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American Morning
CIA Reporting Big Turnaround in Fight Against Al Qaeda; Democrats Wild Race About to Cross the Finish Line; Barack Obama Distancing Himself from Another Priest; Crane Collapsed in Manhattan
Aired May 30, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of China now. Officials there beginning to practice a plan to evacuate more than a million people there living near the unstable dam, created by this month's earthquake. So far we're told that 200,000 people have been evacuated and official death toll is now at 68,858 people. Meantime, crews say that rain and chemical fire are slowing earthquake recovery efforts.
Also this morning, the head of the CIA is reporting a big turn around in the fight against al Qaeda. CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with more.
Barbara, what did you find out?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, I think when we all opened "The Washington Post" this morning, this is the headline that grabbed our attention. The post saying "U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda." That's a headline that looks like pretty good news.
The CIA Director General Mike Hayden, gave an interview to "The Washington Post" where he talked about what he believes are the significant successes against al-Qaeda.
He said on balance, we're doing pretty well. Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant set backs for al-Qaeda globally. A pretty cheery outlook from the CIA director.
He even talked about the successes in what we've heard so much about, that safe haven along the Pakistani-Afghan border. But what's the reality check? We spoke to some of our sources this morning, Kyra, in the government and in the intelligence world. They're not quite as cheery. There is a lot of concern.
Many top commanders still believe that al-Qaeda is operating in the safe haven. And even though with all of the recent U.S. attacks against al-Qaeda, with all of the successes, the key question commander say is do they still have the ability to regroup, plan and train for a possible next attack and can the U.S. get to them before they carry out anymore attacks.
Kyra? PHILLIPS: It's obvious that al-Qaeda still has an extremely strong presence in Iraq and that's a huge challenge for General David Petraeus as you know. We've report on that a number of times. But you've kind of turning the corner here. You're evidently hearing some news out of Pakistan this morning? What's that?
STARR: Well, you know, there's a lot of Pakistani press reports, Kyra, over the last several days that General Pervez Musharraf is about to pack up and go, perhaps even leave the country. Step down in office.
And, of course, in the last several days and week, we really haven't seen much of him. A lot of people have been writing this off to just Pakistani press rumors. But what I can tell you this morning is these rumors are beginning to get a lot of attention at the highest levels of the Bush administration. It's something they are now watching for very carefully. They're not sure what's going to happen next.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. Barbara Starr out of Pentagon. Thanks.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to politics. We are quickly heading in to the home stretch in the wild race for the Democratic nomination. Just four days left now. Three contests and we have got the countdown clock rolling.
Puerto Rico, next on Sunday with 55 delegates. Then the third of June, that's Tuesday, the last two primaries -- Montana and South Dakota. Barack Obama expects his general election battle with John McCain to begin after the Democratic primaries end on Tuesday.
One prominent conservative, Rupert Murdock, is predicting that McCain will lose in a landslide. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, Pat Buchanan said McCain's campaign could benefit from Obama's latest pastor problem. He is referring to video that's out of Father Michael Pfleger, an outspoken Catholic priest, an Obama supporter, who gave a sermon mocking Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT BUCHANAN: Anymore of those guys showing up -- I mean, what the American people look at that -- they say, what in the name of God is going on in Obama's church that he's been attending 20 years when these people like this are up at the pulpit?
ROBERTS: Do you think this is a big problem for him?
BUCHANAN: Well, it is. I mean, I didn't know it from just the Daily News headline, but from your tape this morning. I mean, show that the American people look at that -- they say this is supposed to be a church and here's this -- this could be a Roman Catholic priest, this clown up there engaging in this Afro-racism, if you will, against white folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Of course McCain has had his own pastor problems. He was forced to reject the endorsement of Reverend John Hagee because of his controversial remarks.
The Democrats wild race for the nomination about to cross the finish line. In what could be a rough and tumble showdown. Tomorrow the Democratic Party rules committee meets to consider what to do with Michigan and Florida's delegates.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in Washington. She's with the CNN Election Express. And the big question everybody is asking today, how in the world are they going to figure this out?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, it really is going to be amazing to watch this whole thing unfold. There are 500 seats that were available online. These tickets they got snatched up immediately just to be inside the room to watch this whole thing happened. We're expecting several thousand protesters outside of this meeting.
Essentially, there are going to be about 30 folks sitting around the table trying to figure out how this is all going to get resolved. The rules and bylaws committee, both sides are going to present their case. Clinton side as well as Obama's side. And there are a couple of options here.
They can seat all of the delegates 100 percent, that's not going to happen because they feel like they have to punish Florida and Michigan for having their primaries early. They can do zero percent and seat nobody. That's not going to work. Both Clinton camp, as well as Obama believe that some delegates have to be seated. And there is a memo analysis within the rules committee that essentially says perhaps 50 percent is the magic number that somewhere along there, they're going to figure out how to apportion those delegates.
Who knows if anybody is really going to come out happy when all this is said and done? But when you look at it, the best case scenario for Clinton is that maybe she can close the gap a little bit with the pledged delegates, but it's not going to be enough to overtake Obama.
So she's still going to have to take her case to the superdelegates and say -- look, perhaps, I'm ahead in the popular vote. I've close that gap somewhat with the pledged delegates, I'm a stronger candidate, so swing my way. We'll see how this goes this weekend.
John?
ROBERTS: Fascinating. Suzanne Malveaux with the Election Express there in Washington. We should remind you, we're going to be covering the DNC rules committee meeting beginning 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, right here on CNN.
Kyra? PHILLIPS: Well, this just in to AMERICAN MORNING. A landmark treaty banning cluster bombs has just been signed in Dublin, Ireland. 111 nations adopted the treaty this morning capping talks that have been taking place in that Irish capital for almost a year now.
Supporters say that not all parts of cluster bombs detonate and are dangerous to civilians who later come across them, especially the children. The United States and NATO allies have opposed that ban saying it will complicate peace keeping operations.
And a tribe hidden from the rest of the world until now. Coming up, the remarkable photographs on why the government hopes these pictures will ensure the tribe's survival.
With the airline ticket prices soaring, travelers flying this summer are going to need to save up. Well, we've got some money saving tips for you.
And pirates on the high seas, two more ships taken hostage. It's the second time this week. Where is it happening and why? At an alarming rate, straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Barrel of oil going for $128 this morning falling sharply yesterday after federal regulators announced an investigation into alleged price fixing in U.S. oil markets. Earlier I spoke with Professor Michael Greenberger, a former member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GREENBERGER, FORMER DIRECTOR COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION: Now there's a recognition of what many of us have been saying is that investment bank, hedge funds and wealthy investors in dark corners of these markets are taking money out of the consumer's pocket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Greenberger says that oil prices are not the result of supply and demand issues, but the unregulated trades that are helping drive up the price. And he also said, well, first of all, the number's gone up since --
(CROSSTALK)
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I've got $128 a barrel. You both, sort of had that look on your face so that number must be an error because I've got the barrel right behind me and it says $124.67, which is where oil got to earlier today. It's now back up to above $128 bucks a barrel.
Were you touching the barrel when I wasn't here?
ROBERTS: I didn't go near it. PHILLIPS: And here we have this investigation that was going into higher gas prices that's why we were seeing this decline, but now -- now, what's the story?
VELSHI: This is the problem in the oil marker right now. There's no logic. I can usually tell you on the stock market or in a particular stock why it went up or down yesterday. There's usually a reason tied to it. And by the way, when there isn't, let's say there were a big move in the stock of this company, Time Warner.
If it were an unusual move that did not have any reason that you could explain it, the New York Stock Exchange would immediately contact the company and say could you please explain what's doing this to your stock. No such thing exists in the oil market. So oil is up now close to three bucks since, you know, the early hours of this morning and no one knows why.
There's no news of a pipe bursting in Nigeria. There's no news of a facility being, you know, attacked in Iraq. We don't know why it's up. And that's the point.
What is causing oil to go up and down? The CFTC that's Commodities Futures Trading Commission which is the U.S. agency that regulates oil has said yesterday that it has been investigating oil for the last six months since oil was in the 90s. But we don't know what they're investigating and we don't know what the problem is. So we're trying to learn more about this. And of course, as we know, we will tell you. But at the moment, we're heading back up. Sorry, guys.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll try to investigate why the heck it's up?
VELSHI: I will.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Hey, remember this little fellow? Buzz Lightyear is finally heading to --
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: I am Buzz Lightyear.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) infinity and beyond. He's going to be hitching a ride aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery when it's set to lift off on Saturday.
PHILLIPS: It's suppose to say --
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: I am Buzz Lightyear.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Oh, there we go.
ROBERTS: He's come in peace. He's going to be in pieces in a second if he doesn't say it. BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: Buzz Lightyear to the rescue.
ROBERTS: One more time.
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: I am Buzz Lightyear.
ROBERTS: The Toy Story space ranger is going to live aboard the International Space Station for the next six months or so. NASA hopes to use cosmic toys to get kids interested in math, science and travel. Just say it once.
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR: I come in peace.
ROBERTS: Forget it.
PHILLIPS: See? They never say what you want them to say.
VELSHI: Even if you push the right buttons.
PHILLIPS: Reynolds Wolf? Perfect segue.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You guys have to stop doing this to me. Unbelievable. All right, folks. We got a lot of weather to talk about right now. We have tornado watches in effect across much of the Midwest, but that's not the only threat. We also run the risk of some flooding in parts. We're going to show you who is going to get what coming up in a few moments right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
PHILLIPS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Seeing across the Atlantic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son told me not to lean in too far, I might end up in England.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A high-tech gadget that links London to Brooklyn. Taking a look inside the cross continent telescope ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Reynolds, thanks very much. It's coming up on 16 minutes after the hour. Deep in the Amazon jungle, the world is getting a glimpse into a civilization that time literally forgot. These are aerial photographs that were taken off a very, very remote area of Brazil. It's called the Acre State. This is way over toward the border with Peru. Deep in the Amazon jungle.
This is one of some 100 tribes around the world that have yet to have contact with the outside civilization. And you can see as the plane flew over here for a few days -- about 20 hours of photography at the end of April, beginning in May -- you can see members of the tribe here and they're holding bows. They're pointing the bows at the aircraft.
They have no idea what the aircraft is, either that or they do and they're saying don't even think about landing here. So there's the tribes members. The Brazilian government took these pictures because they wanted to highlight for the world that, in fact, these tribes do exist. And let me just give you kind of a rough approximation.
If this were South America, sort of here like this, and this would be Brazil in this area, kind of like that. Acre Province -- Acre State is right over here. And here's Peru coming down here. It sort of way, way, was deep in the jungle.
This area in here is the scene of a lot of illegal logging and as that logging takes place, it takes away the natural habitat that these tribe members live in, as well as the animals that they need to hunt to survive. And if they have any kind of contact with outside civilization, as well, because they have not developed the same sort of immune defenses that those of us who live in society all the time have, they're very susceptible to even things like the common cold, flu, could be fatal to them.
So Brazilian government wants the world to know that these tribes are out there. They need protecting. The environment that they live in needs protecting. So we'll see where this all goes.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Pretty amazing stuff.
Strong race rhetoric. Barack Obama distancing himself from another priest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: His campaign reacts to those statements live, coming up.
Plus, saving money in the air. While airlines are tacking on fees to their tickets, we've got some ways you can cut costs and still get where you want to go, coming up.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the great commuter race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Synchronize you watch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 7:19.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just about winning, it's about comfort, convenience and cost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Our CNN correspondents slug it out again for the fastest commute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a couple of blocks from the bureau.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we're going to be there about the same time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Who will take home the commuter goal? Find out ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Live look right now at LAX in Los Angeles, California this morning as the sun begins to rise. And new reports says the rising cost of airline travel is forcing many people to cancel their summer vacation plan.
ROBERTS: If you're still planning to fly somewhere this summer though, there are lots of way that you can save money. And staying away from the big airports just might be a good idea.
PHILLIPS: Here to help us is personal finance guru Gerri Willis.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I love that title.
PHILLIPS: You like that?
WILLIS: Yes, yes.
PHILLIPS: Any kind of guru is good.
So what can people do to cut cost? Lay out the numbers for us.
WILLIS: Well, OK. Alternative airports. It's all about alternative airports. Let's take an example here. A family of four flying from Cleveland to Key West. Let say your vacation is in Key West. Individual ticket would be $694. Ouch! But if you fly instead to Fort Lauderdale that take at 3:30, the savings $364 per ticket or for the family almost $1500 -- $1456. So you want to choose an alternative airport for that money.
The family can go out rent a really nice SUV and drive down and be able to afford the gas, too. So you really want to think about that. Let me give you some examples of actual alternative airports to think about.
If you're going to Chicago, instead of O'Hare, midway. If you're going to Miami, Fort Lauderdale as we said. D.C. go to Baltimore International or Washington Dulles depending on, you know, exactly where you're going in the area. LAX, forget about it. You want Burbank or Long Beach.
PHILLIPS: This is a lot of other fees, though.
ROBERTS: Yes. What are the fees should people watch out for.
WILLIS: You know, you've got to watch these hotels. They are finding ways nickel and dime you to death. It's crazy. You know when you check out, let say, early in the morning and you spend the rest of the day in the city. You have bags. You give them to the concierge. They hold them for you. They are now charging you for that. A dollar, $5, it's not much money but every nickel counts right now.
Resort amenity fees, this can add up, too. Even if you're not playing tennis or playing golf. And finally, some are charging what they call an automatic gratuity, which I hate. If you want to pay gratuity, pay the tip. But they are charging this automatically. It can be as much as $12. The key here when you're thinking about checking in to a hotel, ask about these fees, understand them upfront, contest them upfront and make sure you know the name of the person you talk to on the phone when you get there. Ask them specifically about some of these fees. See if you're going to get them.
They want you to come to their hotel so they maybe willing to waive them for you.
ROBERTS: All right, Gerri. Some good advice.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
Answering for another controversial priest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Barack Obama's campaign reacts live, coming up.
PHILLIPS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Seeing across the Atlantic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son told me not to lean in too far, I might end up in England.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A high tech gadget that links London to Brooklyn. Taking a look inside the cross continent telescope, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Breaking news to tell you about this morning. And it looks like another major construction accident on Manhattan in the city of New York. A crane -- a construction crane has come down at the corner of 91st and First Avenue.
This happened just a couple of months after another major crane collapse in the eastern part of midtown back in March that destroyed a brown stone next to a construction site killed seven people. You can see in this picture here that the crane came down on the top of an apartment building. Wiped out part of what looks like a penthouse apartment there and then crashed to the ground.
This was the part of the crane that was actually free standing. It wasn't tethered to the building. This is above the swivel area that allows the crane to turn back and forth, pick up material and bring it up to the top of construction site. That's also where the operator sets and we have seen pictures of that operator's cab flattened on the ground.
The New York City Fire Department, police, EMS service there, going through the wreckage left from this crane collapse, trying to find out if there are survivors inside. There are also emergency crews in that apartment there trying to find out if anybody was inside at the time that that crane came down.
It's really quite amazing because after that incident in March, all of the construction cranes in New York City currently operating were re-inspected and here we have this another major accident, 91st and First Avenue in Manhattan. And let's bring in our affiliate WABC right now who are describing this from the helicopter on the ground here.
UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: What's going on down at the bottom of the street. But boy, was he correct? We want to look at this building across the street. Again, the crane was on the northwest corner of 91st street and First Avenue. The crane fell into a building on the southwest corner across the street. And look at the impact on top this building.
That is a lot of damage on the apartments here on the top two floors of this building. That corner unit there is just gone, it's crushed. And you can see some more debris there on the roof. The crane appears to have just scraped down the side of this building as it fell down to the street.
We want to draw your attention to the balconies there in the corner units and you can see that some of those balconies -- like that one right there in the center of your screen. Those balconies are just gone. Nothing much left there and then everything came down to street level here in a heap of rubble.
You can see that portions of the crane, some of them are recognizable, just in a twisted mess once again. Again, it's hard to believe that we're looking at this kind of scene so soon after such a major accident, Laurie. It's really amazing.
ROBERTS: We're listening to the correspondent in the helicopter from WABC in New York, our affiliate, overlooking this scene of this crane accident. It's really quite ironic because just a day or two ago, New York City ruled an amended -- an order that was put in place after the March collapse saying that anytime any one of these cranes were moved, there had to be a city inspector present. They just recently amended that order and now no longer is there an inspector that needs to be present.
We don't know if this crane was being moved at the time or if it was just operating normally. But, again, it has come down this morning going right through the top couple of floors of that apartment building. And as the reporter inside the helicopter was say, tearing off some of the balconies.
The big question at this moment is was anybody home in those apartments and what is the fate of the crane operator. Because certainly the cab is smashed there in the middle of the street.
And Kyra, when you look at a scene like this, you just wonder how many people were involved when this thing came down.
PHILLIPS: And just for our viewers that are just tuning in, we're following breaking news out of New York City right now. A crane collapsing on this Manhattan apartment on the Upper East Side. Fire departments saying they've already pulled people out of the wreckage. We're not quite sure how many more people could be inside that building. Conditions are not immediately known.
The accident occurred at East 91st Street and First Avenue and we've been listening to one of our affiliates at WABC as they've been bringing us information from the air. Let's listen once again to that helicopter reporter there right here in New York.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: We've got Suzanne Flanagan on the telephone with us.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Let's stay with this just for a second and let's listen to the reporter in the helicopter again describing the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: Respond to earthquake zones throughout the world. But you know, their biggest need is right here in New York City. Unfortunately, for incidents like this, this will be a joint effort of everybody involved -- the police department, fire department, office of emergency management. And right now the priority, never mind why this happened, the priority is trying to save a life. Anybody that might be trapped underneath this.
Again, this fell right into the middle of the intersection at 91st Street and First Avenue. And I shudder to think what might be underneath this crane.
ROBERTS: We're listening to the reporter in the helicopter. We're only hearing one part of the conversation. He's obviously speaking with people back in the studio there at WABC. Suzanne Flanagan is the sister of one of our employees here at CNN. Do we have her on the phone with us this morning? She lives in the area. Susan, what can you tell us about what you're seeing there?
SUSAN FLANAGAN, SISTER OF CNN PRODUCER: I can see five right now, four ambulances.
ROBERTS: So you see ambulances moving to the scene? Were you in the area when that crane came down?
FLANAGAN: Yeah, I was asleep.
ROBERTS: You were asleep in your apartment. What did you hear?
FLANAGAN: Could I hear a lot of fire trucks going down there.
ROBERTS: Did you actually see the crane come down or that hear it come down?
FLANAGAN: No. I was like three blocks away.
ROBERTS: Three blocks away, so how close to the scene are you right now?
FLANAGAN: I'm a block away right now.
ROBERTS: So what are you seeing on the ground? You said you saw three or four ambulances go by. What else are you seeing?
FLANAGAN: Well, they're all parked around and blocked the street off. And there are just a bunch of ambulances and people watching and the freight elevator the firemen going out and there's people out on their balconies watching to see what's going on. There's tons of firemen everywhere all in full uniform. There's fire rescue trucks, ambulances. I don't know, just a lot of people are just watching and taking pictures and trying to wait and see what's going on.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Flanagan for us this morning. Susan (sic) thanks. Just an amazing scene of the wreckage there as we're seeing the close-up picture and that is the operator's cab there. You can sort of see the front part of it, the glass structure where the operator would look out as he operated the crane. That has come face down on what -- that looks like 91st Street there that we're looking at right in the corner of 91st and First in Manhattan.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Where we're getting reports from firefighters that they're pulling people out of the wreckage, don't know if they are survivors or people that have - are still stuck underneath the rubble there, if there's been any more loss of life. John, did you get the latest number of possible deaths?
ROBERTS: No I didn't hear anything.
PHILLIPS: That's what we're still trying to confirm.
ROBERTS: Only heard some people pulled out of the wreckage, but the last time one of these cranes came down, it came down right on top of a brownstone. That was in March, a lot of total of seven people were killed there. We don't even know if there was an operator in the cab at the time that the crane came down, though it happened shortly after 8:00. These construction sites usually get up and running fairly early in the morning, so it would be pretty safe to assume that someone was inside.
PHILLIPS: And we've got our affiliate...
ROBERTS: And also that the crane looked like it was sort of swung over that apartment building that it fell on top, so that might indicate that it was moving at the time.
PHILLIPS: We do have eyes though in the sky. Our affiliate WABC helicopter reporter in there right now getting information actually off the scanners. Let's listen in just for a minute to see what he has to say. Just to let you know - I'm going to explain that to our viewers right now. We're listening to the affiliate, also trying to get information right now from various sources on what's happening here in New York City, a crane collapse on an apartment building here on the upper east side and basically, I'm getting word from our control room when our reporter starts talking. Let's take a listen right now.
WABC CORRESPONDENT: shot on what we're looking at here with the building, but I can tell you that out the window, I'm looking at the FDR Drive southbound which is going to pick up a lot of the alternate traffic from midtown and that's already at a standstill. So we're 20 minutes into this. We're seeing gridlock conditions already onto the FDR Drive. This is going to be a bad traffic situation, but again the focus here on the lifesaving effort down underneath this, the intersection of 91st Street and First Avenue. You can see them working around now underneath the pile of wreckage trying to get down under there. We still haven't received any confirmation on any additional injuries here or exactly how many people might be trapped. PHILLIPS: No confirmation right now. You heard it right from our helicopter reporter with our affiliate WABC. He's actually having a live conversation with the anchors at our affiliate, so when he takes a pause, I'll try and fill in, bring you up to date on what's happening. Right now 20 minutes into the crane collapse on the upper east side of New York, East 91st Street and First Avenue if you're familiar with the city, about 20 minutes into this, what he's calling a life-saving effort. Apparently there were a number of people inside this building and firefighters are looking for any sign of life right now, people that might be trapped underneath that rubble.
We can't confirm if anybody has been killed at this point. We don't know how many people have been injured, but as you can see from these pictures, it's pretty dramatic. And if you look at the size of that apartment building, there could be hundreds of people that live inside there. How many people were in there when this happened we still do not know. It's possible that there could have been a number of residents still inside that apartment building, considering the time of day right now, 8:34 New York time. So fire fighters right now trying to pull people out of that wreckage. Take a listen once again to our affiliate WABC, the eyes in the sky there in the helicopter.
ROBERTS: And again, just to reiterate, this comes just a couple of months after that massive crane collapse that occurred on 51st Street between First and Second Avenue back in the middle of March. That one came down, wiped out a couple of apartment buildings, a couple of apartments on the top of one building and it landed on a brownstone. A total of seven people were killed and of course, this is a very densely populated area. It was right in the height of rush hour, a good chance that a lot of people would have been on the streets. You can just see there as it's zooming past, the top of the crane there, right at the swivel area, which is where the crane rotates back and forth. The whole top structure has come off and crashed into the ground there. Firefighters, police, trying to get underneath the wreckage there to see who might be trapped underneath. It's got - literally covered the entire street there from one side to the other and taken down some balconies on the side of that building as well. It came down on the top of that apartment building, looks like it wiped out the majority, one penthouse apartment and it crashed into the floor below it as well and then peeled down the side of that building, knocking off some of those balconies as it crashed down onto the ground there.
PHILLIPS: And you know, you were talking about what happened back in March, that 22 story crane that fell on a high-rise construction site on East 51 St. about 30 blocks away from where we're seeing this right now and actually after that happened John, as we were reading, apparently the fire department or the buildings department had said that in the future, they would conduct random, unannounced site visits to verify that required safety precautions and requirements were being followed. We still don't know if that actually took place at this construction site, but what we can tell you as we're listening to WABC and our affiliate there and the helicopter pilot John Dicherno (ph), he's saying they are about 20 minutes into what they're calling a life-saving effort. They've had no confirmation of deaths or injuries at this point. Traffic as you mentioned in a gridlock around that area. But firefighters looking for any signs of life, since this crane has come crashing down on this apartment building.
ROBERTS: As you said, no reports of deaths or scope of injuries, though we do hear that firefighters have pulled a number of people out of the wreckage there. Brooke Hawkins, who is one of our associate producers is on the line now. She lives up in there in the area. Brooke, where are you? What can you see?
BROOKE HAWKINS, NEAR SCENE OF CRANE COLLAPSE: Hi John. I'm standing on the corner of 90th and First. I was standing on, exactly in the middle of First Avenue looking straight - let's see what is that north of the wreckage of the crane that's collapsed (INAUDIBLE) looking at pictures and I'm just seeing a bunch of police officers. When I first walked down, oh, right now I'm seeing an ambulance that's being pulled away - pulled in towards where the wreckage is. When (INAUDIBLE) that way, I asked a few of the police officers if there was anyone who was injured and they shooed me away, wouldn't give me any information. All I'm really seeing is just a bunch of police officers walking around and a bunch of wreckage. It seems like everyone is kind of walking around trying to assess everything and see if there's anyone who is able to be saved.
ROBERTS: We're just getting information from the New York City fire department now. Apparently they're trying to extricate two people from that wreckage. Brooke, where were you when the collapse happened?
HAWKINS: I was in bed. I live actually in the middle of the block facing First and Second and just a block away from that. So...
ROBERTS: Did you hear anything when that crane came down?
HAWKINS: I heard a bunch of noise and I heard a lot of ambulances and commotion, but I actually was sound asleep, but it did wake me up.
ROBERTS: We should mention that you work the late shift, so no wonder that you were sleeping fairly soundly but tremendous noise there as that crane came down. Have you seen them taking any injured people away at this point Brooke? You said you saw a stretcher being rushed toward the scene.
HAWKINS: I saw a stretcher. I'm going to go walk into the middle of the street and see if I can look straight down. It looks like there's another ambulance that is arriving or is that a new fire vehicle? But they definitely have shifted more emergency vehicles closer toward where the accident is and they're trying to get everyone out of the middle of the First Avenue.
ROBERTS: You can see in that close up picture there just a real tangled mess of crane parts, material, building material from the apartment building itself. The twisted wrought iron from some of the balcony railings that this crane stripped off the side of that building as it came down. Have you been able, Brooke to speak with anybody from emergency services there as to exactly what is the scope of this tragedy? HAWKINS: I literally got down here and looked around and have been on the phone with you as I've been trying to assess the damage of everything. I do have to tell you, I do I walk past where this crane is every day and I know we did have an incident like this in New York a few weeks ago, so it has been on my mind as walking past this construction site. So it is interesting that this did fall because it seems to be, I don't know if it is just my personal opinion, but it always seems to be a little of a leery construction site.
ROBERTS: That's definitely something to check into, but, Brooke, maybe you can get the name of the building that this crane has come down on top of and if you could, maybe we'll cut you loose for a little bit and see if you can find somebody who was an eyewitness that we could get on the phone that would be terrific if could you do that.
HAWKINS: Sure, I'm going to go run around and get all the information I can find and I will give you all a call back as soon as I get some more information.
ROBERTS: All right. Our Brooke Hawkins on the phone with us this morning. Brooke, thanks very much.
PHILLIPS: Didn't mean to talk over you John, but we're just getting a number of e-mails, people wanting to know the name of that building. Already people responding seeing our live pictures wanting to know where exactly that building is or the name of that building, rather, on 91st Street, East 91st Street and First Avenue. If you're just tuning in, you're watching breaking news coverage right now out of New York. This construction crane that you're seeing right here collapsed on the upper east side of this apartment building. The fire department says that it's already pulled two people out of the wreckage.
We heard from our helicopter pilot there with our affiliate WABC John Dicherno, he said it's a life saving effort right now. They have not confirmed any deaths at the moment, but we can tell you two people have been pulled out of that wreckage, firefighters still looking for signs of life. The traffic around that apartment building in gridlock, no one is able to get around. Firefighters asking people to stay away from the scene if possible so they can get in there. Still don't know how safe that area is with all that debris and that wreckage. They don't know if anything else is going to happen to that apartment building right now. Once again, two people pulled from that wreckage, a life saving effort going on right now with the New York fire department. Let's go ahead and take a listen once again to our WABC helicopter reporter John Dicherno as he's the eyes in the sky right now over this accident.
JOHN DICHERNO, WABC CORRESPONDENT: This morning the winds have really been calm since we took off this morning at 5:30 and looked out on New York bay and saw the conditions as smooth as glass. It remains that way out here right now. I would say off the top of my head right now that wind would be a negligible factor in this accident.
PHILLIPS: You heard right there from the helicopter pilot coming to the assumption that there was some type of negligence that was involved and what we're seeing here. Obviously he is speculating right now. We don't know exactly what has happened thus far. All we can tell you is we're getting as much information as we can from scanners, from the fire department, from people there on the scene. And, of course, our affiliate reporter here from WABC is getting more information. Let's listen once again.
WABC CORRESPONDENT: That's all the information we have right now. We don't have any update on their condition, but the fire department is now confirming that at least two people were trapped underneath the wreckage here and have been extricated or in the process of being extricated. If you look there in the center of your screen, you can see that red spine board, they've got a victim down underneath, they'll strap them to that and get them out so that they're immobilized and they don't risk any further injuries. We don't have any other information regarding those two people, whether they're construction workers, pedestrians, residents, how that works, but again right now, looks like at least two people have been injured here and are being extricated by rescue workers as we speak.
ROBERTS: If it's only two people who were involved, that would be extraordinary because that's a very heavy residential area of New York City. A lot of people would have been leaving their apartment buildings headed down to work there. Our Brooke Hawkins who was on the phone with us, she lives in that area. So if there were only two people and you can assume that one of them would be the crane operator who was probably up there swinging the crane around at the time when it came down, if there were only one person on the street who were involved in that enormous amount of wreckage that you see splayed across 91st Street, that truly would be almost miraculous.
PHILLIPS: And you mentioned the last incident that happened like this where seven people were killed. It happened over on East 51st Street, happened back in March, a 22-story crane actually fell on a high rise construction site and after that happened, the buildings department had come forward saying we're going to have inspectors conduct random unannounced site visits to verify that required safety precautions and requirements are being followed. Don't know if that has happened at this site. That's one of the questions that we're asking right now as we follow what's happening here live via New York City right now. John Dicherno with our affiliate WABC is sort of our eyes in the sky, giving us as much information as possible, as we are working the fire department, as well.
It's a life-saving effort at this point. We haven't been able to confirm any deaths. We know that two people have already been pulled from that wreckage. You can see firefighters working right now underneath that rubble. Obviously they see some type of signs of life. Not sure how many people are under there, how many people were in that apartment building at the time, how many people live in that apartment building. We are trying to work the name of that apartment building for a number of you who have been e-mailing and asking where exactly that is located on East 91st Street on Manhattan's upper east side.
But right now, you can see the firefighters working diligently to try and find anyone that may be trapped under that wreckage. They have put their eyes on at least two people that have been taken out of there, getting information now, not only from the various - our reporter obviously with WABC, but also the wires, new information crossing now about possibly more people that might have been extracted John from there, still can't confirm that though. We haven't been able to second source it so we'll stick with two people right now.
ROBERTS: And what's really ironic about all this as you mentioned that crane collapse back in the middle of March down at 51st Street between First and Second Avenue, which would be about 40 blocks south of where this construction accident has happened. In the wake of that, city buildings commission ordered that anytime a crane was moved, there had to be a city building inspector present. It was just two days ago on Wednesday that the city relaxed that rule and now we've got this crane collapse. However, we do not know if this crane came down while it was being moved. When you talk about moving them, that's when you jack them up to put another layer on top of a building and then get the crane to rise up above it.
This appears to be as well one of those cranes that doesn't have to be lifted by building up more of the substructure of the crane. It does have a section that looks like it can move up sort of like a telescope. You can see it inside there. It's got the smaller piece inside the larger piece. But that circle that you see at the top of that crane structure there, that scaffolding like thing we're zooming right in on there, that's the collar on which the crane rotates and it is just popped right off the top of that, fallen down on the side and you can see the impression of the super structure of the crane there going across that roof. It has collapsed that penthouse apartment and part of the one below it and then the rest of the super structure of the crane hit the top of that building and it sort of slid down the outside of that building, tearing off a lot of these balconies. There's part of the super structure of the crane there and then the cab on the ground.
PHILLIPS: So it's actually possible that no one has been injured inside the building. We don't know that yet. We can't confirm that. But what we can see is that the two people that have been extracted were down there on the ground and it looks like firefighters may be having some type of communication with somebody or more than one person underneath that rubble. It could have been passers by that were walking along the sidewalk or even in their cars, John, it kind of looks like that the wreckage is not only on the sidewalk, but it's extended out into the street there in front of the apartment building.
ROBERTS: The fact that the crane came down, as well, on top of that building the way it did with the boom extended right over the top of that building, would seem to be an indication that it was perhaps swinging at the time of the collapse and that would most likely indicate that there was someone inside the cab who was operating it. So this frantic rush to extricate somebody from beneath that area of the collapse might indicate that it's the crane operator that they're going after at this point.
PHILLIPS: And if you're just tuning in, you're watching breaking news out of New York City. This is over on Manhattan's upper east side of New York on 91st Street, firefighters right now calling this a life-saving effort. We're about 30 minutes into this right now. It's caused gridlock around the area. We know so far two people, not quite sure -- we're getting word from the helicopter pilot there with WABC, John Dicherno, he says that he believes two people have been possibly pulled from that wreckage, but it still looks like firefighters are having some type of communication or they're working some type of effort to get maybe additional people out from underneath that wreckage. We haven't been able to confirm if anybody has been killed thus far. We've just been able to tell you that we know two people definitely have been pulled from that wreckage. One of our employees who got off of working the overnight shift who lives in that area, she was saying she did see some stretchers. She's actually trying to get the name of that apartment building for us right now for those of you that are writing in trying to find out the name of this high rise apartment building.
Something else you wondered, too, were there building inspectors on site, were they -- because they are required rather to see if all safety precautions are being followed on a construction site like this, a lot of questions yet to be answered. Did something go wrong inside that crane operator's box? Was it something else that contributed to what happened here, but you can see where that crane as the picture comes out a little wider, it actually clipped the top of that apartment building pretty much causing the penthouse to crumble on the corner of that apartment building. You saw some of the debris and the effects of the crane that kind of trickled down the side of that apartment building, but it looks like where these possibly the injuries, maybe even deaths, that have occurred were there on the ground, on the sidewalk in the street right there in front of that apartment building. Once again, a life-saving effort going on right now by the New York fire department. We're trying to get information about what happened with regard to this crane collapse on the upper east side.
ROBERTS: One of our associate producers, Brooke Hawkins lives in the area. She was asleep at the time of the crane collapse. Shed she heard an awful lot of noise as it came down. She's back on the phone with us. Brooke, you've been walking around the area trying to find some eyewitnesses. What have you come up with for us this morning?
HAWKINS: I am just walking in (INAUDIBLE) and I'm here with Florence Diamond (ph) who is a bus driver who was actually stopped right on the corner just in front on 91st and First looking at the crane and she saw it collapse. So she actually can describe it better. I'm going to hand over the phone to her right now and she's going to describe what she saw.
ROBERTS: Terrific. Put Florence on the phone if you would.
FLORENCE DIAMOND: Good morning.
ROBERTS: Good morning Florence. This is John Roberts here in our studio. Brooke set that up and say that you were driving a bus, you were right at that corner when the crane came down. Tell us what you saw.
DIAMOND: Well, I was almost going to be making my turn and the light was red, so I slowed down. And I wasn't looking up. I was just looking like midway in the street. And I just saw the crane come down in the middle of the street. It was like something out of a movie. I couldn't believe the crane had fell and I also seen the guy that was operating the crane go down with it. It was just one guy and it was people in the street, and when the crane started to fall, people just started scattering because this is a very, very busy corner of 91st and First on the east side.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. So you saw the crane operator come down with the top of that crane. How many people were in the street at the time when this collapse happened?
DIAMOND: Well, I would just give a quick estimation. It's rush hour, a very busy corner. At least 25 people were in the area that was visible.
ROBERTS: Did you happen to -- and I know that this is difficult. Did you happen to see that there were any people who did not escape from underneath that crane as it came down?
DIAMOND: It looked like some people did not make it away. And it looked like if might have been workers. At this time, we're not sure, I know, when I was still on the scene, it was very raw, everything was raw, but debris and stuff was falling all around. So naturally we thought that the crane, was a possibility that it would fall, so immediately I had to evacuate my bus, whoever else was on the bus with me, because I was approaching my last stop, which is actually on First and 91st.
PHILLIPS: Florence, do you by chance know the name of that apartment building, that high rise?
DIAMOND: No. Actually, I do know the name, but right now, I'm sorry, I can't think of it. It's a new building that's going up.
PHILLIPS: So it's a newer building, OK. So if it's newer building that was going up, do you know if anybody was living inside that high rise?
DIAMOND: No, the one on the opposite side of the street was fully occupied with people. It took some of the terraces and people's bedrooms and everything. When the crane started falling from the top, I didn't see it. But when it reached the center, it started tearing up the peoples' terraces and go through their house. It's just a really bad scene over here.
PHILLIPS: Here's the name of the apartment building, it's the Electra. So maybe we can try and find out if the Electra had occupants. If indeed this was just a new high rise, if anybody was living inside that building yet, maybe we could work that research.
ROBERTS: Perhaps can you confirm this for me, Florence, I believe that there are people who live inside that building who are out on their balconies right now taking a look at the scene.
DIAMOND: Yes, they are. PHILLIPS: So it is definitely occupied.
DIAMOND: But the building that was actually going up that they were working on is the one where the crane fell from, the new construction that was coming up. Right now the firemen just asked me to please move back because they're not sure about the stability of the crane, so I have to get out of my bus and go all the way to the corner.
ROBERTS: Well, Florence, just before you leave the area there, you say that you travel this route all the time and was just about at the end of your route. Do you know what the building that is going up was?
DIAMOND: No, we only know that they were up to the 13th floor.
ROBERTS: All right. OK.
DIAMOND: I don't know if it was condominiums or whatever it was.
PHILLIPS: Stay with us on the phone, Florence, we're getting word now that Anthony, one of the construction workers there at the site is with us. Anthony, can you hear me OK? Anthony, are you still with us?
ANTHONY: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Are you one of the construction worker there on site?
ANTHONY: Yeah, working right on the top of the deck as the building goes up.
PHILLIPS: Can you tell me what happened? What did you see, what do you know?
ANTHONY: Well, all you hear is a loud noise and as you turn around, you look, the actual top piece of the crane started pulling over into the building that existed next to us. And as you look at it, you're shocked and you start running toward the other side of the deck and everybody thought that it was going to actually hit the other building and come back on to our building, which thank God it didn't because would have been a real mess.
PHILLIPS: Well, Anthony, let me ask you, Florence, who's an eyewitness right there on the scene, said that she actually saw the operator of that crane go down with the top of the crane. Did you by chance witness what exactly happened at that moment?
ANTHONY: I mean, I didn't see actually like 100 percent from the top. As soon as I heard it snapping, it hit the other building, I turned around and then you seen it go down, but everybody started running because we didn't want it to come back on to the deck and hit all of us. But I hope the crane operator's all right. I heard he is, I heard he's critically injured and my heart goes out to him and his family.
ROBERTS: Maybe the fact that the crane did scratch down the side of that building might have lessened the impact when it hit the ground. But definitely when we look at the amount of debris there, Anthony, it hit with quite an impact. We're seeing right now firefighters have got somebody on that stretcher there. Anthony, can you tell us, do you know, was the crane moving, did it have a load on it when it snapped?
ANTHONY: No, it didn't have a load. It was actually, it was facing the other building and I think that's why it fell towards the other building.
ROBERTS: And we're just seeing right now pictures of --
PHILLIPS: Two stretchers, but John I think we need to be careful with this, we need to be sensitive with this because the bodies are fully covered in sheets. We're not actually seeing any signs of life there, so if we could just be respectful. You see all the firefighters gathering around both of those individuals that have obviously been pulled from the wreckage. We don't know if they're alive or not, so I think we need to be very sensitive with these pictures right now.
ROBERTS: Anthony, we know after that crane collapsed back in March that the buildings commissioner here in the city of New York had ordered that inspectors be present anytime that the crane was elevated up floor by floor as you put more floors on top of the building. Do you know if that was in progress or was the crane just moving in a typical fashion?
ANTHONY: Typical fashion. It was just recently jumped up when they extend each piece and (INAUDIBLE) was fully inspected. I mean, I don't know what happened. I don't know how it happened. I don't know why it happened but a scary thing. Everything goes through your head when you start seeing things like that happen. You think about your family, your wife, your kids. Just thank God, you know, whoever is alive is alive.
PHILLIPS: Well, Anthony, our heart is going out to the families obviously of these two individuals that we are looking at right now live pictures via our affiliate WABC. It does look like firefighters were able to extract two people from that wreckage.
ROBERTS: At least one that we know.
PHILLIPS: Yeah, we saw one over closer to the site, one here that's being led toward the ambulance. It makes your heart sink because you see that the bodies are full recovered in those white sheets, so we can't confirm the condition of who those -- or how those two individuals are doing since the fire fighters pulled them from that wreckage. We're just trying to be sensitive with these pictures.
ROBERTS: Let me just ask you, Anthony, if you're still on the line, I don't want to you mention any names, but did you know the operator?
ANTHONY: You know him because you work with the guy. You see the guy every morning. And a great guy and I mean, that's just the last thing that you want to happen to him. That's your job, that's what you have to do to make a living and support your family and with something like that to happen, you know, it gets you thinking like do you actually want to stay in this type of business and pray every time you go up there that something like that doesn't happen.
ROBERTS: Anthony, thanks very much for being with us this morning. We appreciate your perspective and our best to all of the men and women working on that job here this morning.
PHILLIPS: It's a rough way to wrap up this Friday. But we got word that there was this crane incident there on the upper east side of Manhattan. Doesn't look like good news right now possibly for that crane operator. You see the destruction here, firefighters definitely pulling one person out from underneath that rubble.
