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Investigation Under Way after Crane Collapsed in Mecca; Historic Flooding Struck Japan's Northeast; Remembering the Victims of the 9/11 Attacks; Iranians Welcome Six Power Nuclear Deal; Serena Williams' Hopes for a Grand Slam Crushed. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:10] LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Why did this crane collapse killing more than 100 worshippers at Islam's holiest site? A detailed look into the tragedy at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Also ahead, mass evacuations and daring rescues. The latest from Japan which is in the midst of a flooding emergency.

And Serena Williams misses the chance to rewrite tennis history. More on the shocking loss that cost her a potential calendar Grand Slam.

Hello, welcome, I'm Linda Kinkade and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin in Saudi Arabia where an investigation is under way after a crane collapsed at a Grand Mosque in Mecca killing at least 107 people. More than 200 were injured when the crane came down during a storm around 5:30 p.m. local time on Friday.

The tragedy struck just days before the Hajj which is the annual pilgrimage which draws millions of visitors to the mosque.

I'm joined now by Khalid Al-Maeena. He is the editor-in-chief of "Saudi Gazette" in Jeddah and he joins us on the phone.

Thanks for your time today. We know it's about 10:00 in the morning in Mecca. Just tell us what you're hearing about the death rate and the casualties. Are the numbers steady or have they risen?

KHALID AL-MAEENA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SAUDI GAZETTE (via telephone): Well, the latest was 107. Some more expected, usually in this kind of accident where you know some people succumb a day or two or maybe three or four days on. But all these people are now in the hospital. Care has been given to them. Many others are injured. So we do not know exactly how the death rate and the change at the end of the day and we hope it will not but the situation for these people are serious.

KINKADE: And this of course happened around 5:30 p.m. local time. Could we have seen a much higher death toll, had it happened at a different time during the day? AL-MAEENA: Oh, yes. Had it happened in the afternoon. Remember that yesterday was the Friday prayers which is the official ceremony for the Muslims on Friday. And had it happened at about 1:00, things would have been really bad because the mosque was full at that time.

Also, had it happened an hour later, this happened between 5:15 and 5:30. Had it happened at 6:30, the place would have been full of people. And I think the death toll could have gone into 1,000 or more.

KINKADE: Wow. Of course, we know millions of people are due to arrive in Mecca over the coming days for the Hajj.

Do you think those numbers will be reduced over concerns about safety given there are still so many cranes in and around the mosque.

AL-MAEENA: Yes. Those people coming from outside, I don't think they are going to change. Remember, the Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Many people save money for years to come.

But I think from those, within the kingdom, might have second thoughts. Not because of the cranes, but because a part of the Harem or the Grand Mosque would be blocked because of the safety question that comes up, the roof and from other areas. So I think there will be less people.

I know of a couple of people whom I called a few minutes ago and said they have changed their minds and may not go this year.

KINKADE: And we know this mosque has been a site of a number of tragedies in the past. The construction areas of course meant to make the mosque safer, is that right?

AL-MAEENA: Yes, the irony of it is it was being expanded and widened so that more and more people would come to Hajj. It already can house a million or something, within and outside the proximity, within close proximity of the mosque.

But some of these cranes outside also were for other buildings maybe. It has been said. But whatever it is I think the site of these cranes, you know, are going to cause some kind of fear on people. This happened also because -- due to an act of nature. Until the investigations are complete, we do not know. It will not know the exact cause.

But yesterday, Mecca had dust storm, sandstorm, rain, and, for the last three or four days, there has been inclement weather and it may have been causing some harm. The crane was hit by lightning. Although we cannot say at this moment whether it was this particular crane.

KINKADE: OK. Khalid Al-Maeena, thank you so much for joining us, from the "Saudi Gazette." We appreciate your time today.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now to talk about the weather. Now as you just heard, city officials claim it was, it crashed because of the weather. But clearly there is a lot of cranes still standing.

[03:05:07] DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Which I find interesting. So further investigation is really going to see if there was any other factors not just the weather, the strong winds and the thunderstorm that moved through.

But was it perhaps the crane not properly secured? Maybe it was on a slant. Maybe it was on an unsecured area. I mean, there's a lot of questions that still need to be addressed, Lynda. And the weather is definitely a factor.

Take a look at this video, first and foremost, because you can see just how bad the weather was. Winds whipping locally around the Grand Mosque, potentially up to 80 kilometers per hour. But if you come to the nano wall behind me, you can see some of the particulates being rain, dust, being mixed into the atmosphere all thanks to the strong winds. And that helped topple and allow for this crane to eventually fail.

But the big question is, again, why are all the other cranes still up when they also felt the subsequent wind gusts from this particular thunderstorm.

Take a look at this. Here is a satellite from the area. And you can see that counter-clockwise rotation. This is the Red Sea. Here's Mecca. This is Saudi Arabia. With low pressures that form this quickly, there is a very associated cold front with these particular low pressures. That is the trigger mechanism that allowed for this thunderstorm to develop.

When these thunderstorms formed, this quickly, there is an updraft and then a subsequent downdraft that spreads out in all directions. Once it reaches the surface of the earth. The cold pool of air can be seen with the temperature drop that happened within the two hour time span. That thunderstorm moved across Mecca and the Grand Mosque.

Take a look at this, local time. Roughly about 5:00 p.m. Remember, 5:23 was the time the crane collapsed. Then, two hours later. The temperature dropped over 15 degrees Celsius.

Again that cold pool of air spreading out in all directions. And with that cold pool of air can be significant wind gusts. Again, it's been clocked before at 50, 60 kilometers per hour. It's possible that local wind gusts in that area, easily up to 80 kilometers per hour.

And one more thing, Lynda, there are more thunderstorms in this area. Very abnormal to have this type of weather this time of the year because usually it's dry.

KINKADE: With more storms, you would have to be worried about the other cranes.

VAN DAM: That's right, exactly. Safety concern going forward.

KINKADE: Derek Van Dam, thank you very much.

VAN DAM: Thanks, Lynda.

KINKADE: Now this of course is not the first time the Grand Mosque has experienced disasters.

CNN's Isha Sesay reports.

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ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mecca's Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the world. It's often most crowded on Fridays, the Muslim weekly day of prayer.

The mosque surrounds Islam's holy site, the Kaaba. A massive, cube- shaped shrine visited by millions of worshippers every year. Most of them come during the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca due to begin later this month.

Performing the Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, required of every Muslim who is physically and financially able to make the journey, at least once in his or her life.

Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure to accommodate the huge numbers of people who take part in the Hajj. A massive expansion project is currently under way at the holy site, increasing the area of the Mosque by more than 400,000 square meters so it can accommodate some two million people at once.

The Saudis are also building new bridges, fly overs and tunnels around the site. The Hajj has largely been incident-free during the past few years, but a 2006 stampede killed at least 363 people. Another stampede in 2004 killed more than 250 Muslim pilgrims. The reason infrastructure improvements had helped make the Hajj safer in the past decade.

Isha Sesay, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Emergency officials in Japan are ordering nearly 185,000 people to move to safety because of historic flooding in the country's northeast. Those officials are also warning nearly three million people in the region to be prepared to evacuate if orders come. Rescues have been plucking families and sometimes pets from homes inundated by floodwaters.

Will Ripley joins us now from one of the hardest hit areas, Joso City, which is about 45 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.

And, Will, this is a massive rescue operation. And like so many other natural disasters there, the non-combat self defense force seems to be playing a very important role.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right, Lynda. The Japanese Self Defense Force is very highly trained to deal with natural disasters in a country that is very prone to them, by the way. Think about everything that happens. We even had a moderate-size earthquake that we felt here in Joso City earlier today. Earthquake, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and of course, floods and landslides.

That's why you see the self defense force units and they quickly deploy their fast force, the first action support teams. And these teams, what they are train to do is to respond and so you're seeing that response right here. These convoy of SDF vehicles.

[03:15:22] And they have been sending out boat rescue teams. They have been distributing food and water and medicine. There are military doctors as well. All of it, Lynda, to try to make sure that people safely endures these types of disaster.

And we saw a family earlier today. They had been safely rescued from the flood, but their dog was left behind. Their dog, Choppy (ph), was standing on a pile of logs as they were evacuating. They couldn't get to her. They asked the troops today to go back in and rescue. And we saw the rescue happen. It was very emotional. Their 85-year-old parents hugged this little pup. Everybody was crying. And we asked them about the ordeal that they have been going through.

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HITOSHI HIROSE, JOSO CITY RESIDENT (via translator): The water was all the way up to my chest when they went to my garden. Up to their neck. Maybe two meters.

RIPLEY: Will you be able to salvage your home?

RICHIKO HIROSE, JOSO CITY RESIDENT: No, we couldn't take anything. It took only five minutes for the water to rise from my feet to my chest.

H. HIROSE: We could only save ourselves. Nothing else.

RIPLEY: What have these past few days been like for you two?

H. HIROSE: I could not sleep at all. I worried about my home. I worried about our dog being left alone.

R. HIROSE: It's enough that she is alive. That's really enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Lynda, there are still more than a dozen people who are missing here. And that is why you continue to see this operation. You see that marine amphibious vehicle right there ready to head back out and continue to search.

Lynda?

KINKADE: And, Will, officials are asking almost 3 million to prepare to evacuate. Where are they supposed to go?

RIPLEY: At this point the people who received evacuation advisories are probably not people who are going to fill the 100 emergency centers that had been set up and are taking care of thousands of people who received actual evacuation orders. More than 183,000 of those.

The advisory is intended to let people know that even though the weather is sunny right now, there could be rain in the forecast. In fact, there is a bit more rain in the forecast for Joso City tomorrow.

And the rain on waterlogged ground because it has been raining in Japan for the better part of the last month could mean the potential for more flooding. We have seen various rivers overflow their banks in several prefectures and that problem could continue if it does if there is heavy rainfall.

So that's why these people have advisories to get their belongings together, to have a plan in place if they do need to evacuate. Because as we saw, people often had just minutes or even less, sometimes seconds before the water started rising in their homes.

KINKADE: OK. Hopefully the rain holds off there for a bit longer.

Will Ripley in Joso City, thank you very much for your report.

KINKADE: Australia has joins the fight against ISIS in Syria. The Defense Ministry says its war planes crossed into eastern Syria this weekend for the first time. The Hornets were looking for enemy activity. Defense officials say the planes returned safely.

Hungary is hurriedly working to finish a fence by October to stop the influx of refugees across its border. The barbed wire fence going up along the border of Serbia is 175 kilometers long and 4 meters high. United Nations Refugee Agency says 3,000 refugees and migrants cross into Hungary every day from Serbia. And it does not agree with Hungary's building of this fence.

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BABAR BALOCH, SPOKESMAN, UNHCR: We think that a fence or a wall is not an answer to the refugee crisis. Under international law and under European law, if you're coming to a European country trying to seek asylum, it is allowed. That doesn't serve the purpose in terms of trying to keep out refugee population because even if there is a fence or no fence, under international law, these people should be allowed to have access to the asylum process inside Hungary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: A video of migrants scrambling for food in Hungary has now sparked an investigation. You've seen the vision of food being thrown to a crowd of men, women, children. Some of them say they were treated like animals.

The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stands by his country's police force. He says they've done an excellent job handling people who he says refuses to cooperate with authorities.

Two matches are being plan today in Europe to show support for migrants and refugees. In just a few hours, more than 80,000 people are expected to march to London's Downing St. And, later, in Madrid, a march is planned from the city's major train station to Spain's Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Demonstrators are calling on the Spanish government to welcome refugees to the country.

[03:15:00] Still to come now that the Iran nuclear deal appears to be nearing reality, Iranians are daring to be optimistic. We'll go live to Tehran for more on the mood there. Stay with us.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Richard Quest and this is the business headlines.

Goldman Sachs is warning oil prices could fall to $20 a barrel. It says falling demand and an oversupply of crude will persist into next year.

The International Energy Agency is also predicting by the end of 2016, oil production from none OPEC countries will see its biggest drop in two decades. The supply cut was triggered by Saudi Arabia's decision to keep OPEC output high.

Markets in the United States finished the week higher. The best for eight weeks. The Dow at a 102 points after another week of volatility. Investors are looking ahead to next week's meeting of the Fed, where rates may be raised for the first time in 11 years. Speaking to me on "Quest Means Business," Mohamed El-Erian said markets shouldn't fear a rise in rates.

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MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR, ALLIANZ: Markets can't look beyond the first step. If they look at the journey, if they've look at what is coming afterwards, this will be the loosest tightening. But for some reason, they're obsessed with the first move.

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QUEST: The Bank of Russia has left interest rates unchanged after a spate of cuts this year. The Central Bank held the key rate at 11 percent in line with consensus. In a statement, they cited the declining rouble saying it risked fueling inflation.

You are up-to-date. Those are the business headlines. I'm Richard Quest in New York.

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KINKADE: Across the United States, people mark the anniversary of the deadliest terror attacks on American soil. The September 11th attack happened 14 years ago on Friday.

In New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ceremonies honored the nearly 3,000 people whose lives were cut short on that unforgettable day. Here is a look at some of the sights and sound of the memorials. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is a solemn day. I started my day commemorating 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beloved Sean Gordon Corbett O'Neill. We think of you every single day. Your light and spirit shines so brightly through our daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the iconic words, let's roll. The passengers of flight 93 stormed the cockpit, altered the course of history that day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My father Donald Freeman Green.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our son and brother Richard Jake Wadagnum (ph).

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a tough day for all of you who lost buddies, lost friends, it's even tougher for the family members. When you go through this, year after year, it doesn't matter it's 14 years or 40 years. It brings back memories as if they happened five minutes ago.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: My uncle, Michael Boil (ph), I wish I could meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother, Maxima Jean Pierre (ph), we love you and miss you. And pray that all of you will instil this in your heart. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chris, there is not a day that goes by that we don't miss you and think about you. You are in our hearts forever. Keep looking over us. God bless you. God bless everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: The Obama administration is expected to begin implementing terms of the nuclear deal with Iran later this month. Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Friday hold two votes aimed at airing the majorities of the pact. The votes were only symbolic coming one day after the Senate secured the deal's future.

For more, let's bring in CNN international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen who joins us now from Tehran.

And, Fred, no doubt President Obama will sleep a little easier now that the campaign to derail the nuclear agreement is all but over. There must also be quite a few people in Iran that are relieved.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're certainly are. I think a lot of people here in Iran are going to sleep a lot easier knowing that this deal is going to come through as well.

However, Lynda, the public response so far to what went down in Congress over the past couple of days has been fairly muted. At least as far as the official side is concerned. There is no doubt, that the vast majority of the people here in Iran certainly support the nuclear agreement. Of course, first foremost, looking towards sanctions relief and especially foreign direct investment coming into Iran. Hoping to jump-start this country's economy. But at the same time, there are some hard-liners here in this country who are very powerful politically who feel that Iran did not get a fair deal in all of this.

They feel that the Iranians gave up too much. You're talking especially about the conservative clerics. They're also talking though about many people on the upper echelons of the military who wanted to get more relief as far as being able to purchase new weapons systems is concerned.

So the deal as controversial as it is in America, also does have its critics here in Iran as well. So what you have seen here is that you do have people who support the deal very much. But, certainly, the response to what happened in Congress has been quite muted. But I do believe that people here, a vast majority of them are also looking more optimistically now than they probably were a couple of days ago.

KINKADE: And, Fred, the victory, if you can call it that, in Congress, comes not long after Iran's Grand Ayatollah warned there would be no Israel in 25 years.

We know, of course, some of the conditions of this agreement will remain in place for 25 years and then it ends. What should we make of those comments?

PLEITGEN: Well, look, I think one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that Iran like the U.S. and pretty much, every other country is a country that has politics. And the politics here in Iran are very tough. They're very fractured. And they are actually quite divided as well.

So if you look at those kind of comments from the supreme leader, most of that will be to assure his own constituency that there is not going to be a major policy shift. It's interesting, because he said two things.

On the one hand, he made those Israel comments. On the other hand, he also said that to him, the United States is still the great Satan and that there would be no negotiations with the U.S. over any other issues except the nuclear agreement. That's not really what we have been hearing from some Iranian officials. But we have been hearing from some people in the Foreign Ministry, also in the parliament as well. It's that they believe that simply the fact that the U.S. and Iran talked to each other directly, for such an extended period of time could also open the path for talks in other areas as well.

You are talking, of course, first and foremost, about fighting terrorism, about the war in Syria, about the battle against ISIS. So those are things where at least the two side have started talking again. If you look at the comments from the supreme leader, his main constituency, is really the hard line conservatives here in this country. And as we've said, they are the ones who feel that maybe the country hasn't gotten enough out of the nuclear agreement. And they certainly want to be reassured that there are not going to be any major policy shifts going forward at least in the near term future, Lynda.

KINKADE: OK, some good analysis there. Frederik Pleitgen in Tehran, thank you.

In U.S. politics, Former Texas Governor Rick Perry is dropping his bid for the White House. He is the first well-known candidate to pull out of the crowded Republican race. Perry made the announcement on Friday in St. Louis, Missouri where he also took a not-so-subtle swipe at Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.

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[19:00:00] GOV. RICK PERRY, (R-TX) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot indulge nativist appeals that divide the nation further. The answer to our current divider-in-chief is not to elect a Republican divider-in-chief.

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[03:25:26] KINKADE: Perry has been near the bottom of opinion polls during his presidential campaign which lasted just 100 days.

Serena Williams's hopes for a calendar year Grand Slam in 2015 have been crushed. The U.S. Open win would have given tennis' top-ranked player the fourth Grand Slam tournament victory in 2015 to match Steffi Graf's feat in 1988.

Williams was upset Friday in her semi-final match with Italy's Roberta Vinci. Vinci will meet fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta in Saturday's final.

On the men's side, second seed Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated countryman Stan Wawrinka in their semi-final match. Federer will face top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's final on Sunday.

In Washington, Apple's voice command service known as Siri chimed in to answer a reporter's question about U.S. policy on Iran. The interruption came during a White House press briefing on Thursday. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Is the president upset that he couldn't get even one Republican --

SIRI: I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you want me to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: The reporters joked was unclear whether the gadget was speaking on behalf of the White House.

Thanks so much for joining us, I'm Lynda Kinkade. I'll be back with your headlines in just a moment.

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