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Bluffton University, Atlanta Police, Hold Press Conference on Bus Crash That Kills Six Students

Aired March 02, 2007 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You are here with CNN. Thank you for being with us.
I'm T.J. Holmes.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen.

Tony and Heidi are off today.

HOLMES: And developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this second day of March.

Here is what we have on the rundown for you this hour.

NGUYEN: A bus carrying a college baseball team plunges off of an overpass and on to an interstate highway. We do expect to hear from Atlanta police and Bluffton University officials live this hour.

HOLMES: President Bush making plans to visit tornado-damaged towns across the South. The storms left 20 dead and small communities in shock.

NGUYEN: Wall Street closing out a wild week. We're going to keep an eye on the Dow's dips and dives this hour. So hang on, investors.

It is Friday, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. Let's get you straight to our top story this hour, a terrifying scene in Atlanta . This is what we're talking about. A bus carrying a college baseball team plunges off of a bridge and slams on to an interstate. Six people killed, 29 injured, and of those, six are in critical condition. Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused this bus to careen off of that bridge.

We want to give you a look though at how this accident may have happened. You see the arrow there.

Authorities and witnesses say the bus was traveling in an HOV lane. Now, it left the interstate in an HOV exit lane leading on to that bridge, but you may not have noticed it had you not been familiar with the area. But then the bus apparently couldn't stop at the top of that exit ramp and then went off the bridge, and you see it down there below.

Atlanta police are scheduled to hold a news conference at any moment now. You see a live pictures from Atlanta. And we're going to bring you that news conference as soon as it happens.

But first, though, we want to turn to CNN's Drew Griffin, who is at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, where -- actually, I'm being told now that we want to go to Bluffton University, where the president, James Harder, is speaking about reaction there on campus from this accident.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JAMES HARDER, PRESIDENT, BLUFFTON UNIVERSITY: ... carrying 33 Bluffton University baseball team members and coaches and I believe two employees of the bus line, had an accident, a tragic accident in Atlanta. This has been reported all morning in the media.

They were on their way to participate in their annual spring training and their spring tournament. They had a game scheduled for Saturday morning. The first game of the season in Sarasota, Florida.

I have been in touch, people from my staff have been in touch with people in Atlanta. We understand at this hour, the Atlanta police are still working the accident. There are no official details regarding names of individuals who might have been involved in this accident that I can release to you because we have still have not received them officially from the Atlanta officials.

A few minutes ago in this auditorium, a gathering together of the Bluffton community occurred. Every seat was filled as our students, faculty, staff, friends, community members and alumni, area pastors, area counselors and well-wishers gathered together to reflect on what has happened. It's difficult because we still lack full information, but it's clear that this is a profound and tragic day in the life of Bluffton University.

We have canceled classes for the day. Our students were scheduled to go on spring break beginning tomorrow. We are providing counseling services in several locations around campus for students who are interested in speaking with counselors or professors or area pastors about this tragedy, and probably as painful as anything, about the uncertainty that still hangs over this incident at this moment in time.

I have received and the institution has received many offers of support from around the country, from individuals, from area colleges, from regional colleges and universities, from colleges and universities in and around the Atlanta area, and as far as Florida, all offering assistance that might be useful to us. And we will accept that assistance when we need it. And we are very grateful for those offers of support.

I have been on the telephone this morning with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who has offered his assistance. And I know he has been in communication with the governor of Georgia this morning for the same purpose.

Again, Bluffton University is profoundly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community. We only wish to reflect on our sadness for the tragedies that has so deeply impacted the lives of so many people, friends, relatives, of course the people involved directly in the accident. And we can only begin to imagine how over time this will play out, and that we will hang together and support each other and try to work through this very, very difficult situation.

At this moment, my athletic director, Phil Tellivini (ph), and two other Bluffton officials are on their way to Atlanta. They should be arriving there shortly, early afternoon.

We are assisting in making local arrangements in Atlanta so that families and students can be supported and have all of their local needs met as best as is possible. And again, we're grateful for the offers of support that we are receiving from others in Atlanta.

All of us on this campus will have the opportunity in the days and weeks ahead to offer our own support in many, many different ways. And I'm sure that support will be forthcoming.

I can take your questions now.

QUESTION: How familiar is the university with the bus company and the bus driver that were taking these kids to this tournament?

HARDER: I can't answer. We have -- we have used this company in the past. It's the Executive Coach Company in Ottawa, Ohio.

QUESTION: I know you said students going on spring break, but you're also offering counseling. Bluffton, a remarkably close-knit community, particularly in your athletic program. Do you expect students to stay here during the spring break to help each other?

HARDER: We know that our students are deeply connected with each other, and this will involve roommates and friends. One of the things that has already happened is we've made the decision after consulting with four or five other groups that were about to leave for spring break, trips and choir tours, and -- for example, the women's softball team was traveling to Florida later today -- we have canceled all of these trips for obvious reasons, partly as well the wish of students to simply, as you suggested, stay together, to be involved in this particular time with their friends and colleagues.

QUESTION: Dr. Harder, you spoke briefly about the prayer vigil and that this community was all here, every seat full. Can you tell us right now the condition of the student body? How are they doing and how are they handling this as the first news is beginning to settle in?

HARDER: Well, obviously at a campus like ours, where we truly are a close-knit community -- and that's one of the strengths that makes a school like Bluffton the student experience that it is -- this is deeply impacting all of our students, our faculty and staff. We know these people on a first-name basis, and that makes it all the more real.

Our students were here this morning, many of them were obviously deeply emotionally impacted. And again, I simply would want to remind everyone that we have no official information as to who is involved. And once that information is available -- and we will immediately, on our end, anyway, release it to our students -- there will be a whole different level of student reaction.

For now, we're pulling together and we're supporting each other as best we can.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about the trip? They spent the night last night and then they were supposed to get up in the morning and drive another couple hundred miles? Can you give us...

HARDER: I understand that the team left sometime late yesterday or mid-afternoon, perhaps, and was driving through the night. And that they were to arrive in Florida this morning.

QUESTION: Was it just baseball players on the bus? Were there other students, maybe trainers, physical trainers? Anyone else on the bus besides baseball players?

HARDER: As I understand it, there were baseball players and some coaching staff. And probably two people from the bus company.

QUESTION: What are you telling the parents? Are you trying them to drive to Atlanta? What are you advising parents who want to know the about the safety of their children?

HARDER: We're doing our very best to stay in touch with our parents. Again, it's difficult because we don't have information which is substantively different from what's being reported in the media. Our commitment is, the minute we have official information to do our part in being in very close communication with not just the parents, but all of our students -- everybody has a real desire to try to understand what happened to the best we can. And that's the situation we're in at the moment.

QUESTION: How long were they going to be there? And how many games would they have been playing?

HARDER: Well, I know that they had a double-header scheduled for Saturday, I believe starting actually at 12:00 noon at Eastern Mennonite University, a sister school of Bluffton's from Virginia. And they were proceeding on to a spring training site.

I know that they would be there most of the week and have quite a number of games, but I can't tell you how many.

QUESTION: All week they were going to be there?

HARDER: They were scheduled for the duration of the week, yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

HARDER: We will need to make decisions once we have better information.

QUESTION: Many of the students talked about (INAUDIBLE)? HARDER: My sense is that there's the foundation here at Bluffton University in the student body, the relationships, that there is something to build on in a moment like this. And we will continue to work with our students.

We know that there will be many difficult days ahead for some of them more acutely than others, perhaps. And with families and with supporters of this institution and with friends and alumni.

We will need to do what we need to do to address the human aspects of this -- of this tragedy.

QUESTION: Dr. Harder, how many trainers, sports information people, how many coaches were involved?

HARDER: I think you can get that information from others here. I know that the head coach was on the bus for sure. But beyond that, there would have been -- there would have been presumably an assistant coach or two. My understanding is primarily student athletes on that bus.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) -- is it difficult right now, is there still a sense of disbelief among the kids, almost that this was surreal? Can you talk about that a little bit.

HARDER: Well, when people find out news like this -- and each and every one of us had a moment this morning when we received either a phone call or someone told us the information -- obviously, it takes time to adjust and people react in different ways. I'll have to say that from my perspective, campus has reacted appropriately with the sense of real loss and sorrow and a desire to support each other. And I think that's what's going -- that's what's happening here at Bluffton University right now.

QUESTION: How many other updates throughout the day (INAUDIBLE)?

HARDER: As soon as we have official information, we will release it, we will put it on our Web site. I understand that earlier this morning our Web site might actually have gone down because of simply the traffic on it. And we're working hard to make sure our Web site has that information.

And our public information office, I think, would be your point of contact. If necessary, if there's a reason to have another news conference, we would do that. But I think at this point in time, we'll simply play out and the information will come forward.

I can tell you that shortly -- within the last hour, we received word from Congressman Jim Jordan's office that, as protocol would have it, the National Transportation Safety Board will begin its investigation of this accident to look into causes and to try to establish more of what happened. And I think that will be helpful for people to know that that's happening, as it would after any -- any tragedy like this.

QUESTION: You mentioned Executive Coach. Was it just for the baseball team, or do you use them for all of your sporting events when traveling?

HARDER: We have used bus companies for further -- for trips that are further away. And I understand that it's not uncommon for us to have used a bus lines, as all colleges and universities do from time to time. One of the reasons that you use a bus line is to try to make sure that you do have the best possible safety in place for your students.

QUESTION: Was there just the one bus or more than one bus?

QUESTION: You say there were 33 people on the bus.

HARDER: There was one bus with this team on it.

QUESTION: You say there were 33 people on the bus. Could you give us a breakdown of how many were team members, how many coaches, how many...

HARDER: I'm sorry. I can't give you that right now. I think -- I think we could get it. A couple of people who would know that information are on their way to Atlanta right now.

QUESTION: President Harder, we've seen so many people out here with cell phones kind of plastered to their ear today trying to get information. Have you been in touch with anybody from the team, any representatives, coaches? What information have you heard from them, if you've heard from them?

HARDER: Well, as you can imagine, we've had some nonstop meetings this morning, trying to plan our institutional response to this tragedy. I have occasionally been in a position to take phone calls from -- from college employees, university employees, as well as a parent or two. I'm trying to do everything I can to manage this and will look forward to opportunities to talk to many more people in the hours ahead.

QUESTION: So has anyone from the bus accident called the university to say, we're OK, we're not OK?

HARDER: I am aware that our switch board and others have received phone calls from Atlanta from people who were on that bus, yes. But I can't tell you more than that. I have not personally spoken to anyone who was on the bus.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

HARDER: I do not have official information. I just don't want to speculate. I'm confident, though, that that will come out.

QUESTION: Mr. Harder, how were you contacted and what were your first thoughts when you heard the news?

HARDER: I actually received a phone call this morning from a parent of somebody who was on that bus. So in this day and age with communication, news spreads very, very fast.

QUESTION: You said the softball team was scheduled to leave today?

HARDER: The softball team was scheduled to leave today sometime, and actually also go down to Florida.

QUESTION: Any idea how many years baseball and softball has been making these traditional run routes? And has there ever been any problems in the past?

HARDER: The teams have done this for quite a number of years, especially the men's baseball team. I can say that over time, it began as a more informal activity and became more formalized very recently, actually, with the use of charter buses as opposed to school vehicles.

QUESTION: What time did you get that phone call?

HARDER: I received the phone call at 6:30 this morning.

QUESTION: President Harder, can you tell us anything about the planning for what's next? We understand that there's going to be counseling, but have you planned any more memorial services or anything of that nature for the student body?

HARDER: We will simply need to do what we need to do to deal with every contingency of this. It's still unfolding.

I have been gratified by personal calls of assistance from a couple of presidential colleagues at other institutions that have gone through similar tragedies. They are never easy. They are never -- there's nothing by the book.

You deal with the situation as it unfolds and do your best to support the needs of each and every individual as you can. I'm sure that this coming week we'll have many, many activities and events that I can't even conceive of at the moment, because things are still unfolding.

QUESTION: Can you tell us who is going to be offering the counseling services? We understood that it would be from local clergy and religious leadership.

HARDER: There are people on campus right now that are area pastors, trained counselors. We have our own university staff involved. And again, the outpouring of help has been phenomenal.

And I wish I could share with you simply how many phone calls we've logged from people who are offering help -- surrounding institutions, colleges, if there's anything they can do, they want us to know that they are there to stand by. We're indebted to that. And, of course, we would want to do the same if we could in other situations.

QUESTION: President Harder, have you been in contact with any of the hospitals to find out the extent of any of the injuries?

HARDER: I have not personally been in contact. I have staff who have received calls and who have called area hospitals. But as you can imagine, information is still developing. And as the media is reporting, you know, there have been some surgeries going on. But I'm simply not in a position to give you more details because I don't have them.

And again, do I have some understanding from other situations -- for example, at Taylor University -- one must be very, very careful about releasing information. So we're doing our best to make sure information is accurate.

QUESTION: President Harder, we understand that many members of the baseball team were on that bus but not all of them. There were some members of the team that are here today trying to get information. Have there been any special accommodations offered to those players who obviously have such a close eye to the members of the bus?

HARDER: As I said, we're working down in Atlanta to provide a hosting facility, if you will, for anybody who might be directly involved down there. And we will be doing the same thing here on campus. Our commitment at this point is just to support people in ways that are helpful to them during this time of tragedy.

QUESTION: What kind of (OFF-MIKE)?

HARDER: Well, at this point, I think people are calling with offers of advice on how one deals with what I would call multiple tragedies in a community like ours. And, you know, we will certainly -- we will certainly want to take advantage of help that is helpful to us in terms of dealing with this.

Clearly, you know, I'm not aware that Bluffton University has ever experienced something quite of this magnitude involving the loss of students. And we are working through it in the best way we can. And we're grateful for that support.

I want to thank you for -- the media, I want to thank you for coming. I also want to thank you for your sensitivity and professionalism in covering this story.

This is -- this is painful for us, and we know it's a story. And again, I want to thank you for your sense of professionalism.

Thank you very much.

NGUYEN: There you have it, the president of Bluffton University, James Harder, talking about the status of the students, not knowing a whole lot of information as to their identities, but saying that to his knowledge, Bluffton University has not experienced anything of this magnitude concerning a loss with the students there.

What we can tell you, though, even though names have not been released, what CNN has learned, of the six dead, they include the bus driver, that bus driver's wife, and four students from Bluffton University. We have also learned, of the 35 people on board that bus, they weren't all just students and the bus driver. They also included some of the coaching staff.

So we're trying to sort out who is who when it comes to those injured. And many of those injured have been taken to several different hospitals here in Atlanta.

Let's take to you one of those hospitals.

In fact, I'm being directed to another area right now. We're going to you to the Atlanta Police Department news conference which is under way right now. We'll get to that hospital in a minute. But juts listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. I want to again express our sympathy to everyone involved in this, in this tragedy.

I think Trooper Snall (ph) covered it pretty well. We're here to look at the commercial vehicle aspects of it, in cooperation with the Atlanta Police Department, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

We're in an information-gathering mode at this time. And so I don't have any additional information other than what's been put out this morning that I can really tell you. We're still -- we're still early in this process of doing the inspection-type things that we do to support the investigation.

QUESTION: Captain, you may not be able to answer this question, (INAUDIBLE) declined to answer from NTSB, but can somebody talk about the significance of, I guess, what is described as a black box on the bus and what kind of data that it records, and how it can be analyzed and what answers it might be able to provide?

That's more a question for the accident investigators. We're here merely to look over the commercial vehicle aspects of it itself, but that...

QUESTION: Can somebody answer that question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Captain.

It is unconfirmed at this time whether information is available from that particular device. The device is not a black box. It is more of a computer that is used to run the equipment of the vehicle. It is basically the brains of the vehicle itself, as far as acceleration and transmission shifting.

Once we get some more information -- right now, it is so preliminary, that I could not speculate as to whether or not this particular coach was equipped with such technologies. We will be providing the support, the NTSB will have a major role in the support of that evidence-gathering and analysis of the information gathered from the motor coach. And we will -- again, the NTSB will be allowing with our own press releases which will be on the AP wire shortly.

QUESTION: Is it too early to talk about the maintenance records on the bus?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Next we have Gary Milsap (ph), who represents HERO.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gary Milsap (ph), from the Georgia Department of Highway Emergency Response Operations. And with my other colleagues, we'd like to offer our condolences for this tragic incident.

HERO this morning were, as much as Officer Snall (ph) was saying, is in a support roll from a traffic incident management standpoint, helping divert traffic. We initially set up traffic control at the scene, West Places Ferry (ph) and at Howell Mill (ph).

As time went on, we went back to 285 and diverted traffic there to help clear out the traffic to keep the motorists going. And that's our biggest role at the scene, is helping that traffic get around and helping with the cleanup.

QUESTION: Is it back open yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. All lanes are open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.

And lastly, we have Sherry Nicholson. She's the spokesperson for Metro Atlanta Red Cross.

SHERRY NICHOLSON, METRO ATLANTA RED CROSS: The American Red Cross is here to provide compassionate support for the families who are affected by this tragedy. We have a call center that has been open, and let me give you that number. It's 404-870-4440.

Families affected can call and get information from a Red Cross volunteer staffing the center. In addition, we're working with our emergency partners to establish a family assistance center so families that are coming into town, loved ones that are coming into town have a place to get a meal, a snack, to find a peaceful setting where they can speak with a mental health counselor, get a little support with just first-aid needs if they need it, and just find some comfort in a place set aside for them.

QUESTION: Could you repeat the phone number again?

NICHOLSON: Absolutely. The phone number for the Red Cross call center for families affected is 404-870-4440.

QUESTION: Can you talk about some of the immediate needs?

NICHOLSON: Families -- you know, similar to the Red Cross, when Red Cross responds to aviation incidents, families are traumatized, they're shocked. They're trying to collect their thoughts. They're emotional. You know, they're going to need logistical support perhaps in getting back and forth to the hospitals. They're going to need just a warm meal. They need to be able to cry and to find comfort and, you know, just get the emotional support they can to take the next steps in dealing with their situation.

NGUYEN: OK. You've been listening to a news conference there staged by the Atlanta Police Department, but several other agencies have been there, offering information and support for the families involved in this accident.

One other thing we do want to tell you about is the National Transportation Safety Board is on the scene. That is going to be key in determining exactly what happened in this accident, because as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, the bus driver, the man who may be able to solve some of these questions, did, in fact, die in this accident, along with his wife and four students.

But we did learn, just very briefly, that there may have been a computer on board this bus that is equipped to determine the accelerator and transmission function of that bus, which could help in determining what happened. But it's not known exactly if that was indeed on this bus.

This bus is an Executive Coach bus from the company in Ottawa, Iowa. So we're trying to gather information and learn more about the particular bus that you see there which was involved in this accident that killed six people today.

HOLMES: And, of course, six killed, another 29 injured. Many of the injured have been taking to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Our Drew Griffin has been there monitoring the situation and trying to get more on the condition of some of those injured.

Drew, tell us what you have.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., we should know pretty soon. We're going to have a news conference here in the next few minutes, including a doctor, Dr. Solomon (ph), who's a trauma surgeon, who would have operated most likely on those three critical patients.

We know that two of them are out of their operations this morning. Another one was waiting from ICU at last we heard, but was up and alert.

Then there are 16 other male students here, all doing relatively well. In fact, their injuries just mild to moderate. But again, they are all dealing emotionally with that news that the four students and we know the bus driver and the bus driver's wife have all been killed.

The latest we have from this hospital is they were trying to actually match the numbers of the patients with the names of the patients and then go and try to help them find their families. When they came in, they were just numbers. In fact, T.J., when they came in, many of them arrived here on a city bus, a kind of mass triage hospital on a city bus that was able to take them all in. So we are waiting the next news conference here at Grady, where 19 of the survivors of this bus accident have been taken. And we are waiting word specifically on the three critical patients -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Drew. Thank you so much, from Grady Memorial Hospital today.

Again, we're expecting a press conference at the bottom of the hours from the officials at Grady Memorial Hospital, hoping to possibly get more information on the conditions of those 19 who were there. We do know that three had more serious injuries, critically injured, and another 16, as Drew just explained there, described as having mild or moderate injuries.

We are monitoring that and we'll bring you that news conference when it happens live. Expect it at the bottom of the hour.

We will take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Again updating you and showing you this live picture of something we're keeping an eye on. This is the scene of Grady Memorial Hospital here in Atlanta, where we're expecting a press conference to begin shortly to update us on the conditions of at least 19 players, students who have been taken to this hospital who were injured in today's tragic, just horrible, horrible accident here in Atlanta, where a charter bus that was carrying members of the Bluffton University, out of Ohio, their baseball team, traveling through that bus plunged off an overpass on to a busy, busy highway, a main artery that cuts through downtown Atlanta. At least six people kills in that accident, another 29 injured. Of the six that were killed, the driver of the charter bus, that driver's wife, and also four students is what we understand. Also some members of the coaching staff that were on that bus.

We are keeping an eye on the situation there at the hospital where we understand at least three of those that are being treated there are in critical shape. And then the other 16 said to be doing remarkably well, with mild and moderate injuries. But we are waiting for an update at the bottom of the hour when that's expected. We'll bring those to you, those comments to you, and that press conference to you live as it happens.

NGUYEN: In the meantime, we're trying to figure out how this accident happened. Unfortunately, the driver did die. So a lot of those answers went with him.

But Chad Myers has been following this, Chad. And just looking at the roadway, you can kind of come up with some of the answer as to exactly why this bus plunged off of the bridge that it did.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. I take this road every morning, Betty. And this is what's called an HOV lane highway. The leftmost lane in this roadway, you have to have two or more people in your car, or bus, or limo, cab, to be in that lane, high-occupancy vehicle. So all the way from the perimeter, which is about another eight miles north of here. This is I-75 southbound, the road that the bus was on. This is I-75 northbound, going the other direction. The bus would have been right where this car is. This is a file photo. But that's where the bus would have been.

The problem that happened was that the bus stayed to the left of this split. Now this split is where you would turn to make an exit. This is the very first lefthand exit of this HOV. All the other exits like normal, you have to get over to the right and then get off. The bus driver went up this exit all the way to the end. And at this point, all there is is a stop sign, and obviously there's no more road on to the other side. The road turned. He tried to turn it to the right, hit this guardrail. The bus turned around, for the back end being on this side, and then it fell over the bridge and onto the roadway below.

This is not the first time that this exit has had an accident involved. Back in 1991, we caught a wrong-way driver, a driver that was trying to go in the HOV northbound lane, ended up going northbound in the southbound lane, and killed the father of a family heading to Disney World. And it was an eight-mile stretch where there are accident after accident. Finally it ended with a head-on collision with this northbound driver in the southbound lane.

Let's go back to the map. I'll show you how easy this is to make this mistake. This car in the file photo is trying to get on to the northbound lane. Right there, there's the concrete median. The car that caused the accident, the northbound car, stayed to the left rather than staying to the right. And this little arrow right here, this is where the bus would have been coming up and then going off the roadway onto the other side. A tragic turn of events where the bus driver just trying to stay in the HOV lane and stay out of the way. He just stayed to the left rather than staying to the right at that split, which was the first exit to the left that there was in Atlanta.

Now there are other exits to the left, farther down into Atlanta proper. But this is the very first one that he would have encountered, and got it wrong.

NGUYEN: All right, Chad, thank you for that, a really good explanation of how this may have occurred.

We want to take to you Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where we are going to be learning some more about those injured in this accident. And as soon as this gets under way live -- we're having a little bit of a video problem. But we will be hearing from Dr. Jeffrey Salomone. He is with Grady trauma. Also going to be hearing from Dr. Leon Haley. He is chief of the E.R., two men who, it seems to be, would be involved in treating these students. Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) DR. LEON HALEY, CHIEF OF E.R., GRADY HOSPITAL: ... examined by our physicians and nursing staff. They are having X-rays being done at this point in time. Some basic lab work as all part of our basic trauma evaluation. We think it's our plan at this point in time to continue to evaluate these students. We plan to open up an area in the hospital so that we can keep a close eye on them for some time. We will probably reassess them at a later point in time. Dr. Salomone and his team will do that. And we will make determinations about who all needs to be in the hospital and who may be discharged home potentially. We have logistical things we've got to manage. We're working with the Red Cross, the city of Atlanta, our own social work staff and a number of other people as it relates to try and make sure we can coordinate those things appropriately.

So that's the statement at this point in time. Dr. Salomone and I will be happy to answer any questions.

QUESTION: What kind of injuries are you seeing in the walking injured?

HALEY: At this point in time, we're still evaluating what those injuries are. So we're suspecting that they will have bumps and bruises, for sure. But obviously we're expecting orthopedic injuries, maybe a few broken bones. But we're still in the process of determining who has what.

The critically ones, we have a couple of head injuries that we're managing right now. We also have some lung injuries and some of those have orthopedic injuries as well. Obviously out of respect for the families and the students at this point in time, we're not going to be very specific, but they are things we expect from a very significant and traumatic accident.

We do. We are in contact with some of the families. We know that some of the families are on their way. Airtran has volunteered to help us with the logistics, so some of the families are driving, some are coming by air. And so we are working to get them here as quickly as possible. As it relates to some of the psychological things, obviously, this has been a very traumatic day for the students. All things considered, and Dr. Salomone can comment, they've actually been calm, they've been very orderly. They've worked very closely with us to make sure we can get the best testing for them to make sure we can determine the nature of their injuries.

QUESTION: Dr. Salomone, can you describe the physical setting the remaining students will be in and how you will evaluate them today?

DR. JEFFREY SALOMONE, TRAUMA SURGEON, GRADY: Right now we have them in a specific area of the emergency department that allows us to go from bed to bed and keep them all together and keep things organized.

QUESTION: Are some of the young men actually able to visit some of the other that may be more seriously hurt? SALOMONE: Well, they're at one of the best trauma centers in the Southeast, and that's what we employ people to do. They are certainly up and around and communication with their friends and providing moral support. But in terms of providing medical care, that's our job.

QUESTION: No, I meant more psychological.

SALOMONE: Right, right. They are together and they're talking. And there have been a number of mental health professionals both from the police department, from social services here at the hospital, who've been around to communicate with some of them.

But, of course, our foremost priority right now is to assess the extensive injuries, and with these three critical, we pretty much have a handle on their injuries. It's the other 16 that appear to have less serious injuries, and we're still in the process of evaluating them?

QUESTION: Dr. Salomone, what are you seeing with the critical, dr. Salomone?

SALOMONE: Exactly what Dr. Haley described. I mean, there are brain injuries, intra-abdominal injuries, and several of them have had -- we have a number of individuals with either liver, or spleen or both injuries.

I'm sorry, your question?

We understand that some may have been released from Atlanta Medical Center at this point in time. As far as our individuals, we want to make sure we go over them a second and third time before they go home today to make sure that we have not missed anything.

We also want to make sure that since they're not from Atlanta that we have a place for them to go. And so that -- it will be later this afternoon before we make any decisions about discharge of any of these individuals.

QUESTION: Doctor, the patients that were released from Atlanta Medical Center were brought over here. Can you explain what's happening?

SALOMONE: I think that was in an effort to keep individuals together, and so they will be around to be part of the group and the moral support for each other.

QUESTION: How many adults are there with this group, chaperones...

SALOMONE: That's -- when you ask the question about adults, I mean everybody I examined today is an adult. While they're college kids, they're adults. So in terms of folks who aren't college kids, I've seen nobody who I don't think is a college student.

Well, there is -- I think there are some student coaches involved that are being identified as coaches, which added a little confusion initially for us. But everybody that we've seen today looks like a college student.

QUESTION: Doctor, has anyone been through surgery? Can you describe what the surgery was for and how they're doing right now?

SALOMONE: I can tell you, there are a couple individuals who have been operated on for intra-abdominal injuries and for a brain injury. And more details than that, I can't go into.

I can only speak to what's happened at Grady Memorial Hospital. And when an event like this happens, it makes me so proud to be part of an organization that steps up to the plate to handle something like this.

We have some of the -- I mean, we're one of the finest trauma centers in the southeast and have outstanding nurses, physicians, X- ray techs; the whole team that allows us to care for trauma patients are down there helping us out today.

QUESTION: Did you call in additional personnel?

SALOMONE: I couldn't speak to that. You know, it's Monday through Friday during the early daytime period, so we have a lot of help here. But 19 patients, that's a typical Friday night admission load for our trauma service. So granted this happened in two hours, or an hour and a half, as opposed to eight or nine hours at night. But we're used to handling this load of patients.

HALEY: And I think it's important to note that the hospital continued and the emergency department continued to take care of other patients who arrived. So as Dr. Salomone said, you know, no extra people were called in. It happened right around shift change, so we certainly had extra people available, but we were able to let them go home and get the appropriate rest necessary.

But I think as Dr. Salomone said, it's a pleasure and honor to work in an extraordinary place like Grady and provide extraordinary care, because that's what we do. We've been able to take care of this load of patients and really keep moving, keep humming, keep patients taken care of, and keep coordinating the care that we can do in this area.

QUESTION: Any surprises in terms of the treatment, especially with an accident like this?

SALOMONE: No. I mean, these are all the type of injuries that we would expect from a serious motor vehicle crash. And the mechanism of injury, the bus coming off the overpass, is a significant mechanism of injury. We know there are fatalities at the scene, so that makes us double and triple our efforts to make sure we're not missing anything with the folks who look great. I mean, this is a group of young, healthy athletes, and so they are less likely to go into shock acutely. So we're being very careful about our assessment of these individuals. They're very resilient.

A.J. HAMPTON, BLUFFTON BASEBALL PLAYER: Hello, my name is A.J. Hampton. I'm one of the Bluffton baseball players that was involved on the bus accident this morning. Pretty much I just wanted to -- I wanted to give my heartfelt -- to the families, to the baseball players involved, my teammates. I understand four of them are deceased.

I just wanted to say, I just wish there was something I could do to the families who lost their loved ones. It's -- this is something that's not going to leave the guys who were on that bus this morning. This is going to be with us forever. And we've been living together, practicing together and just -- we've been a family for the past five months. And just it's something like this morning really makes you think twice about life. And I just wanted to say -- I just wanted to give my condolences to the families who suffered losses. I just wish there was something we could do.

QUESTION: Can you tell us your recollection of the crash?

HAMPTON: Sorry?

QUESTION: Can you tell us what you remember of the crash?

HAMPTON: I was asleep, like most of the guys on the bus were. It was roughly 4:00 in the morning. All I remember, as I woke up, I woke up as soon as the bus hit the overpass' wall. And that's when I looked up. And the bus landed on the left side, which is the side I was sitting on. I just looked out and saw the road coming up after me, and that's all. I remember our catcher, Curt Schroeder (ph), tapped me on the head, seeing if I was awake, telling me we needed to get out because there was gas all over the place, and that's about it.

QUESTION: Was there a plan to pull off the highway at that point? Or were you just driving through?

HAMPTON: We were supposed to be driving all the way through. The next time we were supposed to stop was supposed to be 8:00 this morning for breakfast, so...

QUESTION: Sir, can you discuss your injuries, how you're feeling right now?

HAMPTON: I'm one of the lucky ones. I broke my collar bone. I had to get stitches in my ear, my -- both corners of my eyes and my finger was ripped to the bone. But I was lucky. I'm feeling fine. You know, I'm going to heal. Cuts and bruises are going to go away. But there's just some things -- my older brother, he's on the team as well. He got trapped underneath the bus. He has hip damage. It's just -- you know, he might not recover from that. And I don't know how to come up to some of these guys and say, I'm sorry, while I'm standing. You know, it's just not a lot you can do.

QUESTION: Have you spoken to your parents?

HAMPTON: I spoke to my mom and dad. I spoke to my mom as soon as it happened, and my dad was still off at work. And I eventually got ahold of my dad, as well while I was at the hospital. And he will be coming down to take me back home.

QUESTION: Where are they from?

QUESTION: Where are you from?

HAMPTON: I'm from Springfield, Ohio.

QUESTION: Will you describe the scene on the bus after the impact? Are you all trying to get out, trying to manage what was going on?

HAMPTON: The guys who walked away uninjured pretty much, they were really selfless about it. They helped other people. They -- I told you earlier, Curt Schroeder helped me off the bus. One of the guys, I drove here with another patient from the other hospital. One of the guys, he was -- he got hit pretty hard, but he helped him out of the bus. He -- it was just -- it was what you expect out of any college team, just more concern for others than you have about yourself. And guys passing up the opportunity to get on a squad and go to the hospital so that other people who are seriously injured could go.

Coach Miller, he had to go to the hospital. We had a guy back off the squad and say, take Coach Miller. It's just -- it what you would expect. You know, even in a situation like that, when you're this tightly knit, it's -- you don't care about yourself after that.

QUESTION: A.J., what caused the injuries to your face? What was it that caused that?

HAMPTON: I was sitting on the window seat, so...

QUESTION: The window?

HAMPTON: Yes, it was the window.

QUESTION: A.J., describe what you heard after the crash.

HAMPTON: I didn't really -- I don't really have a whole lot of memory of exactly what started first, but the first thing I heard was Curt telling me to get off the bus, there's gas everywhere. I heard some guys crying, I'm stuck, I'm stuck. I walked by Coach Grandy (ph), who is now in stable condition, but at that time, he was so bad off. And I tried to help him up and that's when I realized my shoulder was hurt. I told coach he was just going to have to sit there and wait for the medics to get there. And Curt tried to help him up as well. But our coach is a big guy. It was just chaos in my mind.

QUESTION: Were you aware of where your brother was at that point?

RAMTHUN: No. I had no idea. I thought, you know, I saw Curt Schroeder (ph). He was sitting back by where my brother was. He got up and walked off the bus. I thought maybe Mike was already out. I sat there for a good 10 minutes and then I realized my brother is not out, I haven't seen my brother. And then one of his friends said that Mike was stuck underneath the bus. And it was about 9:30 this morning before I knew if he was all right or anything.

QUESTION: Have you been able to see your other...

RAMTHUN: I'm on my way after this.

QUESTION: What was it like inside the hospital? Talk about the mood. What are the guys doing?

RAMTHUN: I haven't been there yet. I came from -- is it Peabody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Piedmont.

RAMTHUN: I just came from there. I'm going to up to meet my teammates. I just wanted to give my condolences to the families first.

QUESTION: Just to confirm, you guys were sleeping?

RAMTHUN: Yes, we were all sleeping.

QUESTION: You weren't expected to stop in Atlanta. You were expected to stop for breakfast a couple hours from there?

RAMTHUN: Correct.

QUESTION: How fast the medical crews got there?

RAMTHUN: It was instant. It was instant. I live in Ohio and it's impressive if somebody get there's within 10, 20 minutes of an accident. Here it was maybe five, at most.

QUESTION: Spell your last name.

RAMTHUN: It's A.J. Ramthun. R-A-M-T-H-U-N.

QUESTION: A.J. would you step to the left to show us your injured arm.

QUESTION: A.J., how old are you, sir?

RAMTHUN: I'm 18.

QUESTION: What position do you play on the team?

RAMTHUN: Second base.

QUESTION: Were you there from freshmen on up?

RAMTHUN: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: Freshman on up?

RAMTHUN: Yes, I'm a freshmen.

QUESTION: Thanks, A.J. Our prayers are with you guys. Thank you for talking to us. Appreciate it.

NGUYEN: So you've been listening to 18-year-old A.J. Ramthun, who plays second base for the team there, really giving a heartfelt condolence to the families.

Apparently he had come from Piedmont Hospital there to Grady Memorial. And he was coming to see the other students, his teammates being treated there at Grady. But wanted to at least extend his condolences. And in doing so, he provided some very valuable information to us. He says that he and most of the team members were asleep around 4:00 a.m. this morning when this bus plunged off of the bridge there.

And as he woke up, he was told at least by the catcher on the team saying you have to get out of here because there's gas everywhere. This was not the desire or the plan of the bus driver to pull over. According to A.J., they were supposed to drive through Atlanta and not stop until 8:00 a.m. Eastern time.

So apparently that leads credence to the theory that this bus driver just really got into the wrong lane in an area that he was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, plunged off of that bridge, killing six people. A.J. did tell us that several of his teammates had extensive injuries from hip damage, a brother of his, whom he said may not recover, to a coach that is now in stable condition but who was not doing very well earlier.

We also learned some good information from the doctors that spoke just moments ago. And it provides us with information as to the condition and to the treatment of these survivors of this accident. There was one at least had a brain injury and had to undergo an operation.

Some of the other ones had some intra-abdominal injuries that required surgery and some of the other ones included liver, spleen as well as lung injuries. And that is just some of the serious injuries, not to mention the bumps and bruises and the broken bones that many of the players experienced.

Looking at tape now of that accident, which happened around 5:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning, that has really affected so many people and devastated families.

HOLMES: And this is the first account, the real eyewitness account. We heard people telling us about the aftermath. But this is the first person that was able to take us inside that bus and let us know what was happening, what was going on.

But certainly, the big thing there, letting us know they were not supposed to stop. So it certainly appears that this was just a tragic mistake, a mishap by the driver. A little confusion with these roads and that off-ramp here in Atlanta is the possibility.

But A.J., it was tough to listen to him describe what was going on in that bus. Certainly, 4:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m., a lot of the guys probably hopped on the bus and just went right to sleep, expecting to wake up when it was time for breakfast. So we are keeping an eye on that story.

The other big story we're keeping an eye on of course today is the weather. We have got some new pictures in now from Enterprise, Alabama. This is where the high school was hit and eight students were killed. But this is a scene of utter destruction there in Enterprise, Alabama. A mess all over the place.

We have been focusing a lot of that high school. And understandably so, since so many other deaths happened there, eight deaths. Kids killed at the high school. But this is some of the new pictures. And as you see, these are pictures we see of tornadoes oftentimes hits one spot, the house next door to it doesn't look like it's been damaged at all.

And this is one of those typical scenes you see often times in the aftermath of a tornado. But just look. These are some of the new pictures, first pictures we're seeing from up high and getting an idea of some of that widespread damage there in Enterprise.

We are expecting to hear from the governor of Alabama, Bob Riley. We have been standing by waiting on a news conference, expected to hear from at any time. You see him set up there, see the microphones set up, expecting to hear from him.

And we're also expecting to hear from President Bush coming up at the top of the hour or a little after the top of the hour, expecting to hear from him from Washington, D.C. His comments on the deadly tornadoes and I'm sure he's going to offer any assistance.

And also expecting the president to make a trip to that region tomorrow at some point. So stay with CNN. We are monitoring those two live events. Also keeping an eye on the situation with the bus accident. We are all over these two huge, huge stories today. We will have a lot more for you after we take a quick break.

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