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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse; President Bush: Congress Must Stay at Work Until it Passes Eavesdropping Law; California Bakery Arrests

Aired August 03, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.

At this time, we usually turn things over to "YOUR WORLD TODAY". Instead, we are staying with our continuing coverage of the Minneapolis bridge collapse.

COLLINS: And at this hour, search and recovery now. Divers are working their way through dangerous debris.

HARRIS: Also, what went wrong? An update from federal transportation investigators this afternoon.

COLLINS: And early morning raids. Oakland's Your Black Muslim Bakery one of four targets.

The developing story right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We want to tell you what's happening this hour. Very dangerous conditions are slowing the search for victims in Minneapolis. The death toll rising by one. Here's the very latest information now on the Minnesota bridge collapse.

The medical examiner's office is confirming another body has been recovered. That brings the confirmed death toll to five.

Divers are returning to the water to search for more victims. River conditions, though, described as more dangerous than yesterday.

The sheriff's office says eight people are still unaccounted for. That's down from an earlier estimate that as many as 30 people were missing.

HARRIS: Tons of twisted debris, strong river currents, just some of the hazards in the search for more victims of the Minnesota bridge collapse.

Live now to Minneapolis and CNN's John Roberts.

And John, if you would, take your time and just walk us through what you were witness to over the last couple of days. And if you would, talk us through what appears to have been a pretty heated debate within the Minnesota Department of Transportation about this particular bridge, 35W, and what to do about its condition. JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The big story here in Minneapolis today, Tony, is the fact that the Minnesota Department of Transportation apparently knew of stress cracks in the metal in this bridge, had considered some sort of retrofit because there were concerns about whether or not the bridge would be structurally sound, had thought about placing big steel plates over those areas. But they would have had to drill thousands of holes in the super structure of this bridge to put those patches in, and there was some concern that maybe that might weaken the bridge even further. So what they opted for instead was just an enhanced program of inspections so that the bridge would be inspected every year.

I talked with Minnesota's governor about that. He wants some answers, though, to find out if something different should have happened. Obviously, whatever calculations were made about the strength and the resiliency of that bridge were off by quite an extraordinary factor, as that bridge just came tumbling down.

I spoke with the chairman of the NTSB, Mark Rosenker, earlier today, who told me that their investigation is going well, that they have got some good photographic evidence of exactly how the bridge came apart. And once the recovery efforts are complete, they'll start to move some of those sections of that bridge further downstream, lay them out on the ground and try to trace back where the initial failure was.

In terms of that recovery operation, Tony, you were saying that it's more difficult today than it was yesterday because of water levels being lower in the Mississippi. They lowered those water levels so that more of the debris would be out of the water, it might give them better access to it. But it has increased the speed of the current and created some confusing and uncooperative eddies in terms of trying to get divers in there to go through those remaining vehicles to see whether or not those eight people who are still missing might be trapped inside those vehicles.

It's quite a challenge, even for a series of organizations that have gone through a lot of extensive post-9/11 training. I talked with the Hennepin County sheriff yesterday a little bit about that to find out what sort of strain on his organization this type of catastrophe is presenting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: How would you describe the environment that your deputies or your dive teams are working in trying to complete this recovery operation?

SHERIFF RICH STANEK, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA: It's a very difficult environment. I mean, our deputies are professionals. They're professional divers.

This is what they do day in and day out. But these conditions out here are very challenging. You know, they responded last night about 6:00 p.m. to a very chaotic scene, a bridge collapse, a number of vehicles, unknown injured, unknown dead. They get here and, you know, rescue operations are full blown immediately.

ROBERTS: Given all of the training that you have employed in a post-9/11 world, was that still a challenged by this scope of this disaster?

STANEK: Oh, yes. I've been a cop for 23 years, the better part of my adult life. I've been a homicide...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: All right, so there's the Hennepin County sheriff.

And apparently, Heidi, we've got to go back to you. He's got more information in a couple hours. Go back to you because there's news about the president.

COLLINS: OK. That's right. John, thanks so much for that.

Quickly want to bring this sound to you just in from President Bush after a meeting with his counterterrorism team.

Actually, let's go ahead and listen to him live.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act needs to be modified so that all of us engaged in protecting the American people say we have the tools we need to protect you.

Leaders in Congress have said they would like to address this problem before they go home. And I appreciate that spirit.

The director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has provided the Congress with a narrow and targeted piece of legislation that will close the gap in intelligence. He's working on the Hill. And he's told members this is what we need to do our job to protect the American people. It's the bare minimum DNI said he needs to do his job.

When Congress sends me their version, when Congress listens to all of the data and facts, and they send me a version of how to close those gap, I'll ask one question, and I'm going to ask the DNI -- does this legislation give you what you need to prevent an attack on the country? Is this what you need to do your job, Mr. DNI?

That's the question I want to ask.

And if the answer is yes, I'll sign the bill. And if the answer is no, I'm going to veto the bill. And so far, the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I could sign.

We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk. Time is short. And we'll ask Congress to stay in session until they pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect the United States.

Thank you for your time.

COLLINS: There you have President Bush coming out and making some comments there after his meeting with a counterterrorism team, homeland security team. He will go on to take some lunch and meet again with the homeland security team. That will be about 12:45 or so, and then he will be off to Camp David.

Our Elaine Quijano is standing by at the White House to give us a little bit more insight as to what he just said, which basically, Elaine, was, Congress needs to stay at work.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's absolutely right.

What you saw there, President Bush flanked by the vice president, Dick Cheney, as well as the director of National Intelligence, the top intelligence officer in the United States, Admiral Mike McConnell, intending to send a message and underscore that this administration feels it is urgent that Congress must act quickly in order to modernize, as the administration sees it, his FISA legislation.

Now, also, it's important to keep in mind that this is also intended to put political pressure on Democrats so they will come around, the administration hopes, to the administration's way of thinking. What is that way of thinking? Well, it was laid out last night.

Late last night, the DNI released a statement talking what about he would and would not like to see in legislation when it comes to changes. He says he does not want to see a bill that would require approval before urgently-needed intelligence, as he put it, intelligence collection can begin against a foreign target located overseas.

In other words, he says he thinks that's going to be too much of a delay. That critical time may be lost.

What will he accept? He says that, "However, to acknowledge the interests of all, I could agree to a procedure that provides for a court review after needed collection has begun of our procedures for gathering foreign intelligence."

What does this all boil down to, Heidi? Well, the Bush administration believes firmly it must have the flexibility to go ahead, begin surveillance, begin the gathering of this intelligence, even as it understands there should be court review, that some see it as a vital part of the intelligence-gathering effort. They say, look, we don't want there to be any delay, and by standing there, the president, of course, saying to Congress point blank, we don't think this is something that can wait while you go on recess -- Heidi.

COLLINS: What are the chances, Elaine -- and it may be the $64,000 question -- we try to ask one of them here every day -- of them sticking around and trying to get some agreement? QUIJANO: Well, certainly, they understand full well, members of Congress do understand, that this is of vital importance to the Bush administration. But on the political front, what you have here is this of national security, still very much at play.

Democrats very sensitive to the criticism perhaps that they're going to be viewed as being weak on national security, if, in fact, there is not something passed. We know negotiations are continuing. We'll have to wait and see how things play out, but the Bush administration trying to ratchet up the pressure. The president trying to ratchet up the pressure himself.

Again, flanked by the vice president, flanked by his DNI, in order to send that message to Congress he wants something done sooner rather than later -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching.

Elaine Quijano live from the White House.

Thank you.

HARRIS: Illegal search. A federal appeals court ruling this morning on the FBI raid of Congressman William Jefferson's office last year. The court is ordering the Justice Department to return privileged documents taken from the Louisiana Democrat's office. Not all documents were ordered returned.

Jefferson is facing, as you may know, 16 charges as using his office for personal gain. A raid on his home found $90,000 in a refrigerator freezer.

Congress and the president headed for a possible showdown over kids' health care. The Senate voting to add three million low-income children to the insurance program known as SCHIP. President Bush is threatening a veto, but enough Republicans have joined Democrats to override it. The Senate bill would still have to be reconciled with a more expensive House version.

COLLINS: We want to go ahead and get an update on the story that we have been following here in the NEWSROOM. I want to go to KTVU reporter Jade Hernandez. He's in Oakland with more -- I'm sorry, she is in Oakland with more on these raids they've been having at the Muslim bakery.

Tell us what you know at this point, Jade?

JADE HERNANDEZ, REPORTER, KTVU: Well, that's right, there was an extensive raid earlier today. And it happened about four hours ago. I want to show you that Oakland police still have one of the streets blocked off.

A law enforcement source tells us that Oakland police have been working on this investigation for a year. But they now have strong physical evidence linking some of the 19 people in custody due to these four raids to three homicides in the last six weeks here in Oakland. One of those homicides was "Oakland Post" editor Chauncey Bailey.

Now, the Oakland Police Department, along with several other law enforcement agencies, executed four warrants around 5:00 this morning, including one at Your Black Muslim Bakery. Now, the bakery and the organization leader, Yousef Bey IV, has been taken into custody.

According to that source, some detainees being investigated are now being investigated in connection to three homicides in the past month. One of the murder victims was shot and killed just yesterday, "Oakland Post" editor Chauncey Bailey.

Now, he was reportedly working on a piece centering on Your Black Muslim Bakery's financial woes. The article had not been published. He was gunned down in broad daylight in downtown Oakland just yesterday.

Now, the leader of this Muslim group told our reporters yesterday he didn't know the newspaper editor, but police ceased fire arms, assault weapons, ammunition, and sawed-off shotguns earlier this morning. They also took 19 people into custody.

And, of course, all of this is still under investigation. And like I mentioned before, Oakland police still have one of the streets blocked off here in Oakland. And, of course, this is a developing story and we'll have more for you later.

Reporting live, Jade Hernandez, KTVU, Channel 2 News.

COLLINS: Jade, that's unbelieve, 19 people in custody on this. Any chance that they could be bringing more into custody because that street is still blocked off?

Any idea what they're doing there?

HERNANDEZ: I'm sorry, could you repetion that question?

COLLINS: Just wondering if it's possible there will be more arrests in this case.

HERNANDEZ: Absolutely. They held a press conference earlier this morning.

Nineteen people were taken into custody. In fact, we were even monitoring a house where they had seven people detained. But, of course, this an an going investigation, and Oakland police say they will have a press conference later on this afternoon updating the investigation.

COLLINS: All right. We will be monitoring that, of course. Thanks so much.

Jade Hernandez from KTVU.

Thank you.

HARRIS: And word of more U.S. troop deaths in Iran. The military saying a roadside bomb killed three soldiers yesterday, 11 others were injured. The incident in eastern Baghdad. A fourth soldier was killed in combat in western Baghdad.

U.S. troop deaths fell in July to 80. There were more than 100 in each of the three previous months.

3,664 Americans have been killed since the war began.

COLLINS: In Washington State this morning, four people are believed dead in a helicopter crash. The crash sparking a fire in the Cascade Mountains. You can see it there.

Those flames about 300 acres and growing. Searchers can't really get to the crash site because of that spreading fire. The blaze is being fought from the sky with tanker planes and choppers. More firefighters are heading to the scene right now.

HARRIS: And still to come, the search for answers, it continues right now amid a tangled web of steel and concrete, as you can see.

COLLINS: Images of a tragedy, the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Our I-Reporters are on the scene. Viewers share their stories.

HARRIS: Doing their duty and feeling the pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm very sorry for their loss and that -- I don't think I can -- to maintain professionalism, I'm just going to stop with that line of questioning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You will hear more from that particular hero at the bridge.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon in Minneapolis. Facing unbelievable dangers right now, divers who are in the water, trying to recover victims.

Plus, CNN is learning the number of people injured here rising.

Details to come in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New questions about America's bridges. Are they sound and are you safe?

CNN's Joe Johns reports on problems and paying for them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The scope of the problem is staggering. PETE RUANE, AMER. ROAD & TRANSPORTATION BUILDERS ASSN.: Of the nation's nearly 600,000 bridges, 150,000 of them, 25 percent, are in need of repair.

JOHNS: That's Pete Ruane. He's head of the Road Builders Association, just so you know where he's coming from. He says the money being spent on repairing bridges and roads is coming up short. Way short.

RUANE: For example, at the federal level, there's a $20 billion per annum gap investment just to maintain the existing system. At the state and local level, it's an additional $25 billion. So, in total, $45 billion short of just maintaining our existing system.

JOHNS: After the disaster in Minnesota, a lot of people are saying the federal government really blew it in 2005 when it passed a massive highways bill loaded down like a Christmas tree with all kinds of costly special projects, but shortchanging roads and bridges by nearly $100 billion.

CASEY DINGES, AMER. SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS: Even though it was a historic bill, at $285 billion over six years, believe it or not, that was $90 billion less than what was needed to maintain the current system that we have. So we actually lost ground on the last transportation bill.

JOHNS: Listening to members of Congress, you would think that next time around it's going to be different.

REP. JAMES OBERSTAR (D), MINNESOTA: We're not going to settle for a bargain basement transportation bill.

JOHNS: But wait a minute -- "Keeping Them Honest," there's also a question of priorities here. It's not just about how much money the government spends, it's also about spending choices, at the state and federal levels.

(on camera): For example, a state legislator from Minnesota says a few years ago, state transportation dollars were used to pay for new highway and construction projects, rather than inspecting and maintaining existing roads and bridges.

(voice over): The same thing when you're talking about federal money. Which is more important, fixing up existing interstate bridges or building new bridges, say, the bridges to nowhere in Alaska? Remember the controversial earmarked project that received hundreds of millions of your tax dollars? In fact, the highways bill contained more than $20 billion worth of earmarked projects.

STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: Earmarks dilute the funding available for more critical projects, that when you're trying to direct the money back to your political pet project, that means that somebody else's essential work or some other location's essential schedule work, whether it be bridge repair or road repair or a levee or whatever, isn't actually getting its funding. JOHNS: No one is saying congressional earmarks created the disaster in Minnesota, but there might be more money to fix it up the bridges if Congress foregoes more of the flashy new projects.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: More now on the recovery effort in Minnesota and the number of injured.

CNN's Don Lemon joins us now from Minneapolis.

And Don, you mentioned a moment ago that the number of injured is actually going up. That is interesting, because you would think at this point all of the injured would have been identified.

LEMON: Well, we heard earlier from someone from the hospital, Dr. Hill here, who said that people, you know, get an adrenaline -- they have that adrenaline rush initially right after an accident, so they may not come into the hospital right away. So, they were saying about 79 people injured in all of this. He said within yesterday and the last couple of hours, they've had more people coming in saying, you know what, in the beginning, by back didn't hurt, my neck didn't hurt, I wasn't sore, and what have you, and now they're coming into the hospital and finding out that they do have minor injuries.

I guess it's a shock effect. And also, as he said, just that adrenaline that folks have after an accident, or something happens to them, a shocking moment that just sort of carries them through. And we can expect that to happen, he said, up until the next few days, that more people will come, and we'll get a more accurate assessment of just how many people were injured in all of this.

Let's talk about the recovery effort now, Tony.

We just got word from the sheriff's office, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, that the divers went back into the water at 6:30 this morning, so they're continuing to look for bodies and for cars, and for whatever debris or evidence that might help them out in this case. About 15 or 16 divers and boats in that water now.

Just last night, I spoke with someone who is a master diver and is also part of an adjacent county's professional diving volunteer rescue squad. And that squad, depending on how long these guys have to be in the water looking for bodies, any number of these squads, these so-called elite squads, may be called in. I spoke with him last night here at the hotel, very near the scene, just about the difficulties and the challenges that those divers are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD MATTHIE, MASTER DIVER: Cars themselves don't generally move once they get to the bottom, even in a pretty heavy current. So I wouldn't assume it's that. It's more getting the diver to that site safely and avoiding whatever may be in the way in between those two areas, I would guess.

LEMON: Yes. Which could be anything. I mean, if you have something that collapsed, it could be things that may move if you just get near them or just...

MATTHIE: Yes. I mean,, sheet metal, whatever can move. I mean, water's obviously very powerful. There can be things moving in that respect, structural debris that can be flowing back and forth or whatever.

LEMON: Talk to us about the visibility. I understand, four inches. I mean, that's like -- that's right here.

MATTHIE: Yes. Visibility would be a huge factor in a case like this, too, which also compounds the issue that we have with all the debris down below, is that you won't be able to see that you're getting followed (ph) into it.

But there's -- it's quite common that a lot of the things different rescue squads do will have actually very poor visibility. In the bottom of a lake that might be very clear. Below -- down below in the silt, you're going to have to basically feel your way around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Now, what they call it -- how they train for this is called structural collapse training. They're actually trained to break up -- and it's really weird. He was trying to explain to me how they actually do some sort of welding or something underwater, where they can cut pieces of metal and structure under water.

And these divers do all of that while the currents are going and while all of this debris is possibly moving around. And when you think about it, about visibility, even in water that's fairly clear, you can see, you know, maybe a couple feet in front of you. But, Tony, this is four inches right in front of your face, and that's all the visibility they had.

I asked him about light. He goes, well, light doesn't really help because it sort of reflects everything and it makes it even worse. So that's why they have to use that side sonar that we've been hearing so much about.

Someone on the surface is looking at that sonar. They're tethered. They have a line. Someone is telling them in their ear, go right, go left, because it's so dark and murky down there that they can't really tell which direction they're going in.

They may know up from down, possibly, but they don't know right from left. So someone is actually instructing them, telling them what to do.

They're feeling around in all of this and touching, trying to feel if it's a car, if it's a wheel, if it's a license plate, if it's a body part. So they're doing all of this, really, as we call it -- you always hear about flying blind? Well, this is swimming blind. And they're really doing one heck of a job. And it's also very dangerous, very murky, very soupy down there -- Tony.

HARRIS: And because it is so -- such painstaking work, I guess we now have a better understanding as to why the officials are telling us this is going to take days to accomplish this task.

LEMON: Yes.

HARRIS: CNN's Don Lemon for us.

Don, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, he stopped just a few feet sort of the edge of the collapsed bridge, and boy, that is just the beginning of his story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You had gotten out of your van down the ramp...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By my chair.

TUCHMAN: The road was pointed. And you would have ended up in the river.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, in my wheelchair.

TUCHMAN: The wheelchair could have rolled in the river.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Gary Tuchman with one amazing bridge collapse survivor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Good afternoon, everybody. It is 12:30 Eastern Time.

I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And good morning to the folks joining us on the West Coast.

I'm Tony Harris.

You're back in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The death toll goes up. The number of missing goes down. Here's what's going on right now in the Minnesota bridge collapse.

The medical examiner says a fifth person has been confirmed dead. Eight people are still unaccounted for. That is down from earlier estimates, you may recall, of 30 missing. Right now, divers are back in the Mississippi River, searching through debris for victims, that effort complicated by what the sheriff called "treacherous conditions". Investigators examining this surveillance video of the collapse. The head of the NTSB calls it a key piece of evidence. First Lady Laura Bush offering her support in a visit to the disaster scene this hour. She'll also meet with volunteers and first responders. The president arrives on Saturday.

COLLINS: The bridge collapse seen as wake-up call. Bridges across the country, getting a second look today. This one closed, outside St. Louis. Garry Earls is the St. Louis County director of highways and traffic. He's joining us now by phone.

Garry, why did you close the bridge?

GARRY EARLS, DIR., ST. LOUIS CO. HIGHWAYS & TRAFFIC: We had evaluated all of our bridges, at the point in time that this tragedy occurred in Minneapolis. And we concluded that we had one bridge out on 121 that just required closure at this point to protect our citizens.

COLLINS: How many people travel across that bridge on a daily basis, approximately?

EARLS: Well, the latest count that we have is about 9600 vehicles a day. It supports both the people in southwest, St. Louis County, as well as the northern section of Jefferson County in and Missouri.

COLLINS: So have been inspections done on it? Did you have the same type of report that we have learning so much about, over the last couple of days, where it was rendered structurally deficient?

EARLS: Well, we've had several structure problems with this bridge that have culminated. In May of this year we had a detailed engineering analysis, called a "fracture analysis" done of the bridge. It's a truss structure that we looked all of the detailed elements of the structure. We made some temporary repairs to it to shore it up for a period of time. But concluded we just could not make it safe in its current condition.

COLLINS: How many other bridge douse think in your area -- you said this is one of 121. Clearly, in your opinion, that's the worst one that just had to be shut down. Any other bridges at risk in your area?

EARLS: Certainly in our responsibility, in St. Louis County, the government's responsibility, this is the only bridge that we need to close. We have other bridges that we're making temporary repairs to. And we continue to make those, until we get to the point where we can do wholesale bridge replacement.

COLLINS: Garry, do you feel like you have the funding needed to make the necessary repairs, perhaps on this bridge, and any other ones that come up that really look like they need some work? EARLS: Well, the short answer to that is no. We're always short of funding to reinvest in our infrastructure. And certainly, the people in our community, as well as the people nationally, I guess, are receiving a lesson with regard to compelling demands for infrastructure improvements, as they watch this bridge tragedy.

COLLINS: As a man who works for the director of highways and traffic there in St. Louis County, what you just said has got to be the most frustrating part of your job?

EARLS: Well, it is frustrating. One of the things we do is we deliver services to the people in our community. Certainly, those people in the community want to pay the least amount for those services that they can. But they're looking for safe bridges. They don't want dangerous bridges.

And certainly, the feedback that we've gotten after the closure of this bridge, 80% of the folks that call in say, thank you, for doing the right thing. Even though we have to drive around. And we have to drive a longer distance to get there, we'd rather have a safe road system than a dangerous one.

COLLINS: I'm not surprised, because I think people not only looking for safe bridges, but they expect them. They really do. We appreciate your time here. And appreciate you sharing your story with us. Garry Earls, the director of Highways & Traffic, chief operating officer of St. Louis County, Missouri.

Thank you, Garry.

HARRIS: And Heidi, want to get to T.J. Holmes in the CNN NEWSROOM. T.J. is following a developing story out of New York City that is so bizarre, I don't quite know how to describe it.

I'll leave it to you, T.J.

HOLMES: I'll take a shot at here, Tone. What we have is three people who have been questioned now by authorities after they were pulled from what appears to be some kind of homemade submarine-like vessel.

That's it we're looking at here. It's not just strange enough or suspicious enough that they were in it, but the location. New York, for one thing, but also it is near the Brooklyn cruise terminal in downtown Brooklyn. And it was near the Queen Mary II. A lot of people familiar with that huge cruise ship.

They were taken into custody near that cruise ship. That's the vessel there. It has an opening, that hatch on top, for people to get in and get out of it. But it appears to be a some kind of homemade submarine-like vessel.

Authorities have do three people in custody, they are saying, however, that it does not appear to be anything terror-related to this. However, they are questioning those men, and trying to figure out exactly what they were up to. What they were doing, what the intent was.

Also being reported that there were oxygen tanks found onboard, if I can call it that, this vessel. But that's it. Kind of a peculiar looking something, kind of bobbing up in the water there. Some kind of a homemade sub-like vessel, that was close to this terminal, this cruise ship terminal, close to the Queen Mary II. So, they're keeping an eye on it. We're keeping an eye on it. Trying to find out exactly what's going on.

No charges here have been filed. The guys officially under arrest. But just kind of strange story, given New York and given the times we live in.

HARRIS: Sure.

HOLMES: Near a cruise ship like this, they're going to check it out. When we get answers to exactly what those guys might be up to, we'll pass it along to you, Tony.

HARRIS: Can't tell from here. Looks like a big ol' ball of cement or something. I don't know how it's powered. I guess at some point, they'll pull that thing out of the water. And we'll be able to tell but -- tanks inside, oxygen?

HOLMES: Oxygen tanks and apparently authorities believed this thing was a some kind of submersible vessel, that could move around under water.

HARRIS: This looks so bizarre, T.J.

HOLMES: This does look bizarre, bobbing up and down. You can see them trying to, who knows what they're pulling out, who knows how many people -- I guess three, at least, in custody. Maybe this thing can hold at least three folks. Peculiar, you're right, Tony.

HARRIS: All right, T.J., appreciate it. Thank you.

(WEATHER ALERT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We want to go to Chad Myers in the severe weather center. Chad was pretty intriguing a moment ago. You mentioned a tornado warning, tell us more, Doctor.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: We're going to take a moment and get back to the story that we have been covering for a couple days and show you more images of this tragedy. The Minneapolis bridge collapse, i-Reporters on the scene, viewers are sharing their stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Five dead and now we are hearing more about the number of injured in the Minnesota bridge collapse. CNN's Don Lemon is joining us now, live from Minneapolis.

Hi to you, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Heidi. We've been hearing the number of injured all day from officials, and yesterday, 79. But we're also hearing from the Hennepin County Medical Center Dr. John Hick, that that number is going up.

Nothing unusual he said here, nothing to be concerned about, at least at this point, unless we get another word from him. He's saying, you know, the initial hours after this collapse happened, people may be thinking, you know, I'm fine, and they're running on adrenaline. Then afterwards, they realize they may have some minor injuries, especially because of the collapse. What he calls a vertical drop, and it can do really damage to your spinal cord.

He's saying that people may now be suffering some bumps and bruises and soreness. I spoke to him a while ago. He says it best. Let's listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (on camera): We've been talking about the number of injuries. Well we said that at least 79 people have been injured. But John's telling me, that that number goes up, especially one or two days after the incident, when people come in because the adrenaline has worn off.

DR. JOHN HICK, HENNEPIN CO. MEDICAL CTR.: Exactly. The forces that affected these folks on the bridge, forward, backward, up and down, you're going to have a lot of muscular injuries, in addition to bone injuries, to the spines, the neck.

So, a lot folks think, I'm OK, I'm doing all right, they're adrenalin has surged and they go to bed. They get up the next morning and they're just stiff as a board. They have very severe muscular injuries. And so we did see at least 20 more people in area hospitals yesterday that were directly related to the initial incident.

So, you know, over all told, at least 100 people coming to area hospitals over the last two days, because of the incident. Fortunately, none of those injuries were significant enough to require hospitalization. Some of the initial victims are improving. We did discharge one person from Hennepin County, yesterday. We expect to discharge at least one more today.

LEMON: We certainly hope so. And as we've been saying, 79 people injured, it's tough to say this, but it's a truth, considering the 100,000 cars that go across this bridge every day. We've had four deaths so far. And eight people still accounted for, really, that the tragedy wasn't much greater that more people didn't lose their lives.

Hearing 79 people injured, but that number is going up, according to you, but not necessarily with life-threatening injuries.

Talk to us about, we heard one story yesterday, just heart wrenching about a person who actually got to say good-bye to their family. They had been injured, and then sadly died. Explain to me as much as you can what that was like and about that situation.

HICK: There's nothing harder in emergency medicine than actually talking to somebody, and then either having them die, or finding out later that they died. It's just the most powerless feeling in the world.

I'm glad in that in that situation there was able to be a little bit of closure provided, by the person being able to speak, and being able to communicate to the paramedics and thoughts that he wanted to pass along. There's no greater difficulty in medicine. Unfortunately, with these kinds of injuries by the time your heart stops from all these organs being injured, in car accidents like this, in building collapses, there's not just much we can do to bring them back.

LEMON: We've been speaking about those possible John and Jane Does, and what have you. We're going to continue to talk about that. We're going to move on.

But people who came to the hospital, hoping that their family member might have been in the hospital, you have to tell them, no, they're not here and you have to send them away. It's just terrible, I'm sure.

HICK: It is very hard. We try to make sure we have chaplaincy and other support and plan for a lot of family members coming and looking for information. Work with the Red Cross and other agencies in setting up that family support center. That hotline, as soon as we can. Collecting all the information from hospitals to find out what patients do you have, what conditions are they in? Where are they? So we can match those families up as quickly as possible.

LEMON: Right.

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LEMON: Also, the Red Cross has a shelter set up here for family members to find out information and also get support from people who are used to and trained to deal with these sorts of situations.

Also John Hick, from the Hennepin County Medical Center saying, folks who haven't gone to the hospital, if you may have suffered an injury or you may feel you have some soreness, or whatever, you have to get yourself checked out, because this was a pretty, pretty jolting incident. And you never know what impact it has on the body, Heidi.

COLLINS: That's for sure. You want to double check yourself.

Appreciate that. Don Lemon, live from Minneapolis. Thanks.

HARRIS: Investigating the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Were there signs of trouble before the tragedy? CNN investigates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: In Washington State, four people are believed dead in a helicopter crash. The crash sparking a fire in the Cascade Mountains. The blaze about 300 acres and growing now. Searchers can't get to the crash site because of the spreading fire. The blaze is being fought from the sky with tanker planes and choppers. More firefighters heading to the scene this afternoon.

COLLINS: You are sharing your stories and images of the Minnesota bridge collapse. Some amazing iReports to show you this morning. These photos of the tragic aftermath were sent to us by iReporter Jennifer Beilfuss. She lives in an apartment building right next to the highway on ramp. She says when she heard the collapse she thought it was a plane crash. When she got to the scene, she saw a portion of the highway standing up vertically.

If you have photos, videos or eyewitness stories about the bridge collapse, send them to cnn.com. Just click on iReport and it will walk you right through the process.

HARRIS: Bridge collapse survivor story. CNN's Gary Tuchman met a man who was now cheated death twice in his lifetime.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Among the vehicles remaining on the wreckage of the destroyed Minneapolis bridge is this blue minivan. It's driver slammed on the brakes as the roadway collapsed. But the van wasn't going to stop in time. So the driver, Marcelo Cruz, took evasive action.

(On camera): And in the last second, you swerved into the wall?

MARCELO CRUZ, BRIDGE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: Yeah, that's what I did.

TUCHMAN: That saved your life?

CRUZ: Yeah.

TUCHMAN (voice over): His close call harrowing. But maybe even more incredible -- because Marcelo Cruz is a paraplegic. He was by himself in the van and couldn't get out as the bridge crumbled and as fire started to rage.

(On camera): How many cars did you see go in the water?

CRUZ: Twenty, something like that.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Marcelo has a special hand brake. And can normally get in and out of his van with a ramp. But his vehicle had stopped in a severe decline.

(On camera): So if you would have gotten out of your van, down the ramp, the way it was pointing, you would have ended up in the river?

CRUZ: By myself, yeah, with my wheelchair. TUCHMAN: With the wheelchair, you would have rolled into the river.

CRUZ: Yeah.

TUCHMAN (voice over): While he waited helplessly, he heard a woman screaming.

(On camera): What was she saying?

CRUZ: Just, "Help me! Somebody, help me!" That's stressful, you know, because you want to do something and you cannot do anything to help.

TUCHMAN (voice over): He doesn't know what happened to the woman. But finally help came for him.

(On camera): So, who got you out?

CRUZ: There were a couple people who helped me.

TUCHMAN: Do you know who they were?

CRUZ: No, I suppose they were working there, workers.

TUCHMAN: I bet you're grateful about that?

CRUZ: Yeah.

There is my car.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Marcelo keeps seeing his van on TV as he watches coverage of the disaster with his mother. Who was stunned when her son called her from the bridge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was very scared. I was crying because I couldn't control myself. He was in so much danger.

TUCHMAN: The 26-year-old Mexican immigrant has suffered some back pain from the collapse. But because he no longer has his van, he had no way to go to the emergency room. So we were happy to drive him.

Marcelo was left paralyzed after being shot and critically wounded by an unknown assailant seven years ago. So, he's no stranger to hospitals. He was relieved that doctors here told him his injuries are not serious. He feels he's a very lucky man.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How will this change your life?

CRUZ: A lot. You know, now I feel like I have to help people, you know, they have to live every day, like it's going to be their last day, you know, of their life. You know, they have to really enjoy, really enjoy, every day.

TUCHMAN: This, coming from a man, who says he's now had two near-death experiences. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Minneapolis.

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COLLINS: We'll take a minute and show you new video we have just received at CNN. You see First Lady Laura Bush, she is there with Governor Tim Pawlenty, of Minneapolis. I believe is see, Senator Norm Coleman there as well. Or perhaps, I'm sorry that's the mayor. Mayor Ryerback (ph) right there, talking with -- we were told it was going to be first responders, obviously government officials, as well. That she would be visiting in the emergency command center.

We believe we're looking at that here. We were also understand that she did take some time to make a few stops along the way and talk with people. Not sure at this point if that included any family members, or people waiting to hear from loved ones.

First Lady Laura Bush in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of the 35W bridge collapse alongside several of the local officials there. Later on, she's going to be going to some events for the RNC and America's Youth, that regional conference there as well. This was a planned trip, but she had an opportunity to make those comments.

Meanwhile, CNN NEWSROOM coverage of the bridge collapse in Minnesota, continues after a quick, with Kyra Phillips, here in Atlanta, and Don Lemon still on the scene in Minneapolis.

I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Have a great one.

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