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CNN Live Today
At Least 3 Dead in California Train Collision; 31 Marines Dead From Helicopter Crash in Iraq; Iraq Votes
Aired January 26, 2005 - 10:59 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: Right now, let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Let's start also with what's going on with military authorities. They're telling us now that 31 Marines have been killed when their chopper went down near the Iraq-Jordanian border.
Now, you may have heard the president just moments ago saying he's waiting for Pentagon officials to investigate this. What they're saying so far is that they haven't been able to determine the cause of the crash. We're going to be focusing on this with our own military analyst here.
Four of the Marines, also a U.S. soldier were killed in Iraq today. But again, the headline here is more than 30 Marines, possibly 31, the exact number, killed in a helicopter downing. We'll get the latest as well from Baghdad in just a little bit.
Rescue crews are trying to reach passengers believed to be trapped in a wreckage of a train in California. This is that story Daryn was telling you about just moments ago. And this is a live picture as we look at it.
Officials saying at least three confirmed dead. According to two initial reports there, there are at least a couple of trains that may have sideswiped each other. There may be a locomotive as well. That's not a commuter train. Still really trying to narrow that down.
Also, there's an overturned Union Pacific train that's on the scene. So we're going to be hearing from a fire official in there in L.A. just moments from now. It could happen at any moment. As soon as it does, we're going to take you to that news conference, live from Los Angeles.
In Florida now, officials are saying that one student had to be airlifted to the hospital after a school bus overturned this morning. There's the picture. It happened in Hernando County. That's not far from Tampa, by the way.
The Florida Highway Patrol says seven other students and the bus driver were injured. Their injuries, thank goodness, are not believed to be life threatening. We're going to be following that.
Condoleezza Rice could be just about 30 minutes away from becoming the nation's next secretary of state. But not without lots of debate.
A confirmation vote on the Senate is scheduled for this here. There's Barbara Boxer now. She's one of many who has had some very strong words for the administration's Iraq policy and has used this as a vehicle to get those words out. Some Democrats have railed against Rice in particular. She's expected, though, to win overwhelming approval.
So with all of that as a backdrop, we do have a lot of news on this day. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It is 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning. Let's get right to our breaking news, beginning with this hour with the commuter train crash in California.
At least three people have been killed. We go right to the live pictures from Glendale, California. Dozens are injured, and still more may be trapped in the wreckage.
Here is what we know. As I said, at least three people confirmed dead. At this point, these were some commuter trains leaving downtown Los Angeles. One was going to the Moorpark are, one going to Burbank when they sideswiped each other earlier this morning.
Rescue operations began almost immediately. Let's get the latest. We had these words just a few minutes ago from the L.A. Fire Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BATTALION CHIEF BRIAN SCHULTZ, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT.: Well, at this point, we're going through with the search dogs, and we're looking to see if we can find any bodies in the worst parts of the wreckage. We've pretty much accounted for everybody that was available to us and that we were able to get out either through carrying them out or through using our physical rescue means to extricate them. And right now it's -- at this point in the game, it's pretty much a medical issue right now, getting appropriate hospitals notified and getting the critically wounded to the hospitals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Our Ted Rowlands is on the scene in Glendale, California, with the latest.
Ted, what do you know?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as we just heard, there are three confirmed dead at this point, but that number is expected to go up. We're expecting another news conference here in about 15 minutes for the latest.
There are dozens and dozens of people injured. And right now they're trying to deal with it. There are two triage areas set up by the L.A. Fire Department in Glendale, the local agency here. One across the parking lot from where we are the more seriously injured. Here, there are the less seriously injured.
There are a lot of bumps and bruises and scrapes. Some people with some problems with knees and elbows and that type of thing. But, for the most part, these people are OK.
One of the people in this area is Alfonso Garan, who was on the train at the time of the derailment.
Alfonso, just tell us briefly what happened here. I guess a lot of people have been saying you hit some sort of rocks?
ALFONSO GARAN, CRASH WITNESS: Yes, I heard some rocks on the bottom of the train. But, to be honest with you guys, I was sleeping. And when I wake up -- I was in the first car, the car that crashed -- when I wake up, I was on the ground, like trees, seats far from my original seat. It was terrible.
And I could hear screams. I could see people crying, people covered in blood. It was terrible.
To get out of the train, we have to break the window and jump off the train. I was on the third floor of the train.
ROWLANDS: Could you see inside the car? Was there any -- it was dark out at the time because it was early in the morning. What was -- what was it like inside there? Were you able to negotiate where you were going? And what was sort of the feeling?
GARAN: You could see -- you could not see nothing because there was a lot smoke inside of the -- inside of the first car. And the lights was off. Everything.
And the doors was closed. So we have to break it. We have to break the windows and open the doors because the door was completely closed.
ROWLANDS: You are OK?
GARAN: Yes, I'm OK. I just -- my knees hurt because we jumped off of the train. But I'm completely fine, thank god.
ROWLANDS: OK. Alfonso Garan, one of the many people on the train and injured. There are other -- there are dozens of people injured more seriously than Alfonso and the people behind us. But Alfonso's story is a very common one that we have heard this morning. Here are a couple of other people's accounts of what happened when the train derailed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was traveling to Burbank when other trains passed. There's a little turbulence. So we felt that and we weren't too worried about it.
And then it got worse and worse. And the next thing you know the train flipped and went on its side. And we just got out as quick as we could.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, when it flipped outside, what happened to you physically at that point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were thrown from our seat. We were thrown from our seat. I held onto him for dear life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But luckily, we're OK. I think we're one of the few that were OK on the 901 train.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And we now understand that four people have been confirmed dead in the train derailment which happened this morning here in southern California. There may be more. We're going to get another update here in the next few minutes.
But a horrific scene here as they try to find everybody and then treat everybody involved in this accident. The cause, of course, still under investigation at this point. And we would be -- it would be inappropriate to really speculate on what actually happened. But as you heard, a lot of passengers thought they ran over some sort of rock mass on the train -- on the track before the derailment -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And time will tell. That might just have been the feeling of the train leaving the tracks and going on a different part, going onto the ground.
As you were saying, too early for cause. The time as happened. And tell us about these Metrolink trains. They are commuter trains that link these various counties of the Los Angeles area.
ROWLANDS: Yes, Metrolink is the commuter train that -- that brings people from -- to and -- in and around southern California. There were two metro train cars -- trains involved. One was coming one way, one the other way. One from Burbank and one coming the other way, south.
The -- one was the 901, I believe, and the 101. The one that we're hearing from, where most of the injuries are, appears to be the one that actually derailed and then crashed into the other Metrolink.
There's also a Union Pacific train involved in this crash. And Union Pacific has released a statement that they simply had a collision of some sort caused by Metrolink trains. They said that their train was -- was struck by one of these or both of these Metrolink trains.
So it appears as though one of the Metrolink trains, the commuter trains, derailed and then hit into the other train, and then into the Union Pacific train. And injuries, the most serious injuries are on the second car of one of the Metrolink trains.
That's one of the -- that's the car that actually fell over on its side. And there was a lot of difficulty getting people out of that train, as you can imagine, because the doors were sealed.
They had to come in and first assess the situation and then pull people out gingerly as to not injure them more. And then here they've been treating them at the scene.
It's basically a Costco parking lot that is being used as sort of a temporary hospital area to treat people. And then they are being taken to area hospitals. All of the area hospitals are receiving patients.
UCLA Medical Center has received a couple of very serious injuries. And then Glendale here, Memorial Hospital, has taken the brunt of it because it's literally about two blocks away from here.
This happened before daylight. And I'm not sure of the actual accident time. It was some time before 6:00 or around the 6:00 hour. But that made things even more difficult because it was dark. And as you heard from these passengers, a very confusing and frightening scene inside those trains after the derailment.
KAGAN: Ted, you mentioned we have this news conference. That is coming up, and we're going to go to that live as soon as it begins. That will be our next batch of information.
If you'll stay with us, though, we're putting the story together as we hear from more people who were onboard those trains when the crash occurred. Let's listen to some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of a rude awakening at 5:00 in the morning. But the train just shook, then it rolled, and then we heard a big boom and glass breaking and people screaming. And that's about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stephanie (ph), the emotional impact of what you saw, talk to me about that a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very scary. It shakes you up. You, you know, hope that you're going to be OK.
You know, I've been taking the train for two years, commuting to work. I take public transit to stay off the five freeways so that I can be safe. So it was a very scary thing to go through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, there you go. A commuter train, these commuter trains' crash taking place in southern California. We will stand by for that news conference. Ted, we'll be back to you in Glendale, California, as well.
But now, with more news, here's Rick. SANCHEZ: Daryn, we've got another very important story we're sharing now. We've got word just this morning of what may be the single deadliest incident yet involving U.S. troops in Iraq.
It's a helicopter. It went down in western Iraq. It's killed 31 Marines. Again, 31 Marines confirmed dead in this mishap.
Let's go now to Baghdad and our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who's been following this story.
Christiane, have you been able to get a handle yet on what happened?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, it's still under investigation. Marine Corps officials do tell CNN that this did in fact happen at about 1:20 a.m. local time, predawn, over near the Iraq border with Jordan, which is in the far west of this country. But they are saying that they're still trying to investigate what happened.
They're not immediately pointing to hostile fire. While they conduct their investigations, they're not saying that publicly, that it was any kind of attack. Rather, that they're still trying to figure out what it was, and some are pointing to perhaps bad weather in the area.
But we don't really know the actual reason right now. We're still waiting for that to be confirmed.
It was -- it did take place aboard a transport helicopter that the Marine Corps uses to transport personnel and material. As you said, it was 31 people, we're told, 31 Marines who were killed when this chopper went down. Again, Marine Corps officials telling that to CNN. And, of course, you heard President Bush, who was asked about it in a press conference earlier, has said that the Defense Department was investigating it.
This would bring today the most deadly day for U.S. forces since the war. Thirty-one Marines in this plane crash, this helicopter crash, and another four Marines, we're told, were killed in combat operations, and one U.S. soldier also killed in a roadside bomb ambush engagement that took place today. So not a good day for U.S. military today in Iraq.
Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Christiane, I have to ask you this. With the elections really just now days away, the effect of this particular situation with these 31 dead Marines, whether or not it was caused by the insurgents, the perception of it, I ask.
AMANPOUR: Well, you know, of course every time there's such a huge hit on a unit, on a division, it takes a heavy toll, not only, obviously, for the comrades and colleagues and families, but also for the work that's being done here in Iraq. The U.S. military needs every last person for security, and it is trying to get every last person involved in the security operations on election day. And that is going to be a big challenge as we've heard over and over again from commanders from the very top of the military structure here right down to the field level.
SANCHEZ: Our international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, following that story, bringing us the very latest details as we get them on this busy day. Christiane, we thank you for that.
Let's talk more now about this helicopter situation, the helicopter involved in particular. Joining us now is Air Force Major General George Harrison, who often helps us here on CNN as our military analyst.
Let's start with the accident itself. You don't believe that this was caused by insurgents. Why not?
MAJ. GEN. GEORGE HARRISON, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Well, it's hard to say exactly what happened because the details are so sketchy. But it was in a fairly remote section of Iraq in the western desert. So one can speculate that what was happening was a standard re-supply mission loaded with Marines. That the load of 31 Marines indicates that it was a re-supply mission.
The things that cause accidents generally are weather, mechanical error, some sort of crew error or enemy action. Given the time of -- the time that this was going on, I would imagine that the crew was flying on night vision goggles. There's some really rough terrain out in the western portion there. So -- so the environment could have gotten to them, sandstorm, anything like that.
SANCHEZ: It's a Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter.
HARRISON: That's right.
SANCHEZ: The name implies that it's usually not used for direct combat, right?
HARRISON: Right. It's primarily a transport helicopter. It transports a huge load.
As we see, 31 Marines. It can carry up to 53. But it's -- it is an enormous airplane, 70,000 pounds, which is really big for a helicopter.
SANCHEZ: And anything about that particular geography? I think we've got a map. We showed it just a little while ago, but see if we can put it back up, Rob, of the area where this happened.
As you can see, that's out really a remote area of Iraq, one we usually don't talk about. We hear of sandstorms, we hear of certain geographical problems in that area. Would that lead to a problem with a helicopter like that?
HARRISON: Well, it certainly could. And, of course, you can speculate on any kind of cause. We'll hear more about the cause probably in about 20 or 30 days. It takes that long to sort out exactly what happened, make sure that the service has the facts right and takes the right action to correct it.
SANCHEZ: General George Harrison, we thank you, sir, as usual, for being here and trying to give us some insight on a story like this as it's still developing.
HARRISON: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir.
KAGAN: We have a lot going on this morning. Not only do we have the developing story in southern California, with the train crash, standing by for that news conference. Also, the vote about to take place on Condoleezza Rice. It is the countdown to the confirmation for the future secretary of state.
About 15 minute ways, the Senate will decide whether she will become the next secretary of state. Everyone's saying it's just a formality at this point. We'll bring you the vote when it happens.
SANCHEZ: Also, President Bush took some tough questions this morning at the White House. Interesting to note that it was the Democrats who were having a platform yesterday, in essence criticizing much of the Bush administration's policies. Today, the president fired back, explaining and taking the platform himself. We'll take you through this as well.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Standing by, once again. A news conference within the hour, we expect to begin in Glendale, California, about this train crash. Two commuter trains running into each other and then into a Union Pacific train. We know at least four people are confirmed dead, hundreds of other passengers were sent tumbling down the aisles when this train crash took place around 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time today.
The cause too soon to tell. We're looking for more information from this news conference. And we will bring that to you live as soon as it begins in Glendale, California.
SANCHEZ: Yes. It's being explained as a sideswipe, but as you look at the pictures, especially those from the ground...
KAGAN: It looks a lot more severe than that, doesn't it?
SANCHEZ: An awful lot of mangled metal. It almost looks like the trains somehow directly impacted each other.
Let's do this, let's try and get a sense of what the weather was out there as this happened and see if possibly the weather could have contributed to this accident. Dave Hennen is following that for us. Dave, what do you know?
DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it was raining at the time. We do know that. We have seen showers much in southern California throughout the morning hours. More on the way today, too. So we are looking at that potential on through the rest of the daytime hours.
So for the rescue operations, the cleanup operations, it is going to be wet as we look at this western storm system. Here's the West Coast of the U.S., and here's the storm spinning here.
You can see the cloud cover moving in. They had a couple storm systems. Let's take you underneath the clouds.
There's the rain in the San Francisco area. It's been raining there for once -- or for much of the morning. And back into Los Angeles, this will be moving in through the area during the rest of the day. As you can see, the showers are offshore here.
A little different perspective here. Here's the radar, and it shows much of California wet at this hour. Rain about ready to move back into Los Angeles. We'll see the showers move in.
Currently, no flooding reported, and no flood watches or anything in effect. We may see some significant rain a little bit further inland today. Around the Phoenix area we can expect some locally heavy rainfall amounts. We did see a thunderstorm in that area a little bit earlier this morning. And so some heavy rainfall in the forecast through the day there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Dave Hennen following that for us. We thank you you, Dave, for picking that up for us.
KAGAN: Want to talk about the role of women who will be a major force in Sunday's election in Iraq. They make up about a third of the candidates. Iraqi law has long given women equal status, at least on paper. But in reality, women say no matter how well they do this weekend they will be forced to take a back seat in Iraqi politics.
Let's talk to Zainab Salbi. She is founder and CEO of Women for Women International. The group helps female survivors of war in places such as Bosnia, Rwanda, and her native Iraq. She joins us in San Francisco this morning.
Zainab, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.
ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you.
KAGAN: Is this election process a step forward for Iraqi women?
SALBI: It is an important opportunity for Iraqi women to have a say in the legal restructuring of Iraq. It's to make sure that we have enough roles to write the constitution of Iraq. And that is really the critical point. It's much more than the election in the coming week.
KAGAN: And as you're watching this unfold, are you impressed or are you depressed about the amount of participation that women feel that they can have at this point?
SALBI: Considering how bad the security is in Iraq, I'm actually very impressed that women are still running for election. Women are becoming targets for assassination and kidnapping, particularly in the last few months.
Educated women, outspoken women, working women, they have all been very clearly targeted for kidnapping and killing. And so the fact that they are still running out there and they are still nominating themselves for the election speaks a lot about their own courage and resilience and not to retreat back home and give up on their fight for a better Iraq.
KAGAN: Just even in terms of daily life, we've heard since the war began in Iraq that the reality of safety of women on the streets, to send girls to school, for women to go out by themselves, that that reality has changed. So if you can't even go to the market, the idea that you can go out to vote or participate in a political process seems almost unreachable.
SALBI: It's -- that's very correct. We do have women who are running for the election. And that is the very impressive side of it.
And we have to understand that these women are very scared actually. They are not announcing about their names. No one knows if they are voting for the women or the men. It's all under the numbers and not under the names.
We don't -- a lot of the women that we are working with in Iraq are actually afraid to go out of their homes to start with. They're not even -- we are even encountering women who are not using their food vouchers to get their food baskets for the month. They are that afraid to go out of home.
Now, so a lot of people are stocking up on food for the days of the election, thinking or believing that they will be stuck at home because of the insecurity. So women running for elections is one thing. And women turning out to vote is another thing.
KAGAN: Right.
SALBI: We also have to understand that Sistani just issued a fatwah addressing the importance of women voting and encouraging women to vote, and encouraging their husbands to vote, which is significant step recognizing the importance of women in the election process in Iraq.
KAGAN: And, of course, that would be in the Shiite community. The Sunni community is a whole different story.
In my final moment here, I want to pick up on -- excuse me -- pick up on something that you said. The election is one thing, participating in the writing of the constitution is another. What will you be looking for women's rights in the upcoming constitution?
SALBI: We have to make sure that women preserve their legal rights in the constitution. In a survey that we recently conducted over 1,000 households and three provinces in Baghdad and Mosul and Basra, 94 of the women we surveyed, they said that the most important thing for them is to protect their legal rights in the constitution. Once they lose family law, once they lose issues that relates to women's personal lives, custody, inheritance, divorce, all of these things, women will lose milestones of accomplishments in the past and they will -- they will not only go backward, they will take the whole society with them. So the critical point is really to preserve the legal and civil liberties in the constitution of Iraq.
KAGAN: Zainab Salbi, fascinating insight. Thank you for that today.
SALBI: Thank you.
KAGAN: Rick.
SANCHEZ: We should let you know that the next important piece of business that we're going to be taking care of for you here is taking you back out to California. Those of you who are just joining us now may be learning as we speak that there has been a tragedy in California.
Two, possibly three trains have somehow collided. The information last word that we got is that there are four fatalities as a result of this. Maybe as many as 100 people who had to be treated. Don't know how serious the injuries are.
And we are expecting at any moment now a news conference. And that's why you saw that picture just moments ago from L.A. fire officials.
Let's do this right now, take you out to Ted Rowlands. He's also following the story. Those are some of the pictures that you're seeing from the ground, some of the first pictures that we've been seeing from the ground that show you just how mangled some of these locomotives are after this.
Ted, pick up the story. Have you learned anything new?
ROWLANDS: Yes, we're getting more information as to the cause of the incident. According to Metrolink -- that is the commuter train service in southern California -- two of their trains were involved in this. According to Metrolink, one of their trains hit an automobile in a train crossing early this morning. They say that that impact initiated what turned into a three-train collision.
The first Metrolink train apparently struck another Metrolink. We're not sure if it jumped the track or ran into another Metrolink. We do know that it derailed, that first Metrolink train.
And then a Union Pacific train, which you can also see in those aerial photographs, is also involved. According to Union Pacific, that train was not moving when one or both of the Metrolink trains collided into that.
The bottom line, hundreds of people have been injured because of this. There were three cars in each of the Metrolink train links at the time of this. Presumably, we don't know how -- how full each one of those cars are, but if you look out here at two separate triage centers, there are dozens of passengers that are injured. And other people have refused treatment because they were not injured in the incident.
But dozens of people were injured. Some of them very seriously. They were taken to area hospitals here. Others behind me here are being treated as well.
As you mentioned, we're waiting for another press conference from the Los Angeles Fire Department. They acting -- they are working with an interagency response here.
They have just indicated that it's going to be a few minutes. But we're going to get more information at that time.
But we are learning more about the cause. And it seems as though it has been caused by an automobile in the train tracks.
About 10 minutes ago, I saw a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief with a license plate presumably retrieved from the scene walking way. He did not want to talk about the specifics of it, but he took the license plate with him and walked off away from the scene. And that may have something to do with this investigation -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Ted, let me ask you, because we've been showing our viewers now for the better part of two hours going on now pictures of people literally one by one being taken out of these trains in stretchers. Do you have any indication yet of what officials there are saying about what they found, the condition of people? And maybe more importantly, if they expect to get any more people out of there? Or ar they done?
ROWLANDS: Well, we're not quite sure about that. There was some indications earlier that there were people trapped. We now understand that anybody -- everybody has been accounted for.
Whether or not there are actual bodies in there that they're still going to be moving out, we'll find out in a few minutes here. There are four confirmed fatalities at this point. And dozens of people had to be brought out.
And we talked to a number of these people that were injured. The injuries -- the folks we talked to, their injuries were relatively minor. A guy with an injured leg and someone else had some cuts on his face.
They all said the same thing, it was dark at the time of the incident. And inside the actual cars, it was smoky, very difficult to see. They could not get out of these trains because the doors were sealed. One of the passenger cars was over on its side. And getting themselves out was quite a task. They helped each other get out for the most part. And then when rescue crews came, it was a long time in getting everybody out.
And we're not sure if everybody has been pulled out. We're hoping to get that information soon.
But when daylight arrived, that helped matters in that they were able to spot more people and pull them out. At this point, though, what a horrific scene. And if you listen to these stories, you can just imagine what these people want through.
One person said he was asleep and woke up on the floor in terror and basically had to get himself out of there. Quite an amazing scene inside of these trains. And now we know that the cause is most likely an automobile on the tracks.
SANCHEZ: Ted, stand by, because here's what we're going to do. We're going to come back to you most likely on the other side of the break. We're expecting that by the time we come back -- we're going to take a set of commercials here, and when we come back, we are expecting to be able to hear from L.A. fire officials who will describe hopefully in detail what the situation is there now, and possibly what they suspect at this point may have been the cause.
Our coverage of this tragedy in California continues here on CNN in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 26, 2005 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Let's start also with what's going on with military authorities. They're telling us now that 31 Marines have been killed when their chopper went down near the Iraq-Jordanian border.
Now, you may have heard the president just moments ago saying he's waiting for Pentagon officials to investigate this. What they're saying so far is that they haven't been able to determine the cause of the crash. We're going to be focusing on this with our own military analyst here.
Four of the Marines, also a U.S. soldier were killed in Iraq today. But again, the headline here is more than 30 Marines, possibly 31, the exact number, killed in a helicopter downing. We'll get the latest as well from Baghdad in just a little bit.
Rescue crews are trying to reach passengers believed to be trapped in a wreckage of a train in California. This is that story Daryn was telling you about just moments ago. And this is a live picture as we look at it.
Officials saying at least three confirmed dead. According to two initial reports there, there are at least a couple of trains that may have sideswiped each other. There may be a locomotive as well. That's not a commuter train. Still really trying to narrow that down.
Also, there's an overturned Union Pacific train that's on the scene. So we're going to be hearing from a fire official in there in L.A. just moments from now. It could happen at any moment. As soon as it does, we're going to take you to that news conference, live from Los Angeles.
In Florida now, officials are saying that one student had to be airlifted to the hospital after a school bus overturned this morning. There's the picture. It happened in Hernando County. That's not far from Tampa, by the way.
The Florida Highway Patrol says seven other students and the bus driver were injured. Their injuries, thank goodness, are not believed to be life threatening. We're going to be following that.
Condoleezza Rice could be just about 30 minutes away from becoming the nation's next secretary of state. But not without lots of debate.
A confirmation vote on the Senate is scheduled for this here. There's Barbara Boxer now. She's one of many who has had some very strong words for the administration's Iraq policy and has used this as a vehicle to get those words out. Some Democrats have railed against Rice in particular. She's expected, though, to win overwhelming approval.
So with all of that as a backdrop, we do have a lot of news on this day. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It is 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning. Let's get right to our breaking news, beginning with this hour with the commuter train crash in California.
At least three people have been killed. We go right to the live pictures from Glendale, California. Dozens are injured, and still more may be trapped in the wreckage.
Here is what we know. As I said, at least three people confirmed dead. At this point, these were some commuter trains leaving downtown Los Angeles. One was going to the Moorpark are, one going to Burbank when they sideswiped each other earlier this morning.
Rescue operations began almost immediately. Let's get the latest. We had these words just a few minutes ago from the L.A. Fire Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BATTALION CHIEF BRIAN SCHULTZ, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT.: Well, at this point, we're going through with the search dogs, and we're looking to see if we can find any bodies in the worst parts of the wreckage. We've pretty much accounted for everybody that was available to us and that we were able to get out either through carrying them out or through using our physical rescue means to extricate them. And right now it's -- at this point in the game, it's pretty much a medical issue right now, getting appropriate hospitals notified and getting the critically wounded to the hospitals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Our Ted Rowlands is on the scene in Glendale, California, with the latest.
Ted, what do you know?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, as we just heard, there are three confirmed dead at this point, but that number is expected to go up. We're expecting another news conference here in about 15 minutes for the latest.
There are dozens and dozens of people injured. And right now they're trying to deal with it. There are two triage areas set up by the L.A. Fire Department in Glendale, the local agency here. One across the parking lot from where we are the more seriously injured. Here, there are the less seriously injured.
There are a lot of bumps and bruises and scrapes. Some people with some problems with knees and elbows and that type of thing. But, for the most part, these people are OK.
One of the people in this area is Alfonso Garan, who was on the train at the time of the derailment.
Alfonso, just tell us briefly what happened here. I guess a lot of people have been saying you hit some sort of rocks?
ALFONSO GARAN, CRASH WITNESS: Yes, I heard some rocks on the bottom of the train. But, to be honest with you guys, I was sleeping. And when I wake up -- I was in the first car, the car that crashed -- when I wake up, I was on the ground, like trees, seats far from my original seat. It was terrible.
And I could hear screams. I could see people crying, people covered in blood. It was terrible.
To get out of the train, we have to break the window and jump off the train. I was on the third floor of the train.
ROWLANDS: Could you see inside the car? Was there any -- it was dark out at the time because it was early in the morning. What was -- what was it like inside there? Were you able to negotiate where you were going? And what was sort of the feeling?
GARAN: You could see -- you could not see nothing because there was a lot smoke inside of the -- inside of the first car. And the lights was off. Everything.
And the doors was closed. So we have to break it. We have to break the windows and open the doors because the door was completely closed.
ROWLANDS: You are OK?
GARAN: Yes, I'm OK. I just -- my knees hurt because we jumped off of the train. But I'm completely fine, thank god.
ROWLANDS: OK. Alfonso Garan, one of the many people on the train and injured. There are other -- there are dozens of people injured more seriously than Alfonso and the people behind us. But Alfonso's story is a very common one that we have heard this morning. Here are a couple of other people's accounts of what happened when the train derailed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was traveling to Burbank when other trains passed. There's a little turbulence. So we felt that and we weren't too worried about it.
And then it got worse and worse. And the next thing you know the train flipped and went on its side. And we just got out as quick as we could.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, when it flipped outside, what happened to you physically at that point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were thrown from our seat. We were thrown from our seat. I held onto him for dear life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But luckily, we're OK. I think we're one of the few that were OK on the 901 train.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And we now understand that four people have been confirmed dead in the train derailment which happened this morning here in southern California. There may be more. We're going to get another update here in the next few minutes.
But a horrific scene here as they try to find everybody and then treat everybody involved in this accident. The cause, of course, still under investigation at this point. And we would be -- it would be inappropriate to really speculate on what actually happened. But as you heard, a lot of passengers thought they ran over some sort of rock mass on the train -- on the track before the derailment -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And time will tell. That might just have been the feeling of the train leaving the tracks and going on a different part, going onto the ground.
As you were saying, too early for cause. The time as happened. And tell us about these Metrolink trains. They are commuter trains that link these various counties of the Los Angeles area.
ROWLANDS: Yes, Metrolink is the commuter train that -- that brings people from -- to and -- in and around southern California. There were two metro train cars -- trains involved. One was coming one way, one the other way. One from Burbank and one coming the other way, south.
The -- one was the 901, I believe, and the 101. The one that we're hearing from, where most of the injuries are, appears to be the one that actually derailed and then crashed into the other Metrolink.
There's also a Union Pacific train involved in this crash. And Union Pacific has released a statement that they simply had a collision of some sort caused by Metrolink trains. They said that their train was -- was struck by one of these or both of these Metrolink trains.
So it appears as though one of the Metrolink trains, the commuter trains, derailed and then hit into the other train, and then into the Union Pacific train. And injuries, the most serious injuries are on the second car of one of the Metrolink trains.
That's one of the -- that's the car that actually fell over on its side. And there was a lot of difficulty getting people out of that train, as you can imagine, because the doors were sealed.
They had to come in and first assess the situation and then pull people out gingerly as to not injure them more. And then here they've been treating them at the scene.
It's basically a Costco parking lot that is being used as sort of a temporary hospital area to treat people. And then they are being taken to area hospitals. All of the area hospitals are receiving patients.
UCLA Medical Center has received a couple of very serious injuries. And then Glendale here, Memorial Hospital, has taken the brunt of it because it's literally about two blocks away from here.
This happened before daylight. And I'm not sure of the actual accident time. It was some time before 6:00 or around the 6:00 hour. But that made things even more difficult because it was dark. And as you heard from these passengers, a very confusing and frightening scene inside those trains after the derailment.
KAGAN: Ted, you mentioned we have this news conference. That is coming up, and we're going to go to that live as soon as it begins. That will be our next batch of information.
If you'll stay with us, though, we're putting the story together as we hear from more people who were onboard those trains when the crash occurred. Let's listen to some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of a rude awakening at 5:00 in the morning. But the train just shook, then it rolled, and then we heard a big boom and glass breaking and people screaming. And that's about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stephanie (ph), the emotional impact of what you saw, talk to me about that a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very scary. It shakes you up. You, you know, hope that you're going to be OK.
You know, I've been taking the train for two years, commuting to work. I take public transit to stay off the five freeways so that I can be safe. So it was a very scary thing to go through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, there you go. A commuter train, these commuter trains' crash taking place in southern California. We will stand by for that news conference. Ted, we'll be back to you in Glendale, California, as well.
But now, with more news, here's Rick. SANCHEZ: Daryn, we've got another very important story we're sharing now. We've got word just this morning of what may be the single deadliest incident yet involving U.S. troops in Iraq.
It's a helicopter. It went down in western Iraq. It's killed 31 Marines. Again, 31 Marines confirmed dead in this mishap.
Let's go now to Baghdad and our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who's been following this story.
Christiane, have you been able to get a handle yet on what happened?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, it's still under investigation. Marine Corps officials do tell CNN that this did in fact happen at about 1:20 a.m. local time, predawn, over near the Iraq border with Jordan, which is in the far west of this country. But they are saying that they're still trying to investigate what happened.
They're not immediately pointing to hostile fire. While they conduct their investigations, they're not saying that publicly, that it was any kind of attack. Rather, that they're still trying to figure out what it was, and some are pointing to perhaps bad weather in the area.
But we don't really know the actual reason right now. We're still waiting for that to be confirmed.
It was -- it did take place aboard a transport helicopter that the Marine Corps uses to transport personnel and material. As you said, it was 31 people, we're told, 31 Marines who were killed when this chopper went down. Again, Marine Corps officials telling that to CNN. And, of course, you heard President Bush, who was asked about it in a press conference earlier, has said that the Defense Department was investigating it.
This would bring today the most deadly day for U.S. forces since the war. Thirty-one Marines in this plane crash, this helicopter crash, and another four Marines, we're told, were killed in combat operations, and one U.S. soldier also killed in a roadside bomb ambush engagement that took place today. So not a good day for U.S. military today in Iraq.
Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Christiane, I have to ask you this. With the elections really just now days away, the effect of this particular situation with these 31 dead Marines, whether or not it was caused by the insurgents, the perception of it, I ask.
AMANPOUR: Well, you know, of course every time there's such a huge hit on a unit, on a division, it takes a heavy toll, not only, obviously, for the comrades and colleagues and families, but also for the work that's being done here in Iraq. The U.S. military needs every last person for security, and it is trying to get every last person involved in the security operations on election day. And that is going to be a big challenge as we've heard over and over again from commanders from the very top of the military structure here right down to the field level.
SANCHEZ: Our international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, following that story, bringing us the very latest details as we get them on this busy day. Christiane, we thank you for that.
Let's talk more now about this helicopter situation, the helicopter involved in particular. Joining us now is Air Force Major General George Harrison, who often helps us here on CNN as our military analyst.
Let's start with the accident itself. You don't believe that this was caused by insurgents. Why not?
MAJ. GEN. GEORGE HARRISON, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Well, it's hard to say exactly what happened because the details are so sketchy. But it was in a fairly remote section of Iraq in the western desert. So one can speculate that what was happening was a standard re-supply mission loaded with Marines. That the load of 31 Marines indicates that it was a re-supply mission.
The things that cause accidents generally are weather, mechanical error, some sort of crew error or enemy action. Given the time of -- the time that this was going on, I would imagine that the crew was flying on night vision goggles. There's some really rough terrain out in the western portion there. So -- so the environment could have gotten to them, sandstorm, anything like that.
SANCHEZ: It's a Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter.
HARRISON: That's right.
SANCHEZ: The name implies that it's usually not used for direct combat, right?
HARRISON: Right. It's primarily a transport helicopter. It transports a huge load.
As we see, 31 Marines. It can carry up to 53. But it's -- it is an enormous airplane, 70,000 pounds, which is really big for a helicopter.
SANCHEZ: And anything about that particular geography? I think we've got a map. We showed it just a little while ago, but see if we can put it back up, Rob, of the area where this happened.
As you can see, that's out really a remote area of Iraq, one we usually don't talk about. We hear of sandstorms, we hear of certain geographical problems in that area. Would that lead to a problem with a helicopter like that?
HARRISON: Well, it certainly could. And, of course, you can speculate on any kind of cause. We'll hear more about the cause probably in about 20 or 30 days. It takes that long to sort out exactly what happened, make sure that the service has the facts right and takes the right action to correct it.
SANCHEZ: General George Harrison, we thank you, sir, as usual, for being here and trying to give us some insight on a story like this as it's still developing.
HARRISON: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir.
KAGAN: We have a lot going on this morning. Not only do we have the developing story in southern California, with the train crash, standing by for that news conference. Also, the vote about to take place on Condoleezza Rice. It is the countdown to the confirmation for the future secretary of state.
About 15 minute ways, the Senate will decide whether she will become the next secretary of state. Everyone's saying it's just a formality at this point. We'll bring you the vote when it happens.
SANCHEZ: Also, President Bush took some tough questions this morning at the White House. Interesting to note that it was the Democrats who were having a platform yesterday, in essence criticizing much of the Bush administration's policies. Today, the president fired back, explaining and taking the platform himself. We'll take you through this as well.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Standing by, once again. A news conference within the hour, we expect to begin in Glendale, California, about this train crash. Two commuter trains running into each other and then into a Union Pacific train. We know at least four people are confirmed dead, hundreds of other passengers were sent tumbling down the aisles when this train crash took place around 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time today.
The cause too soon to tell. We're looking for more information from this news conference. And we will bring that to you live as soon as it begins in Glendale, California.
SANCHEZ: Yes. It's being explained as a sideswipe, but as you look at the pictures, especially those from the ground...
KAGAN: It looks a lot more severe than that, doesn't it?
SANCHEZ: An awful lot of mangled metal. It almost looks like the trains somehow directly impacted each other.
Let's do this, let's try and get a sense of what the weather was out there as this happened and see if possibly the weather could have contributed to this accident. Dave Hennen is following that for us. Dave, what do you know?
DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it was raining at the time. We do know that. We have seen showers much in southern California throughout the morning hours. More on the way today, too. So we are looking at that potential on through the rest of the daytime hours.
So for the rescue operations, the cleanup operations, it is going to be wet as we look at this western storm system. Here's the West Coast of the U.S., and here's the storm spinning here.
You can see the cloud cover moving in. They had a couple storm systems. Let's take you underneath the clouds.
There's the rain in the San Francisco area. It's been raining there for once -- or for much of the morning. And back into Los Angeles, this will be moving in through the area during the rest of the day. As you can see, the showers are offshore here.
A little different perspective here. Here's the radar, and it shows much of California wet at this hour. Rain about ready to move back into Los Angeles. We'll see the showers move in.
Currently, no flooding reported, and no flood watches or anything in effect. We may see some significant rain a little bit further inland today. Around the Phoenix area we can expect some locally heavy rainfall amounts. We did see a thunderstorm in that area a little bit earlier this morning. And so some heavy rainfall in the forecast through the day there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Dave Hennen following that for us. We thank you you, Dave, for picking that up for us.
KAGAN: Want to talk about the role of women who will be a major force in Sunday's election in Iraq. They make up about a third of the candidates. Iraqi law has long given women equal status, at least on paper. But in reality, women say no matter how well they do this weekend they will be forced to take a back seat in Iraqi politics.
Let's talk to Zainab Salbi. She is founder and CEO of Women for Women International. The group helps female survivors of war in places such as Bosnia, Rwanda, and her native Iraq. She joins us in San Francisco this morning.
Zainab, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.
ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you.
KAGAN: Is this election process a step forward for Iraqi women?
SALBI: It is an important opportunity for Iraqi women to have a say in the legal restructuring of Iraq. It's to make sure that we have enough roles to write the constitution of Iraq. And that is really the critical point. It's much more than the election in the coming week.
KAGAN: And as you're watching this unfold, are you impressed or are you depressed about the amount of participation that women feel that they can have at this point?
SALBI: Considering how bad the security is in Iraq, I'm actually very impressed that women are still running for election. Women are becoming targets for assassination and kidnapping, particularly in the last few months.
Educated women, outspoken women, working women, they have all been very clearly targeted for kidnapping and killing. And so the fact that they are still running out there and they are still nominating themselves for the election speaks a lot about their own courage and resilience and not to retreat back home and give up on their fight for a better Iraq.
KAGAN: Just even in terms of daily life, we've heard since the war began in Iraq that the reality of safety of women on the streets, to send girls to school, for women to go out by themselves, that that reality has changed. So if you can't even go to the market, the idea that you can go out to vote or participate in a political process seems almost unreachable.
SALBI: It's -- that's very correct. We do have women who are running for the election. And that is the very impressive side of it.
And we have to understand that these women are very scared actually. They are not announcing about their names. No one knows if they are voting for the women or the men. It's all under the numbers and not under the names.
We don't -- a lot of the women that we are working with in Iraq are actually afraid to go out of their homes to start with. They're not even -- we are even encountering women who are not using their food vouchers to get their food baskets for the month. They are that afraid to go out of home.
Now, so a lot of people are stocking up on food for the days of the election, thinking or believing that they will be stuck at home because of the insecurity. So women running for elections is one thing. And women turning out to vote is another thing.
KAGAN: Right.
SALBI: We also have to understand that Sistani just issued a fatwah addressing the importance of women voting and encouraging women to vote, and encouraging their husbands to vote, which is significant step recognizing the importance of women in the election process in Iraq.
KAGAN: And, of course, that would be in the Shiite community. The Sunni community is a whole different story.
In my final moment here, I want to pick up on -- excuse me -- pick up on something that you said. The election is one thing, participating in the writing of the constitution is another. What will you be looking for women's rights in the upcoming constitution?
SALBI: We have to make sure that women preserve their legal rights in the constitution. In a survey that we recently conducted over 1,000 households and three provinces in Baghdad and Mosul and Basra, 94 of the women we surveyed, they said that the most important thing for them is to protect their legal rights in the constitution. Once they lose family law, once they lose issues that relates to women's personal lives, custody, inheritance, divorce, all of these things, women will lose milestones of accomplishments in the past and they will -- they will not only go backward, they will take the whole society with them. So the critical point is really to preserve the legal and civil liberties in the constitution of Iraq.
KAGAN: Zainab Salbi, fascinating insight. Thank you for that today.
SALBI: Thank you.
KAGAN: Rick.
SANCHEZ: We should let you know that the next important piece of business that we're going to be taking care of for you here is taking you back out to California. Those of you who are just joining us now may be learning as we speak that there has been a tragedy in California.
Two, possibly three trains have somehow collided. The information last word that we got is that there are four fatalities as a result of this. Maybe as many as 100 people who had to be treated. Don't know how serious the injuries are.
And we are expecting at any moment now a news conference. And that's why you saw that picture just moments ago from L.A. fire officials.
Let's do this right now, take you out to Ted Rowlands. He's also following the story. Those are some of the pictures that you're seeing from the ground, some of the first pictures that we've been seeing from the ground that show you just how mangled some of these locomotives are after this.
Ted, pick up the story. Have you learned anything new?
ROWLANDS: Yes, we're getting more information as to the cause of the incident. According to Metrolink -- that is the commuter train service in southern California -- two of their trains were involved in this. According to Metrolink, one of their trains hit an automobile in a train crossing early this morning. They say that that impact initiated what turned into a three-train collision.
The first Metrolink train apparently struck another Metrolink. We're not sure if it jumped the track or ran into another Metrolink. We do know that it derailed, that first Metrolink train.
And then a Union Pacific train, which you can also see in those aerial photographs, is also involved. According to Union Pacific, that train was not moving when one or both of the Metrolink trains collided into that.
The bottom line, hundreds of people have been injured because of this. There were three cars in each of the Metrolink train links at the time of this. Presumably, we don't know how -- how full each one of those cars are, but if you look out here at two separate triage centers, there are dozens of passengers that are injured. And other people have refused treatment because they were not injured in the incident.
But dozens of people were injured. Some of them very seriously. They were taken to area hospitals here. Others behind me here are being treated as well.
As you mentioned, we're waiting for another press conference from the Los Angeles Fire Department. They acting -- they are working with an interagency response here.
They have just indicated that it's going to be a few minutes. But we're going to get more information at that time.
But we are learning more about the cause. And it seems as though it has been caused by an automobile in the train tracks.
About 10 minutes ago, I saw a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief with a license plate presumably retrieved from the scene walking way. He did not want to talk about the specifics of it, but he took the license plate with him and walked off away from the scene. And that may have something to do with this investigation -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Ted, let me ask you, because we've been showing our viewers now for the better part of two hours going on now pictures of people literally one by one being taken out of these trains in stretchers. Do you have any indication yet of what officials there are saying about what they found, the condition of people? And maybe more importantly, if they expect to get any more people out of there? Or ar they done?
ROWLANDS: Well, we're not quite sure about that. There was some indications earlier that there were people trapped. We now understand that anybody -- everybody has been accounted for.
Whether or not there are actual bodies in there that they're still going to be moving out, we'll find out in a few minutes here. There are four confirmed fatalities at this point. And dozens of people had to be brought out.
And we talked to a number of these people that were injured. The injuries -- the folks we talked to, their injuries were relatively minor. A guy with an injured leg and someone else had some cuts on his face.
They all said the same thing, it was dark at the time of the incident. And inside the actual cars, it was smoky, very difficult to see. They could not get out of these trains because the doors were sealed. One of the passenger cars was over on its side. And getting themselves out was quite a task. They helped each other get out for the most part. And then when rescue crews came, it was a long time in getting everybody out.
And we're not sure if everybody has been pulled out. We're hoping to get that information soon.
But when daylight arrived, that helped matters in that they were able to spot more people and pull them out. At this point, though, what a horrific scene. And if you listen to these stories, you can just imagine what these people want through.
One person said he was asleep and woke up on the floor in terror and basically had to get himself out of there. Quite an amazing scene inside of these trains. And now we know that the cause is most likely an automobile on the tracks.
SANCHEZ: Ted, stand by, because here's what we're going to do. We're going to come back to you most likely on the other side of the break. We're expecting that by the time we come back -- we're going to take a set of commercials here, and when we come back, we are expecting to be able to hear from L.A. fire officials who will describe hopefully in detail what the situation is there now, and possibly what they suspect at this point may have been the cause.
Our coverage of this tragedy in California continues here on CNN in just a moment. Stay with us.
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