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Six Dead in Amtrak Derailment; Reports: North Korea's Defense Chief Publicly Shot to Death; Hundreds Search For Missing U.S. Chopper. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 13, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolute disastrous mess.

COSTELLO: Disaster on the tracks when an Amtrak train derails in Philadelphia.

[09:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things start flying, laptops, and then people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Train guards are overturned. They are in horrible shape.

COSTELLO: A handful of people dead, more than 100 in the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So many head injuries, and you know, bloody faces.

COSTELLO: What went wrong?

Also, an urgent search for a U.S. military helicopter missing in Nepal. Six Marines on board delivering aid to quake victims. Where could it be?

Also executed for not following the Supreme Leader's orders and dozing off during a meeting. North Korea's Defense minister reportedly taken out with an anti-aircraft gun. What is going on inside Kim Jong-Un's inner circle.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I am Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A vital travel in connecting some of the nation's largest cities, instantly transformed into a deadly juggernaut. And Amtrak train veers off its tracks, tearing apart its passenger car and violently whipping around those inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH DAVIDZ, AMTRAK PASSENGER: I think in that moment when I was like kind of tumbling, I mean, I really thought this might be -- there is no way to know like in the darkness. I mean, so you just being able to start thinking was lovely. If you can hear that you're alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This is surveillance video capturing the deadly moments. At the very top of your screen, the lighted cars whip by and then you can see disaster strikes. A flash point of terror as all 243 people on board are flung about like luggage, more than half of them rushed to hospitals, at least six are dead this morning.

There are so many dramatic pictures of the wreckage streaming into CNN and words don't measure up. So let's just look at these images for now.

CNN has mobilized its vast resources on this story, and its implications. Our correspondents and experts are standing by to walk us through the many layers, so let's begin with what exactly happened and what we know right now.

CNN's Sara Sidner is at the crash scene. Tell us more, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We understand the NTSB has made it to Philadelphia. We do not know if they're on the scene. We can't quite see them but we have certainly been seeing investigators all night long working into the daytime now, into the morning here, down at the tracks.

I want to give you some idea of where we are. We are standing on a roof here of the CSS International Business that is right next to these tracks. Earlier today we were able to go into their office because they had surveillance video, and I want to give you a look at that surveillance video first and then I'll show you the crash site from our vantage point.

This surveillance video was taken as the crash happened, as the derailment happened. What you are seeing at the top of your screen, you'll see some movement there, that is the train itself going at whatever speed it's going, no one quite knows just yet, and that's being investigated, and then you will see flashes of light, you'll see at least three, one after the other after the other. And you'll see those flashes of light and that is the moment of impact.

The moment that those train cars left the track and starts smacking into each other creating a horrific scene, when you look at all the mangled metal, and we now know that six people have died in that wreckage.

We also know that there are dozens of people who have been hurt. But when you look at the actual wreckage and when you talk to some of the folks, they can't believe that there weren't more people in more dire straits, because some of it just looks nothing like a train car normally looks. It is all bent in all different directions.

I'm going to move out of the way here so that you can actually see what the site looks like right now. Right now you can see investigators standing on the tracks. And what you'll see there is that is -- the accident seemed to have happened right after that bend there, that sharp turn.

It was going northbound towards New York from Washington. There were 243 people on that train, including the crew, and you can see the last train there, the last car, it is leaning all the way to the right, the one in front of it, also leaning very much to the right. But beyond that, that is where you can see the most damage, where things are crumbled and they even don't look or resemble an actual train car.

A devastating scene certainly, and for families, for a while there, they were unable to figure out where their loved ones were, because cell phones were left on there, people were scrambling to try and get out. We heard from some of the survivors that it was very confusing, it's easy to get confused when all of a sudden the car that you're in has toppled over or is almost upside down, and you've got things flying through the air, even people were flying on top of each other. Broken bones, you've got contusions, you've got gashes, but we do know the sad news that six people have expired because of this.

[09:05:28] We also know that the investigation is very much underway, it has been since -- in the wee hours of the morning. We got here about an hour and a half after the crash happened and you can say large amounts of firefighters and crews getting here to try to make sure that they helped people get to safety -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just -- it's just unbelievable. Sara Sidner, thanks so much.

This bit of news, this sad news just into CNN. We understand a midshipman from the U.S. Naval Academy is among the six people dead. I suppose it makes sense that he was on that train because the train was coming from Washington, and as you know, the U.S. Naval Academy is in Annapolis, Maryland, which is very close to Washington, D.C.

Several agencies and dozens of investigators now canvassing the crash site, searching for clues and for answers. Before we get to our Rene Marsh, I want you to take a look at the accident scene. Now the front car where the engineer and the conductor drive the train remains up right, both of them did survive. The second car is -- it's a charred mess. It was reduced to a twisted heap of metal. I would assume that the passengers who expired were in that second car.

The third and fourth cars are on their sides, the fifth and sixth and seventh car remained upright but of course they derailed. So let's get to Rene Marsh and the latest on this investigation.

Was -- was the train going too fast around the curve? Is that what investigators initially think? Or they just don't know anything right now?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it's -- what you said, they just really are not coming out and saying what the cause is at this point. But I do know that they will be looking at speed as one of the many factors. We know -- I just got off the phone with the NTSB, that they do have a part of their team here, the second part of the team is about 30 minutes away. And when they all are altogether, they are looking at speed.

They're also going to want to interview the crew because that is going to be critical. What was their work schedule leading up to this shift? Were they alert? Was everything OK? Will they be able to perhaps give investigators information about any problems that they recognized with the train itself? These are all things, mechanical issues, the track itself, these are things that investigators are going to be looking at.

And you know, they're also going to be looking for critical event recorders which will be on board as that will tell them exactly how fast this train was going, did anyone press the brakes, when did they step on those brakes. Those are all little pieces of information that will form this big picture as they try to figure out what went wrong.

We know as Sara said that, as this train, according to passengers onboard, was coming around that curve. That's when people said that they felt the train starts to slow down, starts to get rocky and that's when we know that some of the cars jumped the tracks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And just -- I know the FBI was sent to the scene, so I just want to get that out of the way right now. Investigators don't believe that this was sabotage of any kind, correct?

MARSH: At this point they are not saying that, you're right. The FBI deployed here but there is no indication that there is any connection to terrorism at this point. Actually there are multiple investigations, not only the FBI, the Federal Railroad Administration also on site. They're doing their own investigation, but the lead here is going to be the NTSB.

COSTELLO: All right, Rene Marsh, you're going to remain on the scene. We'll get back to you. Thank you so much.

On board, complete chaos as passengers describe being trashed around. Listen to how one witness describes the moment a calm train ride turned to catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY WLADIS, PASSENGER ON DERAILED TRAIN: I was eating and the next thing you know the train starts doing funny things, and then it gradually gets worse and worse, and just like chaos erupts, and things start flying, phones, laptops, and then people, seats, trays start flying, you hear, bumping, and you hear like, metal mangling, and it -- you know, but it happened so quickly like you didn't even know what was going on.

And the next thing I know, I look up and there is two people in the luggage rack above my head, two women got catapulted into the -- and we didn't -- I didn't even see it happen, and I didn't even know. And the train was like at a 30-degree angle down where I was, and I was kind of like wedged into the window underneath the tray and the seat was turned. I mean, in the back, shoes, everything, flown there, and just complete chaos.

[09:10:18] And you know, when we got out, we saw the train and the train, you know, it looked like a pretzel, it was turned and twisted, and you know, it was just wires that were ripped out. There were electrical live wires. It was just chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It's just hard to believe how people got out of those cars, because, you know, it's completely dark when something happens to the train's electrical system, right? And so you would -- and the train -- some of those train cars were on their side, so some of the passengers had to actually crawl out of the windows to get out.

We're going to be exploring more about how the passengers got out and if there were proper evacuation methods put into place, we're going to examine that a little later in the show. But as you know this crash happened along the busiest passenger rail line in the country. The Northeast Corridor is more than 450 miles long and spans from Washington, D.C. to Boston.

Let's bring in CNN's Cristina Alesci. She's at New York's Penn Station. That was supposed to be this train's final destination.

Good morning, Cristina.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. And it is the busiest train hub in North America. This is a vital intersection for many passengers and there has been disruptions across the Northeast Corridor as you mentioned, and disruptions here at Penn Station. You know, I grew up in New York, I went down into the station this morning, at 5:00 in the station, normally a very busy time.

Passengers clearly got the message last night and didn't even bother showing up this morning. The few passengers that I spoke to really didn't have an alternate route to get to Philadelphia this morning. We talked to several of them who were just wondering what they were going to do because Amtrak over the PA system were saying that they were not providing alternate routes to Philadelphia, so -- and we don't have really any visibility of what travel will look like in the upcoming days, but clearly a major disruption.

And it comes at a time where there is an increased demand for rail especially in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak saw a record number of passengers last year, and there's going to be increasing questions about, you know, infrastructure and whether the infrastructure along this corridor can really handle the kind of capacity that is seen in the last couple years of, and how recent increases will really tax the system.

COSTELLO: Yes. And it's interesting, Cristina, because at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, the House Appropriations Committee will meet, and you know, and this was planned, of course, before this train accident happened, but on the agenda, lawmakers are considering cutting Amtrak's budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, so we'll see how that's going to go at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Cristina Alesci, reporting live from Penn Station here in New York City. Thank you. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:04] COSTELLO: All right. Investigators, of course, remain on the scene of this Amtrak passenger train derailment. We understand six people died as a result of the accident, 25 people remain in the hospital. More than 100 people were injured.

We don't know exactly why this train derailed. Maybe it was coming around the curve too fast, we just don't know. Maybe it was because of the infrastructure, we don't know.

There is a news conference scheduled at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Hopefully, we'll get some answers out of that. Of course, we'll continue to cover this.

But, first, let's talk about other news this morning.

A brutal and public execution in North Korea. The country's defense minister has apparently been shot to death, killed by fire from an anti-aircraft gun, as hundreds of people watched. Here's what one of those guns look like.

South Korean spies say the defense minister was accused of treason for expressing discontent toward his leader Kim Jong-un and failing to follow his orders. He was seen dozing off at a military event. His death is the latest in a string of purges under Kim Jong-un's reign.

But the leader's days maybe numbered. A high level defector who escaped North Korea telling CNN, quote, "They may tremble in fear of him, but their loyalty is fake. They don't consider him human. His cruelty angers and shocks them."

CNN's Kathy Novak is in Seoul with more for you this morning.

Hi, Kathy.

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

We are talking about a very senior figure. Hyong Yong-chol had been in the upper ranks of the military since the reign of Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il. He survived that leadership transition and he went on to be promoted through the ranks to hold the senior position effectively of defense minister.

Recently, we saw him at a conference in Moscow representing North Korea, speaking publicly, and just last month on April 29th, we saw him mentioned in North Korea state media. So, there were no indications of any problems at the top until today, these reports coming out of South Korean intelligence that he had been publicly executed with anti-aircraft gun. Even the choice of weapon there sending a message.

South Korean officials say that Kim Jong-un is trying to create an atmosphere of fear around him. South Korean spies have said that 15 senior officials have been just executed this year. And as you mentioned, CNN has spoken to one of the highest level of defectors to ever escaped North Korea. And he has told CNN that there are claims hundreds have been executed since Kim Jong-un took power three years ago.

Now, of course, with any of these claims coming out of North Korea, it is very difficult to verify and there have not been confirmations from North Korean state media today of this latest execution. But the defector is telling us that he believes there could be a advantage at the top of the leadership within the next three years.

[09:20:00] The fear there is of any potential for instability in North Korea. Remember, this is a state that has nuclear weapons, and if there is any questions about who is in control of those, that is a major concern in this region, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Kathy Novak reporting live for us from South Korea, thanks so much.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, Air Force paratroopers searching for a U.S. military helicopter that has gone missing in Nepal with six U.S. marines on board.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Kathmandu.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Carol, right now, that aerial search is coming to an end. The sun has set here and there is still no word on what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Again, we're going to take you back out to Pennsylvania shortly. But as you can see, investigators, they are just trying to figure out what happened surrounding this huge train derailment near Philadelphia. Six people died, 25 remain in the hospital. We'll take you to the scene shortly.

But, first, an all-out search is going on from the air and on the ground for U.S. military helicopter missing in Nepal. Six marines and two Nepali soldiers were aboard that chopper which was taking aid supplies to quake survivors. It lost contact just as the second monster earthquake in two weeks struck the region yesterday. The 7.3 magnitude quake has killed at least 94 people and injured nearly 2,000.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Katmandu with more.

Hi, Will.

[09:25:00] RIPLEY: Hi, Carol.

Just within the last few minutes the final helicopters landed for the day, and it's night as you can see here. And so, the aerial search, the visual search for this missing marine helicopter has come to an end, but on the ground, there are Nepali soldiers who continue to scour the area where they believe this helicopter may be located.

I checked in with the U.S. military. They say, as of right now, there has been no confirmed sighting of this helicopter. There's been no communication with the crew. So, we have gone one full day of searching and nothing. That, of course, is very discouraging news for not only the U.S. military here but also the troops in Nepal, and those from all over the world that tell me they are sad to hear about the situation.

These helicopters are conducting very dangerous work. They are flying into very difficult rugged terrain, the weather conditions can be dangerous at times, and the possibility that this marine helicopter may have gone down, while people are certainly hoping it landed and it landed in an area where it doesn't have the ability to communicate. They are hoping that everyone is OK. But right now, Carol, they simply don't know.

COSTELLO: There is the possibility the helicopter landed somehow, and it's very rugged terrain. So, it takes a minute for people to get anywhere, right?

RIPLEY: It does. It does. It's hard, without showing you and without getting up in a helicopter to see how difficult it is to not only hike through these areas, but even to fly through the areas. In the Himalayas, the weather conditions are unpredictable.

We were talking about a pilot that was going to deliver relief supplies to a village near the epicenter, about 140 kilometers from here. They've got just three kilometers to their landing site, and they had to turn around because the clouds were too low.

So, when you are trying to conduct the visual search, but you're dealing with all of those elements, it could take time. And these are highly trained soldiers, they are prepared to survive if their helicopter goes down and they have to wait a while to be rescued. So, the search is continuing in force, and they will be back up in the air when the sun comes up tomorrow, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Will Ripley reporting live from Kathmandu.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)