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Families Frantically Search for Loved Ones; Investigation of Amtrak Derailment Focuses on Speed and the Engineer; Iran Fires on Cargo Ship; Fears of Terror Attack in U.K. Growing; NTSB: Train Traveling 106 MPH in 50 MPH Zone. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 14, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:03] CAMEROTA: Congratulations. We're so psyched for you.

PEREIRA: You know how much I love you. I love you even more.

CAMEROTA: That's great. You're amazing.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

(CROSSTALK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm going to cry, I'm so proud. John, congratulations. You guys have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

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

Any minute now, officials at Temple University Hospital will give us an update on the conditions of the patients at the Amtrak derailment. We will take you there live when it happens, but first we have new details on the investigation.

The Amtrak train barreling around the curve at 106 miles per hour. Why was it traveling at twice the speed limit before it veered off the tracks?

In the middle of the investigation, the engineer, 32-year-old Brandon Bostian. He's not talking to investigators. But whether the fault lies with man or machine, safety officials say an automated system would have prevented the accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SUMWALT, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Well, we have at the NTSB have long advocated and called for positive train control and positive train control, which is required by law to be implemented by the end of this year, positive train control is designed to prevent the very type of an accident that we're dealing with here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And some families in limbo. They are frantically searching for loved ones who have disappeared since the crash.

We begin this hour with a search for those missing family members. Families, as I said, scrambling and hospitals shifting to a new challenge.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Philadelphia with more on that.

Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. There are still an untold number of passengers who are still unaccounted for, and according to the "Philadelphia Inquirer" that number might be as many as 12 people that are still missing.

Now we now know among those missing is Robert Gildersleeve. He's a 45-year-old father. He's an executive traveling on that train from Baltimore. His family is still looking for him this morning.

Many passengers, of course, use this multi-ride pass which allows them to get on the train easily and then it might not get punched that they're actually on that train until well into the trip. That's what happened likely in the case of Rachel Jacobs. She was 39 years old. She got on the train here in Philadelphia, and that's why for quite some time her family was accounting for her as missing, unaccounted for.

Later it was confirmed that she did die because she used one of those multi-ride passes, so it did not immediately kick in, Carol, that she was on the train. Now we are waiting at this hour to hear from Temple University Hospital medical director, Dr. Herb Cushing. We know that this hospital had the most patients come in, 54 total.

As of this morning, we know that 22 remain hospitalized, one was released earlier this morning, but as of this morning, they say there is eight still here at this hospital, Carol, in critical condition.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.

In the next hour we'll talk to an advocate for rail passengers. Are the families getting enough help in their search for their loved ones? We'll try to answer that question for you.

We're also hearing this morning from the attorney of that engineer who was driving the train. He says of his client, no drinking, no drugs and absolutely no memory of what happened in those decisive and deadly moments.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin is covering the investigation. She has more.

Good morning.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. A key question in this investigation, why was the train traveling at more than twice the speed limit? The man who could potentially answer that question says he simply does not know --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Erin, Erin, I'm going to -- Erin, I'm going to interrupt you because the press conference has started at the hospital. Let's listen.

DR. HERBERT CUSHING, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: There are folks in critical care and they are doing very well and improving day by day, and I suspect there'll be more folks that will be able to go home from the hospital today. It's all very good news.

Do you have questions for me today?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are any (INAUDIBLE)?

CUSHING: Yes. So the question was, can you talk to any of those individuals, and the answer is no at this time. You know, they're still sick, they've been through a very traumatic experience and I think we should let them recover and get better. I know it's very, very difficult for them, and as you know, many of them are from out of town. Not everybody, but many are, not only disoriented from being so sick and, you know, suddenly injured, but from being away from home so it's -- I think it's best that we respect their privacy as much as we can. I know that they know that you're concerned about them, and we all wish them to get better very fast.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Doctor, (INAUDIBLE)?

CUSHING: Yes. The question is, the folks who are in critical condition, what's the nature of their injuries, and most of them are folks that had the most severe of the rib cage injuries, an occasional lung injury because of injuries to the chest and fractures. So remember, you heard me talking yesterday about folks that were injured in that way, so these are the folks that were just a little worse off and some are frailer because they're older. You know, so there's some -- there were some older folks.

[09:05:23] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What is the age range?

CUSHING: They're 19 to 80. I was asked that yesterday. I didn't know the lower -- age range but our youngest was 19.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) that all will survive?

CUSHING: Yes, I do. I believe strongly that all the remaining folks will get better and go home.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you aware how they sustained those injuries?

CUSHING: Yes. The injuries were sustained by most folks because they had things fall on them, and those things included other people, so that was a very common story I heard. I would ask people, those that were awake, what happened to you, and they said, oh, somebody fell on me. And it's not just sort of falling on them. People were hurled violently against each other. And there was some luggage flying around.

And then some of the injuries were people being thrown against seats and you know, the sides of the train compartments when it flipped over.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know if they were up front, those people most critical?

CUSHING: Yes. Yes. That trend has continued. So as you would imagine, the folks that seemed to be the most injured were the folks that were more in front.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are all of them aware of what took place (INAUDIBLE)?

CUSHING: Yes, so I'm not sure that the folks in critical care really get it yet, and they may not for several more days. You know how that goes, when folks are in critical care, they'll wake up sometime later and not really know what happened and you have to explain it to them. So we'll see as they get better.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?

CUSHING: Yes. Will there be lasting impacts? I expect folks will gradually recover, but you get better from broken bones, and I expect that they will. So I don't think there are going to be many lasting significant effects for these folks, because most of it were just broken bones.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?

CUSHING: Yes. Yes. The question is, do we have any remaining unidentified people? And the answer is no. All the folks here are ones that we know. And their families know they are here and the various countries know they're here.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away, but it is a relief that, you know, doctors now know who everyone is in the hospital so their family members can attend to them as well. Dr. Cushing giving an interesting account of how these injuries occurred on board that train.

I want to get back to the investigation now, because, Erin McLaughlin, you were just telling us that the engineer who was driving the train says he doesn't remember a thing but he's been released from the hospital, right?

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right, Carol. Authorities say they hope that Bostian will be able to provide them with vital clues as to how this tragedy occurred, although his lawyer is saying that he doesn't remember everything that happened that fateful evening.

Take a listen to what Robert -- his lawyer had to say to ABC's "Good Morning America." Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GOGGIN, ATTORNEY FOR BRANDON BOSTIAN: I believe as a result of the concussion, he has absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the events. I'm told that his memory is likely to return as the concussion symptoms subside.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: But he spent six hours with the police, what did he tell them?

GOGGIN: Everything that he knew. Cooperating fully.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And what is -- what does he know? What is the last thing he remembers?

GOGGIN: He remembers coming into the curve. He remembers attempting to reduce speed thereafter he was knocked out and thrown around just like all the other passengers in that train.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Now his lawyer, Robert Goggin, says that Bostian voluntarily turned over this cell phone. He also provided a blood sample. We understand from authorities that they are trying to get a warrant to be able to look at his phone records, the thinking being he could possibly have been distracted at the time of the crash. Goggin saying, though, that his client was not taking any medication, had no prior medical conditions. Really no explanation for why this might have happened -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Eric McLaughlin, reporting live for us. Thanks so much.

Let's talk a bit more about this with former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz.

Hi, Peter.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So the engineer says he doesn't remember anything. The NTSB says that could be true. What do you think?

GOELZ: Well, it could be true. But, you know, clearly he's in a terribly difficult position from a legal standpoint. He's got attorney representation, but the NTSB is going to want to talk with him today and to see what he remembers what he was doing. They'll also check the record, was he using his cell phone prior? What was his health condition?

[09:10:11] More importantly, what was his schedule the last three or four days to see if he was possibly fatigued. They will look at all the potential human factors that could have contributed to this error.

COSTELLO: The train apparently was going 106 miles per hour as it approached that curve in the tracks. The engineer supposedly hit the emergency breaks. That slowed the train to 102 miles per hour. Is there a warning system onboard the train?

GOELZ: There is not. And, you know, that's the discussion about positive train control that had a more advanced positive train control been in place, the train would have been breaking automatically prior to the turn, but Amtrak has a partial legacy system in place throughout -- along the northeast corridor, and it was not in place at all in this section, so there was no way to stop the train unless the engineer did it by himself.

COSTELLO: Yes. On the other hand, I'm sure this engineer had driven this route many, many times before, right? So he should have known that curve was there. Why didn't he?

GOELZ: Well, that's going to be the topic of this investigation in part. They want to know what was going on in the cabin leading up to this, and that's one of the arguments for cameras facing into the cab of rail engines, so that you have a picture of what the engineer is doing in the moments preceding an accident or incident. And it's been resisted by unions and by the engineers. They don't want to have a camera looking at you, but from a safety perspective, it's important to have them here.

COSTELLO: All right, Peter, I'm going to put you on the spot. I keep hearing how ghoulish it is to bring up funding for Amtrak's infrastructure. Well, I actually ride an Amtrak train every other weekend because my husband lives in Boston. Last weekend as my Amtrak train was pulling into Providence, Rhode Island, the engine suddenly stopped working, power on the train went out. It took them 45 minutes to fix it.

The heating and cooling systems onboard those trains often don't work properly. Doors are sometimes stuck open. Sometimes the trains break down in the middle of nowhere. More importantly all trains are supposed to be equipped with what you talked about, that positive train control by the end of the year. Who knows if that will happen.

So, Peter, is it really ghoulish to bring up these infrastructure problems?

GOELZ: No, it is not. It's only ghoulish to those who continue to ignore the crumbling infrastructure that so characterizes our rail systems. You're forcing the administrators of the rail systems to make very difficult decisions -- do you put your limited maintenance and limited capital improvements into potentially high consequence events that there's a low probability of them occurring, or you put it into the more everyday maintenance and capital improvements that keeps the trains running on time?

It is a very difficult decision. And the Congress and the state legislatures and the city legislatures have not been fully supportive. And this is the consequence. So it's not ghoulish at all.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Peter Goelz. I appreciate that.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:23] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This just in to CNN: a new sign of aggression from Iran. Five of its boats firing shots at Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Persian Gulf.

Let's get more details from Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

This happened just about five hours ago. We are told by U.S. officials the reports are that the cargo vessel was transiting in international waters when it was approached by these five essentially gun boats from Iran believed to be from their revolutionary guard corps navy, which is one of their most aggressive military units. The Iranians firing shots across the bow of that cargo vessel. We don't know if any of those shots actually hit the cargo ship.

We are told the next thing that happened -- and there is a lot of drama here -- the cargo ship turned and immediately escape, making its way into the waters of the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, a very strong U.S. Persian gulf ally.

They went into UAE waters and at that point, the UAE sent out three of its own patrol boats to help out this cargo ship. The Iranians obviously turning back and not taking the risk of entering another country's waters as they were firing shots.

A lot of turmoil here, a lot of uncertainty about what the Iranians are really up to. This is not the first incident in recent weeks, of course, and it comes as President Obama hear in Washington is meeting with those Persian Gulf leaders, Iran, one of the subjects on the agenda -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Aren't those U.S. Navy ships still in the Persian Gulf, Barbara?

STARR: You know, that's so key to all of this. There was a U.S. Navy warship about 20 miles away. We are told it does not receive any distress call, any call for help.

But it was just several days ago that the Navy at the orders of the Pentagon stopped with its essentially escort or accompanying operations. It had been taking cargo ships, U.S.-flagged, British- flagged through the Strait of Hormuz because of this uncertainty about Iran's intentions about seizing cargo ships, harassing cargo ships. Things had calmed down.

They stopped those operations. Now, it remains to be seen if the Navy once again will have to step in -- Carol.

STARR: All right. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.

The White House is voting today on a bill giving Congress the ability to review any final agreement on an Iranian deal. Republican leaders are scheduling that vote, ignoring conservative members' calls for changes.

[09:20:01] GOP leaders are using an expedited procedure that prevents members from offering amendments and limits debate time. The Senate approved the measure last week by a margin of 98-1.

British police warning that hundreds of potential terror suspects have gone to Syria, but what's even more worrying is many of those people are now coming back to Britain.

Let's get more now from CNN's Max Foster. He's in London.

Hi, Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Yes, it's frightening sort of language coming from the head of counterterror at the metropolitan police. He's done an interview for "The London Evening Standard" today, and at the same time as some new figures came out.

A couple quotes from him. He said there is a massive threat on the streets of the U.K. posed by those who've returned from conflict in Syria and Iraq after engaging in barbaric atrocities. What he is pointing out is, there's been a bit of a change here. And we talked to Atika Shubert about this, who knows all about jihadism and spoken to jihadi fighters. Since those air strikes started, those Western air strikes or the coalition air strikes in Syria, in particular, there has been a change of messaging and recruitment online to say not necessarily come out and fight in the jihadi fight, but stay where you are and carry out plots.

And this is what he's suggesting and he is talking about the number of arrests taking place right now. So, in the U.K., 338 people held across the U.K. during the past 12 months, about one a day. He is talking about the changing makeup of terrorism in the U.K., saying that 10 percent of the arrest involved women, which would not have been the case in the past. They tried to keep up with this threat, but essentially what they're saying is people are not just going to join jihadi fights abroad, they are also keeping the fight at home and plotting attacks. He's very worried about it.

COSTELLO: All right. Max Foster, reporting live from London, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, barreling down the tracks at speeds topping 100 miles per hour. We'll take you inside a train simulator to find out what happens as a train derails.

And the jury is deciding right now if the Boston bomber lives or dies. The questions the jurors are weighing as they deliberate, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: While Philadelphia's mayor has all been but indicted Amtrak's engineer, the NTSB is still in the early stages of its investigation, trying to figure out how a commuter train barreled into a curve at speeds topping at 100 miles per hour before slamming on the emergency brakes. For now, the train's engineer identified as Brandon Bostian is not talking to investigators, but he has talked to his lawyer who says Bostian does not remember what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GOGGIN, ATTORNEY FOR ENGINEER BRANDON BOSTIAN: As a result of the concussion, he has no recollection whatsoever of the events. I'm told that his memory is likely to return as the concussion symptoms subside. He remembers coming into the curve. He remembers attempting to reduce speed. Thereafter, he was knocked out and thrown around like all the other passengers in the train.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, what's it like staring down the tracks at 100 miles per hour knowing something bad is going to happen.

Randi Kaye sat down at a train simulator to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you actually train these engineers.

CHRIS SMUTNEY, ENGINEER INSTRUCTOR, MODOC: Yes.

KAYE: So, you know what they're going through. You know what they deal with on daily basis. Take us through right now what it would feel like going around a bend at about 50 miles per hour.

SMUTNEY: OK.

KAYE: So, you can tell what it feels like. It's pretty controlled, right? How would you describe it?

SMUTNEY: Well, it's kind of like going from a sports car to a really big truck. In a sports car, you have a sense of how faster going. Once you get into a big truck, you may be going 80 miles an hour, but only it feels like you are only going 40.

KAYE: So, this is 50 miles per hour, again, going around and approaching the bend, at least, and still very controlled. So, on this one, let's see, I want -- I want to go around the bend again and see what it feels like at 75 miles per hour. I just want to see the difference.

So this bend right now, we are already up to 66, I can see. So, it's going to feel -- it already feels faster.

SMUTNEY: Yes.

KAYE: I can already sense it. And even though we are not moving, I can sense how fast we are going already.

I want to know what it would feel like. We know this engineer apparently threw the emergency brake full force, all the way down. What would we feel like, what would we get a sense of we did that right here at 70 miles per hour.

SMUTNEY: Well, I will show you.

KAYE: So, that's full force on the brakes at just 60 miles per hour, and we're still going.

SMUTNEY: Yes. Yes, you can't apply the brakes any harder than that.

KAYE: And it still doesn't stop automatically. It takes times no matter what speed.

SMUTNEY: Yes, a fully loaded freight train, an average freight train, which is roughly 80, 85 cars, takes over a mile to stop an emergency.

KAYE: All right. So, now, let's take it around the bend as fast as you can go, and you are saying this train that derailed may have been going about 106 miles per hour, so we will see what this does.

SMUTNEY: Well, we'll see how fast we can get it.

KAYE: OK, we are going so fast we will derail right here?

SMUTNEY: Yes, right on the curve right here.

KAYE: OK. So explain, why would it derail?

SMUTNEY: Why it derails is because there is so much force when you are going around that curve that that locomotive becomes top heavy and it just rolls over. There is too much centrifugal force for it to stay on the rail.

KAYE: Yes. And all the people inside, they described laptops falling, people falling on top of them, and even one woman described a couple people above her got stuck in the luggage rack. Does of any surprise you going around the bin at that speed?

SMUTNEY: Not at all, not at all. I mean, we were only going 72 1/2. So, you add -- you add 30 more miles per hour to have, and there is a lot of force there and people will be thrown around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. My thanks to Randi Kaye for that story.

Interesting, right? So, let's talk more about it more with former NTSB vice chairman Bob Francis, and transportation accident attorney Andrew Malone.