stepped out of the shot so that you can see this ambulance. A small boy, who was wounded, clearly wounded, was just put in this ambulance. And he is being rushed out of the scene.

We are right now at a place where people are being evacuated, that the wounded are being evacuated from the school. We have seen about 10 perhaps people evacuated so far. Ten people wounded, including one cameraman, several children.

It all began, sorry to move back here for you. It all began about an hour ago with two rounds of two very large explosions. Then there was a very sustained gun battle that ensued. And this is the first time that we've seen such a long gun battle. And this is clearly the largest escalation we have seen yet.

We have Russian helicopters in the sky. We have Russian forces moving around. We have reports that the roof of this school has collapsed. And we have seen many, many wounded people now being brought out of the school.

COSTELLO: Something we saw, Ryan, are the children running out of that school in just their underwear? Do you know a reason for that? We understand it was so hot in there that they sort of stripped down to remain cool.

CHILCOTE: That's a good question. I asked -- you know yesterday, there were -- there was a group of 26 women and children that were released from the school. And some of those children, mostly infants, were not wearing any clothes at all. And of course people wondered why that was.

And I put that question to a spokesman. We have more small arms fire here. This whatever is going on inside that school, and it now appears to be something like a storming of the school or a sustained gun battle, at least in the vicinity of this school.

Sorry, we have to step out of the way here again.

In any case, Russian officials said they don't exactly know why those infants didn't have any clothes on. They have speculated that perhaps because these children were not allowed to go to the bathroom, no one was allowed to get any supplies in, not even any food and water. Remember no one inside that school has seen any food or water for almost two and a half days now.

So they speculated that perhaps, you know, just to may things simpler, the mothers, and many of the mothers are in the school with them because the school was seized on the first day of school, so there was a celebration to mark the beginning of the school year. So maybe the mothers simply took the children's clothes off so that they wouldn't be walking around in soiled clothes inside of that school.

COSTELLO: Tell us, Ryan, what the temperature is, because we see as people flee that school and they go to these makeshift emergency shelters, I guess you could say, nearby, they are being pounded with water, bottles of water. And they are just gulping that water down. CHILCOTE: Yes, well it may be not so much testimony to the heat here, it's probably about, I don't know, 90 degrees. It's gotten a little bit cooler recently, but it's very humid. And the people that were inside that school, the hundreds of hostages, have gotten no water since they have been in there. They were not given any access to water or food by the hostage takers.

In fact, one of the women that was released yesterday told this horrific story of one of the hostage takers coming to what she describes as a group of 1,000 hostages. Of course we don't know that for sure, but that's what she said a group of 1,000 hostages. Bringing -- the hostage taker had just one cup of water in his hand. And the one cup of water was for 1,000 hostages.

We also got reports that they were throwing wet cloths at the children just to wet the children's lips, but they weren't letting them drink any water. And they were proposing that the children go on a six-day hunger strike. Very disturbing reports coming from inside.

So the people that are coming out of the school, Russian authorities were very concerned that in particular the small children wouldn't have the strength to keep going for so long without any food or water in such a stressful situation. Most of them were being forced to stand up the whole while, we are being told. There was explosions all of the time. And they didn't have any food or water and in a very hostile environment.

COSTELLO: You talk about that hostile environment and we've heard explosions all morning long and sporadic gunfire. Can you give us word of casualties?

CHILCOTE: Sure. What we know at this point is that approximately, at least in front of us, 10 individuals have been wounded.

And if I could back up, what we now understand from agencies, we have a little bit of an understanding of how this began. Earlier in the day, Russian authorities were negotiating to evacuate the bodies of seven individuals who had been killed when the school was seized. Those bodies were lying out in front of the school. They had been there for more than two days. And the Russian authorities were asking the hostage takers to let them recover those bodies so that they could be buried by their relatives.

Well about two hours ago, a Russian official came out and said they were very close to reaching a deal on that. That's where the Russian wire reports come in that that was happening, that the bodies were being collected. We don't know exactly by who, but from people from the Russian side.

And it was at that very moment as those bodies were being evacuated that a small number or a number of the armed men inside the school, the hostage takers, broke out of the school and started to make their way out. A group of children began to flee behind that group of armed men. And then the armed men that were still inside the school opened up fire on the children who were fleeing from the school. This is all very preliminary and unconfirmed information. This is what we're getting from Russian news reports.

What we then heard with our own ears and what we saw was obviously a very sustained gun battle. I cannot hear any gunfire right now, but I can tell you that just about two minutes ago I heard gunfire. It's been going on the whole while.

We have APCs around the building. We have Russian forces on the move. We have attack helicopters in the air. We have a large amount of both grenade fire, probably being launched from handheld grenade launchers. And we have a large amount of small arms fire. And I have personally seen 10 wounded individuals, all males, one cameraman, and at least three boys. Now just we saw a third boy, the rest adults.

It's not clear whether they were hostages or not. We've also seen some very horrified people that were quite clearly hostages. A young girl being led out of the school by her mother. The girl looked very, very distraught. They were being accompanied by a Russian official into the building right behind me.

This is where some of the wounded have been evacuated from over the last 45 minutes. They've been loaded into ambulances, into any car they can get these wounded in, and rushed off to the hospital. This has all been happening right in front of us for the last 45 minutes.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan Chilcote reporting live from Russia near that elementary school near the Chechen border.

Ryan, you've been doing a terrific job.

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 September 3, 2004 - 05:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You're listening to Ryan Chilcote. He is actually talking to one of our international news anchors on CNN International and we're simulcasting that report for you now.
Let's listen in.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you see this ambulance in front of us, Jonathan?

Yes. Yes. They're moving the cars out of the way. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: Let's bring in Eli Flournoy, our international editor -- Eli, I'm going to wait for Ryan to start speaking again.

But just so our viewers understand what is happening right now...

CHILCOTE: Well, what they said specifically was that they would not pursue...

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SR. INTL. EDITOR: Right. I think we can pick up Ryan to give us a description of it.

COSTELLO: So, let's listen.

CHILCOTE: They would not try to go into the school until there -- unless there was no other option, unless the hostage takers gave them no other choices. And perhaps what we are seeing here, Jonathan, is that very situation, because the first gunfire we heard came from the school. So -- one second.

So -- we're going to put the camera back on the ambulance and the crowd here. Remember, there's just two of us. This is a pretty chaotic situation. We almost got ran over by a lot of people that were running away.

But now you can see pictures of an ambulance evacuating people wounded in this most recent bout of fighting in the last 15 or 20 minutes. More wounded being brought out, Jonathan. We're going to try and get a good shot of what's going on over there.

But we have, again, attack helicopters in the air. It's called the Crocodile.

OK, they're getting this ambulance out of here. We're going to watch this ambulance as it leaves the scene, a scene of absolute devastation and a very disappointing development here, obviously. We've seen at least two wounded people in front of our very own eyes within about five meters of us. We have Russian attack helicopters called the Crocodile in front of us flying on station above the school. And that, of course, was an ambulance.

Could you see that ambulance, Jonathan?

JONATHAN: Yes, we did, Ryan.

You said that there are several injured and among them you mentioned you saw a young boy being put into an ambulance.

You say two and possibly more, right?

CHILCOTE: Oh, yes. I think many more. It's just what we can see from our vantage point. We're literally tied to this camera to share this experience with you. But...

JONATHAN: Right. I understand.

And let me ask you...

CHILCOTE: But we believe that there are many more.

JONATHAN: ... as you said, some of these -- some of those who were injured or hit apparently were hit close to you. So, these are people within the crowd who have been milling about for quite some time?

CHILCOTE: It's difficult to say. They were not hostages, that I can say for sure. So, the one gentleman we saw was definitely not a hostage. He was, I'm being told right now he was a cameraman. He was holding a camera. So, he obviously got caught up in the crossfire.

The other person that we saw we just don't know. He could have been a hostage.

We have more small arms fire. We are going to step behind this car. I'll just move over here. OK, we've got -- we're -- hang with us for a second here, if you don't mind. We're going to -- got more small arms firing. We didn't have very good cover. We now do.

But anyway, if you can see me, Alex (ph).

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we can see you fine.

CHILCOTE: OK, well lift up, Kevin (ph), more. OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's those helicopters. Why don't we pull the camera off them? We're going to connect our shots for you.

AIKEN: As Ryan adjusts things, let me bring our viewers up to date. We have been watching a volley of gunfire in the direction of this school in which militants have been holding as many as 300, at least 350 people, and possibly many, many more hostage. But for three days now, this in Beslan in southern Russia.

And as Ryan has been reporting from a position about 200 meters away from this school, he began about half an hour ago. Fifteen minutes afterward, there was the beginning of what has been a constant exchange of automatic gunfire and also loud reports, some coming from very close to Ryan's position. Again, with a group of people, including many family and relatives who have been waiting about 200 meters away shepherded there by Russian security forces.

This shot that you were looking at now is in the general direction of the school. And as Ryan has pointed out, the geography, the school appears to be behind the cluster of trees to the right of your screen. You can see that right outbuilding to the right hand side of your screen, the trees behind it, the school appears to be some distance behind there.

So as Ryan has been telling us, his view of the school has been obscured, and it's difficult for him to get a direct look at what is going on. But it appears as though this automatic gunfire, which has been sustained now for the better part of 20 minutes.

CHILCOTE: If you can hear me, we've settled here.

AIKEN: I'm sorry, Ryan, go ahead.

CHILCOTE: All right, well, we're back. I don't know how much of the chaos you just saw, but we were trying to get ourselves into a safer position. We've been able to do that. The gunfire continues. And now the Interfax News Agency is reporting that the school's roof has collapsed. We have no way of confirming that, but that is obviously a very, very ominous report that the school No 1., with hundreds of hostages inside, at least up until very recently, the roof of that school has collapsed.

And let's -- we're going to show you the scene out here in the square. I'm going to step out of the shot. We still have grenade launcher fire coming from the direction of the school. Going to try and get myself positioned. We still have Russian helicopters on station above. We have not heard any of the Russian attack helicopters fire, but we do have reports from the Interfax News Agency that the roof of the school has collapsed.

AIKEN: There was...

CHILCOTE: You are looking at a picture of a couple hundred relatives, and maybe a couple dozen journalists, that are out about 50 meters from or 100 meters from the wall that really makes the cordon that separates the school from the people outside of the school, the relatives that have been holding vigil.

It has been a chaotic scene here. Just to recap, we've seen ambulances taking people away. I saw one cameraman, who had been shot, was carried away by some colleagues. We saw one boy being put into a car. I'm getting some more small arms fire. We're going to hunker down here a bit.

AIKEN: While Ryan repositions himself, we want to again...

CHILCOTE: You can hear the Russian helicopters above. AIKEN: ... want to greet our viewers in the United States watching on CNN and explain that we have been watching unfolding, for about the past nearly 30 minutes now, a steady rain of automatic gunfire and loud reports coming from the vicinity of this besieged school in Beslan. According to the Interfax News Agency, the school's roof has collapsed.

Or Ryan has reported that there have been people in the crowd not far from him who have taken hits on this gunfire. Several people have been wounded and carried away by ambulance. Ryan is also reporting there are Russian attack helicopters hovering near the school. And security forces have, at one point, about 20 minutes ago, pushed people back.

CHILCOTE: Jonathan.

AIKEN: Ryan, let's go back...

CHILCOTE: Jonathan, I don't know if you can here me over the helicopters. Jonathan, we have now we can confirm two more wounded. I don't know if you can see, but it's a disturbing picture of a man who appears to have been injured in front of us right now.

AIKEN: And as you say, Ryan,...

CHILCOTE: (INAUDIBLE) coming up to him giving him water.

AIKEN: And as you say, these crowds are roughly 200 meters away from the school itself, right?

CHILCOTE: That's right. This is where people are being brought. This is a safer position. There's a large building. It's something like a civic center. We have another man being carried away right now. This is the third man in two minutes I've seen, so one. We saw another man being brought into the school on a stretcher. This young man appears to have been wounded by some small arms fire. Just being loaded into a car, carried away. More small arms fire.

AIKEN: So, by your count, that would be...

CHILCOTE: Russian helicopters flying above.

AIKEN: Including those earlier, Ryan, that would be five people in your vicinity injured, roughly?

CHILCOTE: That's correct. I have now seen five people. We have more cars rushing in. And we have a man, if you can focus over on the car over there, on a stretcher that is being loaded into that car. And more cars being brought in to bring more wounded away.

Right above us right now a Russian cargo helicopter circling.

AIKEN: And yet no...

CHILCOTE: Another car being brought in.

AIKEN: And yet no effort by security forces to push you back even further?

CHILCOTE: Russian security forces are not pushing anyone back any further right now. What we are seeing right now is an evacuation of wounded people and security forces that are clearly not here, they have moved forward and are in the vicinity of the school. We do not see any Russian soldiers where we are right now, or a real serious police presence.

These are the relatives of the hostages that we're seeing right now and they are evacuating wounded. Now we can't tell you whether these wounded are coming from inside the school, from outside the school, it's a very chaotic situation. But if you'd like, I can recap for you right now with what we know and that is...

AIKEN: Please do.

CHILCOTE: ... that Russian forces took a position out -- have taken positions up outside the school. There has been a lot of gunfire over the last 40 minutes. We have seen at least five people wounded in front of us being evacuated on stretchers, on their own feet, in all different conditions. The Interfax News Agency is saying that 30 people escaped from the school, 30 hostages escaped from the school. And the Interfax News Agency is reporting that the school's roof has collapsed.

We can also tell you that Russian attack helicopter, the Crocodile helicopter is circling above. Also, the Russian cargo helicopters above.

This is a -- we'll try and show it to you. We apologize that this is coming to you via videophone, but this is what we have to work with. And if it wasn't for this videophone, we probably wouldn't be able to do this, because obviously satellite dishes are stationary and much more difficult to move around with. But...

AIKEN: We are seeing, however, we are seeing pictures, Ryan, of people being led away.

CHILCOTE: More cars...

AIKEN: And I'm curious if they are being led away in an area where you can see where this is happening? There appear to be people shepherding individuals, especially children across the street.

CHILCOTE: Yes. Well we don't -- we can't see that. What we can see is this evacuation there. We're going to change our position a little bit, which means that your -- what you're seeing from us is going to pixoid (ph). But we're going to put our camera right on the wall that separates the school from the school's grounds from the crowd that we are standing with. And we're going to try and give you an idea of what's going on in the street just outside the vicinity of the school.

AIKEN: Let me ask you something -- Ryan.

CHILCOTE: OK. AIKEN: As you reposition yourself, Interfax is reporting that the roof has collapsed. There were other reports that there were explosions from...

CHILCOTE: Right.

AIKEN: ... within the school at some point over the past 24 hours. Is there any indication, from anything you can see, whether or not this roof collapsed of its own or as the result of incoming?

CHILCOTE: No, we cannot confirm that the school's roof is confirmed. We cannot see the school from where we are. What we can see are a large number of Russian soldiers moving around the outer perimeter of the school's grounds, taking up positions. And we can tell you that there are helicopters on station, both attack and cargo helicopters.

AIKEN: And what we're watching, Ryan, as you're talking to us, we're watching Russian security forces leading people away, one in a stretcher, one covered in what appeared to be a windbreaker, a red windbreaker of some kind. And they are milling around an entrance, a fenced entrance. And as people become available to them, they are shepherding them with some speed across the street and over towards a military vehicle.

CHILCOTE: Well, unfortunately we don't have the same vantage point. What we can see from here is the, off to my left, off camera, the continued evacuation of injured. More cars have been brought up.

If you'd like, why don't we break away for a couple of minutes, try and get a better feel of what's going on around us and then, Jonathan, we can come back to you. That's a Russian attack helicopter above us.

AIKEN: OK, Ryan, that sounds fair. As Ryan repositions, let's keep looking at some of these other pictures that we have available from...

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And you are watching DAYBREAK on CNN Domestic right now. We've been simulcasting with CNN International. Our Ryan Chilcote on the scene of that elementary school where hostages have been taken and we've seen some very dramatic pictures.

Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy is here to help us sort this through.

If you're just joining us, there has been gunfire and explosions around that elementary school since about 5:00 a.m. Eastern. And we've seen dramatic pictures of children running from the school. There have been people injured. They appear to have been shot.

You can see that the children have run out of the school with no clothes on. And the reason for that, it was so hot inside the school that the children stripped down to be cooler, and then they started running outside of that school.

But we have reports, too, from the Russian Interfax Agency, Eli, that the roof of the school collapsed.

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: That's correct. Now we, on some of these pictures that you're seeing now, what you're seeing now full screen is a picture that we're getting from Associate Press television, which has a different vantage point, obviously, than what Ryan Chilcote is seeing.

You can see this makeshift clinic and field treatment center that they have set up there just outside of the school with the Russian soldiers now taking care of children and adults who came out of the school. Obviously there doesn't appear to be immediate fighting going on right there in that area, so it's not clear what's happened to the rebels who are holding these children. Obviously we've seen a large number of children earlier.

Now you can see a pretty good shot right here of the school or several of the school buildings. Difficult to tell there whether any of the roofs have collapsed. In an earlier picture, it looked like there was damage to one of the buildings. But at least what we're seeing here doesn't appear to be any damaged planks (ph).

COSTELLO: Well what we do know is Russian attack helicopters are flying overhead. You can hear the helicopter sound on the background of these pictures. And we know that gunfire was coming from inside the school and then Russian soldiers were returning gunfire. We had early reports, and Ryan could not confirm them, that Russian troops did storm the school, but we don't know that for sure right now.

FLOURNOY: That is correct, we don't know that for sure, although it does appear that that was the case. Or at least they stormed the grounds of the school. They are in closer than they were before. The soldiers that we were seeing treating children and taking care of the people from the school earlier, that was on the school grounds. That's closer than where the soldiers were before when they were just surrounding the perimeter.

COSTELLO: We have some dramatic pictures to show people right now from earlier when things got really intense. Let's listen to the sounds of battle around this elementary school.

(GUNFIRE & EXPLOSION SOUNDS)

COSTELLO: And you know, as Ryan Chilcote was reporting, the sound of this small arms fire, his camera centered on a picture of a photographer being shot, apparently shot and on the ground, and an ambulance taking him away. As we've seen people running from the school, some appear to have been injured, but we don't know if they are collapsing from the heat or if they were hit by gunfire in any way.

FLOURNOY: Right. We've seen several people injured with blood. Appears that they were shot. The cameraman, as you mentioned, who was right in front of Ryan, taking fire from inside of the school. Now Ryan himself was some 200 meters outside the school. So obviously gunfire was going right around. You can see the shot there, that's the cameraman. COSTELLO: That's the photographer.

FLOURNOY: Photographer who was right in front of Ryan Chilcote. So obviously the arms fire was spread out around the compound. And it would appear that was fire that was coming from within the school to the outside to where Ryan was. And if we go back to some of the pictures of the scene around the compound there, you can see these pictures from earlier, soldiers bringing wounded, looks like an adult, but it could be an older child.

COSTELLO: Well Ryan did tell us of one young boy he saw that had been hit and taken away by ambulance.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. Now from the where Ryan was, about 200 meters outside of the school, there was an ambulance. At least one child and one adult were brought out to that area, put in the ambulance and then the ambulance left from there.

These pictures that we're seeing now are much closer and right in the school compound, as opposed to where Ryan was about 200 meters outside. They were seeing that they have set up, it appears to be a makeshift treatment facility to try and process, try and help some of the wounded who are there and deal with some of the children who are there.

COSTELLO: You know I think the most frustrating part about all of this is we're really not sure what these hostage takers wanted. They kept changing their tune as the days went by.

FLOURNOY: Right, that's true. We heard several different demands come out, including the most recent demand was an independent Chechnya agree, you know a vague demand, which was very worrisome for Russian officials and all of the family members who were waiting outside. Because we're looking for you know some point of negotiation, some achievable negotiation back and forth. And of course...

COSTELLO: And we know there was some contact with the hostage takers. So there was some negotiation, but we don't know how long that negotiation went on.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. And we know that as of up to just a few hours ago, we know that the Russian soldiers, Russian officials were in phone contact with the rebels. They had been negotiating. They had resolved an earlier skirmish that had happened, say, about eight hours ago. There was grenade fire, then small arms fire returned from the soldiers. They spoke to each other on the phone. The Russian officials assured the rebels that they were not encroaching on the school and it appeared to be resolved. It was quiet for several hours.

And then this most recent incident, as you said, which began at around 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time, prolonged fire, which has continued. And now we're seeing some of the aftermath and what appears to be dozens, if not hundreds of people, coming out from the school. But we don't know how many people are still in the school or whether people were being held in several different areas of the school.

COSTELLO: You know initially we thought there were hundreds of people inside that school. But Ryan told us earlier there might be as many as a thousand people inside that school.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. Some of the people who had been released last night or early this morning from the school, the rebels released a couple dozen people. And some of them reported that in fact there were a thousand or more people, as opposed to the 350 or so which we had initially believed, were in the school.

COSTELLO: We're going to rejoin CNN International right now. We're going to simulcast. And here is correspondent Ryan Chilcote.

CHILCOTE: A Russian wire reports, Russian agency. They are saying that at the very moment that Russian forces or Russian authorities were gathering the bodies of the seven people that had been killed when the school was seized, some of the armed men tried to break out. They came out guns blazing out of the school.

That is exactly when two bombs went off somewhere in the vicinity of the school. People are theorizing that they were set off by the hostage takers. We can't confirm that. Then apparently a group of children tried to escape from the school. And the hostage takers inside the school then opened fire on the children escaping from the school.

Now that's how we understand the situation from Russian wire reports. Of course what followed that was what we have been reporting on our air and what you have been seeing for the last 45 minutes to an hour of sustained gun battle, involving grenade launchers, involving small arms fire, involving attack helicopters and involving Russian cargo plane. There are also APCs just outside of this school.

Now I saw one more wounded individual, a wounded boy who looked like he was about 17 years old, only slightly wounded. He was being evacuated from the area. He was receiving medical attention in an ambulance and then a group of men came and moved him to a car to get him out of here.

I also saw what was obviously a hostage, a very small girl that looked very shook up. She was probably about 6 or 7 years old. She was in her mother's arms being carried out of the area. She was unharmed and she was being escorted by a Russian official. That's what I was able to see in just about two minutes here.

Just to back up with where we are, I'm sorry, I'm going to -- just to back up with what we know at this point, the roof of this school, we understand from the Interfax News Agency, has collapsed. Thirty children, this is according to earlier reports, so things you know are very fluid here and probably have changed. But 30 children managed to escape, but of course we don't know

And there's a lot more that we don't know than what we do know, Jonathan, because Russian officials had initially reported that there were 354 people inside this school. And then last night they began to say that they think that number is inaccurate and that there are actually hundreds more hostages inside.

What we don't know is the fate of all of those hostages. We know that according to these reports, 30 released today, 26 -- 30 escaped today, 26 released yesterday. But that's, you know, at best about 55 people, 56 people. So obviously not the anywhere close to the number 800 that some people here are talking about, that a lot of the relatives believe were in that school when it was seized -- Jonathan.

AIKEN: All right, Ryan Chilcote reporting from the scene at Beslan. We're going to let you go and gather some more material. Stay safe. And we are going to recap the situation for our views now. Ryan Chilcote reporting live.

COSTELLO: And you are watching DAYBREAK. This is Carol Costello. We have been simulcasting with CNN International for dramatic happenings in Russian -- in Russia, rather, at that elementary school near the Chechen border. Gunfire this morning. Reports of loud explosions.

Ryan Chilcote just confirmed for us that the roof of the school has collapsed and about 30 children have managed to escape. The hostage takers from inside the school actually opening fire on the children. He did report one 17-year-old boy hit by gunfire. And we have seen, with our own eyes, that other people standing outside the school have been injured as well.

Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy is here to help us sort this situation out.

Eli, this seems to be coming from the end, although Ryan said that there still could be many more people inside that school.

FLOURNOY: That's correct. I mean we've seen the pictures before. What we saw were probably dozens of people there that children and adults who had come out from some wounded, some appeared to be treated, appeared to be unharmed. But if there are a thousand or more people in there, we haven't seen hundreds of people come out yet in the pictures. So it's very likely there could still be people in there.

COSTELLO: We have Ryan Chilcote again.

Ryan, you've been doing a wonderful job there.

CHILCOTE: Yes.

COSTELLO: I hope you're staying safe. You don't seem to be very protected, and I know there has been...

CHILCOTE: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... sporadic gunfire throughout the morning. Bring us up to date -- Ryan.

CHILCOTE: Yes, go ahead, show this. Well what we're going to start with is some pictures. What we're going to start with is some pictures. I have stepped out of the shot so that you can see this ambulance. A small boy, who was wounded, clearly wounded, was just put in this ambulance. And he is being rushed out of the scene.

We are right now at a place where people are being evacuated, that the wounded are being evacuated from the school. We have seen about 10 perhaps people evacuated so far. Ten people wounded, including one cameraman, several children.

It all began, sorry to move back here for you. It all began about an hour ago with two rounds of two very large explosions. Then there was a very sustained gun battle that ensued. And this is the first time that we've seen such a long gun battle. And this is clearly the largest escalation we have seen yet.

We have Russian helicopters in the sky. We have Russian forces moving around. We have reports that the roof of this school has collapsed. And we have seen many, many wounded people now being brought out of the school.

COSTELLO: Something we saw, Ryan, are the children running out of that school in just their underwear? Do you know a reason for that? We understand it was so hot in there that they sort of stripped down to remain cool.

CHILCOTE: That's a good question. I asked -- you know yesterday, there were -- there was a group of 26 women and children that were released from the school. And some of those children, mostly infants, were not wearing any clothes at all. And of course people wondered why that was.

And I put that question to a spokesman. We have more small arms fire here. This whatever is going on inside that school, and it now appears to be something like a storming of the school or a sustained gun battle, at least in the vicinity of this school.

Sorry, we have to step out of the way here again.

In any case, Russian officials said they don't exactly know why those infants didn't have any clothes on. They have speculated that perhaps because these children were not allowed to go to the bathroom, no one was allowed to get any supplies in, not even any food and water. Remember no one inside that school has seen any food or water for almost two and a half days now.

So they speculated that perhaps, you know, just to may things simpler, the mothers, and many of the mothers are in the school with them because the school was seized on the first day of school, so there was a celebration to mark the beginning of the school year. So maybe the mothers simply took the children's clothes off so that they wouldn't be walking around in soiled clothes inside of that school.

COSTELLO: Tell us, Ryan, what the temperature is, because we see as people flee that school and they go to these makeshift emergency shelters, I guess you could say, nearby, they are being pounded with water, bottles of water. And they are just gulping that water down. CHILCOTE: Yes, well it may be not so much testimony to the heat here, it's probably about, I don't know, 90 degrees. It's gotten a little bit cooler recently, but it's very humid. And the people that were inside that school, the hundreds of hostages, have gotten no water since they have been in there. They were not given any access to water or food by the hostage takers.

In fact, one of the women that was released yesterday told this horrific story of one of the hostage takers coming to what she describes as a group of 1,000 hostages. Of course we don't know that for sure, but that's what she said a group of 1,000 hostages. Bringing -- the hostage taker had just one cup of water in his hand. And the one cup of water was for 1,000 hostages.

We also got reports that they were throwing wet cloths at the children just to wet the children's lips, but they weren't letting them drink any water. And they were proposing that the children go on a six-day hunger strike. Very disturbing reports coming from inside.

So the people that are coming out of the school, Russian authorities were very concerned that in particular the small children wouldn't have the strength to keep going for so long without any food or water in such a stressful situation. Most of them were being forced to stand up the whole while, we are being told. There was explosions all of the time. And they didn't have any food or water and in a very hostile environment.

COSTELLO: You talk about that hostile environment and we've heard explosions all morning long and sporadic gunfire. Can you give us word of casualties?

CHILCOTE: Sure. What we know at this point is that approximately, at least in front of us, 10 individuals have been wounded.

And if I could back up, what we now understand from agencies, we have a little bit of an understanding of how this began. Earlier in the day, Russian authorities were negotiating to evacuate the bodies of seven individuals who had been killed when the school was seized. Those bodies were lying out in front of the school. They had been there for more than two days. And the Russian authorities were asking the hostage takers to let them recover those bodies so that they could be buried by their relatives.

Well about two hours ago, a Russian official came out and said they were very close to reaching a deal on that. That's where the Russian wire reports come in that that was happening, that the bodies were being collected. We don't know exactly by who, but from people from the Russian side.

And it was at that very moment as those bodies were being evacuated that a small number or a number of the armed men inside the school, the hostage takers, broke out of the school and started to make their way out. A group of children began to flee behind that group of armed men. And then the armed men that were still inside the school opened up fire on the children who were fleeing from the school. This is all very preliminary and unconfirmed information. This is what we're getting from Russian news reports.

What we then heard with our own ears and what we saw was obviously a very sustained gun battle. I cannot hear any gunfire right now, but I can tell you that just about two minutes ago I heard gunfire. It's been going on the whole while.

We have APCs around the building. We have Russian forces on the move. We have attack helicopters in the air. We have a large amount of both grenade fire, probably being launched from handheld grenade launchers. And we have a large amount of small arms fire. And I have personally seen 10 wounded individuals, all males, one cameraman, and at least three boys. Now just we saw a third boy, the rest adults.

It's not clear whether they were hostages or not. We've also seen some very horrified people that were quite clearly hostages. A young girl being led out of the school by her mother. The girl looked very, very distraught. They were being accompanied by a Russian official into the building right behind me.

This is where some of the wounded have been evacuated from over the last 45 minutes. They've been loaded into ambulances, into any car they can get these wounded in, and rushed off to the hospital. This has all been happening right in front of us for the last 45 minutes.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan Chilcote reporting live from Russia near that elementary school near the Chechen border.

Ryan, you've been doing a terrific job.

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