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62 People Confirmed Dead After FlyDubai Jet Crashes in Russia; Police Captured Paris Attack Suspect, Salah Abdeslam, Friday; Republican Movement to Stop Trump Continues. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired March 19, 2016 - 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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[03:00:12] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: 62 people are confirmed dead after a FlyDubai jet crashes by the land in southern Russia.

A key suspect in last year's Paris terror attack was caught by a police in Belgium while authorities believe he could be holding more crucial information.

And Donald Trump fears (ph) up more trouble with the Republican establishment. We'll tell you what he said about former presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Romney's home state.

It's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live from Atlanta. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

And we start with our breaking news out of Russia. There are no survivors on the crash of FlyDubai Flight 981, which went down in southern Russia. State media say, this video shows the moment of the crash there in the distance and the fireball which occurred afterwards.

CNN cannot independently confirm that that's what we're seeing. But, the flight was coming from Dubai. It crashed on its second attempt to land after circling the airport for nearly two hours in snowy, very windy weather.

For more on this, we have Matthew Chance following developments in Moscow. And CNN Producer John Jensen is in Dubai. Let's begin with you Matthew on the latest developments there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Natalie. Well, you're right. I mean its 62 people now that have been confirmed dead. There were no survivors in this crash, this FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 all route to the Russian City of Rostov-on-Don from Dubai, and carrying 55 passengers and 7 crew.

The governor of the Rostov area and, of course, crash investigators are on the ground now. There are some 700 salvaged personnel on the ground including large amounts of equipment that's been taken in as well to clear the runway because the plane that crashed just short of the runway in Rostov-on-Don about 250 meters back from it. In fact, in very heavy weather conditions and its weather, which the governor of the region has now said is the main focus of the investigation. They've got formally ruled out any other cause by pilot error or even terrorism. But, the thrust of the investigation at this point is on the fact that there was such severe weather in the region. There were pretty high gusts of winds, visibility was relatively low.

There was a snowstorm and rain showers in the area as well. And that already been an attempted landing by this aircraft before it crashed. It tried to land once and it aborted that landing because of the poor weather conditions.

And it then circled for about two hours around the airport before attempting a second landing during, which it -- the pilot lost control and the aircraft crashed killing all the passengers and crew onboard.

And so, they're still trying to recover the flight data recorders and the voice -- the cockpit voice recorders as well. And it's really only after that has been -- those items have been reclaimed and salvaged and interpreted. They will get a full picture of exactly what happened in this FlyDubai, aircraft crashing in Rostov-on-Don.

ALLEN: That's a tragedy. And Matthew, you had said earlier when we were talking that another airplane also aborted landing at that airplane, but it diverted.

CHANCE: Yeah, that's right. I mean, there are all sorts of questions now being raised as to why the crew of this FlyDubai Boeing 737 did not do the same because a previous airliner, a short distance before, this aircraft had already diverted to what the neighboring city of Krasnodar, which is about a 140 or so miles, 250 kilometers or so, away from Rostov-on-Don.

It diverted -- this air -- flight -- diverted its flight path went and landed quite safely at Krasnodar Airport. But, the crew of this FlyDubai 737 decided to circle the airport. They circled two hours before they attempted that second and fatal landing.

And so, there are going to be questions about why that decision was taken, and why the crew didn't divert like the other plane did to a safe landing in Krasnodar.

ALLEN: All right, Matthew Chance for us there live in Moscow where it's 10:00 in the morning.

Now, let's get more on the conditions of this plane -- excuse me, more on the plane with Jon Jensen there for us in Dubai. Jon, what do you know about the record of this airline and what did they said about this tragedy?

JON JENSEN, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Natalie, it's a relatively new airline. They started flying in 2009 and a very safe airline.

[03:05:02] But, one bit of news we have learned in the past few moments from FlyDubai in a statement posted on their Facebook page, they have confirmed the nationalities of the 55 passengers. There were 44 Russians onboard, eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one person from Uzbekistan.

And the statement went on to say at this moment, our thoughts and prayers with the families and passengers and crew who are onboard the aircraft.

Natalie, I was just at Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport where flight 981 originated and it appeared as if it was business as usual. There were a number of passengers getting ready to fly on other flights. One representative for the airline told me that none of their other flights have been canceled or delayed. Everything is moving on as normal.

However, behind the scenes, it's clear that the airline is scrambling in their emergency response to this crisis. They have setup a number of telephone lines to get information to family and friends of those affected by this tragedy. The CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith of FlyDubai said in a statement that, "Everyone at the airline is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the family."

As I mentioned, it's a relatively new airline. It's got a great record. There have been no major incidents and they operate this plane all the time. It's the only plane in their livery, it's the Boeing 737-800 and they had been flying to this airport in southern Russia for the past two and a half years or so. Natalie.

ALLEN: And we know there were, what, 7 crew members on board, is that pretty typical for this type of airplane?

JENSEN: It is absolutely typical for a 737. Now, importantly, the airline has not yet told us the nationalities of the crew. We are still chasing it. But, to the airline or itself, yeah, as I mentioned, they have 50 or so in their livery. They've got another order for 75 more. It's a very modern, very advanced aircraft that -- has a fairly good safety record.

And, as I mentioned, the airline flies this airport consistently, twice a week. So, these conditions would be -- those that the airline and pilots for this airline had seen before. Natalie.

ALLEN: We thank you, Jon Jensen for us following developments there from Dubai.

We want to go now to CNN Aviation Correspondent and host of "Quest Means Business" Richard Quest. He flew with FlyDubai as part of his round the world journey. We've been covering over the past week.

He joins us on the phone from Los Angeles where he just landed. And I know Richard that they've told that during your round the world budget plane travel, you did fly on FlyDubai.

RICHARD QUEST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" HOST: Oh, absolutely. Good evening, Natalie.

And we took FlyDubai's flight from Prague to Dubai where I also spent some time with the chief executive of FlyDubai, Ghaith Al Ghaith to discuss the airline. Basically, it's growth strategy. It's the model of the low cost carrier.

FlyDubai is one of these new breed low cost carriers that are springing up around the world. And there are couples of them in the gulf region and the Middle East that are designed if you like to open up new routes, exactly the sort of route that we're talking about to Russia.

And, in fact, Russia has been one of the great growth areas for FlyDubai in recent years. Slightly lesser with the economic problems, but Russia is one of their main destinations for the fleet of 50-737 that Jon Jensen was just talking about, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes. But it's unfortunate, Richard, that he said this airline relatively new, started in 2009.

QUEST: Well, yeah. I mean ...

ALLEN: Yup.

QUEST: ... that FlyDubai, it's a relatively new airline but its pedigree is extremely strong. It is owned in the setup by the same people of Dubai government, basically, but also owned Emirates Airlines.

So, you know, even the CEO, most of the manager and the senior managerial staff have come from Emirates Airlines. The FlyDubai relied in many ways on Emirates in its early days.

So, the idea, that sort of -- it's a brand new airline, it's certainly true. But, it does come with a well and it active (ph) experienced at the managerial level.

Now, the issue here, Natalie, well, quite clearly at this early stage being why the pilots attempted a second landing in a pooling condition and didn't go to the alternate airport. And my gut-feeling says that's where this is going to head out to, all things being equal.

ALLEN: Richard Quest, for us. Thank you very much. I know that you've been on this round the world trip, bringing attention to budget airlines being the new thing and in FlyDubai, certainly, a leader there.

[03:10:06] Thank you so much, Richard Quest talking with us from Los Angeles.

Well, we want to talk more about this weather conditions. Richard just mentioned it. That's what we've been focusing on. Learning that this plane was making a second attempt to land after more than two hours circling after it aborted its first attempt.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has some radar tracking data that is quite compelling to show what the crew was up against trying to find a way to land, Derek. DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. I think Richard Quest nailed this one perfectly in his last statement there just saying, why after their first attempt, didn't they divert to another airport, Natalie.

And they probably could've quite easily taken a lesson from a different flight, SU 1166, which we have tracked just behind me here that was circling the Rostov-on-Don region and it made three landing attempts, realized that the weather was not conducive to landing the airplane and flew south and were diverted to a different airport. Unfortunately, that was not the case with flight 981.

Let's take a look at the flight path of this particular flight before it made its crash. You can see its first attempt to land, that's when it realized that the weather was too tricky. The winds were very strong. We have METAR codes that airlines and meteorologist use to decipher the weather information at that exact time when it made its first landing attempt.

And the METAR code indicated wind gust of over 90 kilometers per hour or 25 meters per second. There were also rain showers in the area, perhaps, mixed in with snow. You can see how it circled around the Rostov-on-Don region before making the failed second attempt.

I've got a very interesting graph to show you that clocks out the last 60 seconds of the doomed airliner to show you the actions made by the pilot. So, this is courtesy of Flightradar24.

I'll do my best to explain this for you. What you're looking at here, on the bottom of the screen, is this blue line. That is the altitude. The orange line is the speed of the aircraft.

What we saw, this is the last 60 seconds. So this is just immediately after the second failed landing attempt where there have been reports that the back tail of the plane, actually, clipped the ground. It appears as if they sped up quite considerably. The altitude rose quite high, up to around 4,000 feet above sea level.

As I move to the other side of the screen, you can see the last 10 or 15 seconds, it took a nose dive and literally dropped almost 4,000 feet. And what was doomed last 10 seconds of the airplane before it eventually crashed. Shows that, perhaps, there was some sort of corrective measures that the pilots were trying to undertake to correct the plane, unfortunately, it was a failed attempt, Natalie.

ALLEN: All right. Yes, we know, 62 people died. Thank you, Derek. It's a very compelling radar you have there. We appreciate it.

VAN DAM: You're welcome.

ALLEN: We want to turn now to Belgium. Our other top story, the arrest of the Europe's most wanted man. Police captured Paris attack suspect, Salah Abdeslam, Friday, during an anti-terror raid in a Brussels' suburb.

The officials say he's wounded, was shot in the leg, but alive. Authorities arrested a total of five people including three from the family suspected of hiding Abdeslam. Abdeslam had been on the run since November's coordinated terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Now that he has been captured, the big question is, will he talk? Our CNN's Brian Todd reports to 26-year-old could reveal a wealth of information about the Paris terror attacks and more possible plots, targets and personnel.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic shootout in a top European capital and a major victory for counter terror forces. Salah Abdeslam, a chief suspect in the Paris attacks. He was shot in the leg in Brussels, but captured alive.

CHARLES MICHEL, BELGIANPRIME MINISTER (via translator): It is a very intense work that has been undertaken today.

TODD: The 26-year-old who'd once served jail time with Paris attack plotter Abdelhamid Abaaoud had almost been caught three days earlier. The Belgian prosecutor says his fingerprints and DNA were found after a raid on another Brussels apartment earlier this week.

During that operation, a Belgian sniper shot and killed Mohamed Belkaid, a militant belief to have directed the November 13th attacks in Paris by phone. Analyst believed Belkaid had helped Salah Abdeslam hide in Brussels. With Abdeslam's capture, one of the most intense manhunts in law enforcement history ends successfully.

[03:15:06] PAUL CRUICKSHANK CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is a very significant breakthrough for Belgian Security Services. He's been on the run four months, there was concern in the wake of the Paris attacks that he would carry out a following attack somewhere in Belgium, somewhere in Europe.

TODD: Just before 9:00 in Paris on the evening of November 13th, investigators believe at that moment Salah Abdeslam, driving a black Renault Clio dropped off three suicide bombers at the Stade de France. Abdeslam's brother, Brahim, was identified as another suicide bomber at another location in Paris that night.

Official say Salah Abdeslam likely had an order to attack himself and wore a suicide belt. Although his believe toward had more volatile temperament than his brother, Salah decided not to follow his orders.

CRUICKSHANK: He had not go through with that operation for whatever combination of reasons. Perhaps there was a malfunction with his device. Authorities also suspect the majors of checking down not wanted to go through with it.

TODD: Later that night, Salah Abdeslam, was whisk away from Paris by two friends. Near the Belgium border they came through police check points, but because Abdeslam had not yet been identified as one of the Paris suspects he was allowed to go on his way, then friend and fellow operatives helps Salah Abdeslam melt away in the Belgian capital.

Now, analysts say Abdeslam's capture could help European counter terror forces in two ways.

First, if Abdeslam was part of another force coming plot that threat can now be neutralized. And Abdeslam can be a great source of intelligence on the wider network behind the Paris attacks.

Experts say there are still suspects at large in that plot some of them operating on European soil. Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

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ALLEN: The Republican movement to stop Donald Trump speaking up team as a party leader announces his vote is going to another candidate. We have Trump's reaction to that.

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ALLEN: Return to the U.S. race for the White House were protesters turned out for Donald Trump's rally in South Lake City, Utah. Crowds outside try to bridge the entrance before the doors were abruptly close by secret service.

It comes to this one week after the threat of clashes force, the Republican front-runner to cancel a rally in Chicago. Inside the event, Trump win after 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney after Romney announced he'll be voting for Ted Cruz.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody is so amazing and do I love the Mormons, OK, who I love the Mormons. I have many friends that live in South Lake. I have a lot of friend.

[03:20:02] No, I have a lot of friend. By the way, Mitt Romney is not one of him. Did he joke? Did this guy joke? He is the joke artist. I can't believe. Are you sure he's a Mormons? Are we sure? He joke, he joke, it was so sad. He should have beat Obama.

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ALLEN: Will the effort to block Donald Trump from getting the nomination had accelerated in just the past week, but is it too late? What's undeniably clear is that Trump has sparked an identity crisis in the Republican Party. And he's not the first rouge candidate to do so as we learn from CNN's Dana Bash.

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DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Love him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -- Donald Trump or nobody.

BASH: Or hate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to see Donald Trump get in.

BASH: Donald Trump is leading a re-alignment of the Republican Party. TRUMP: It's a movement.

BASH: One stop Trump forces warn poses an existential threat to the gradual party.

LINDSEY GRAHAM, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Big contest for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. I think if we nominate Mr. Trump we'll lose our heart and our soul.

BASH: People say that this is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, do you agree?

STEPHEN MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVSOR: Absolutely.

BASH: But, Trump advisor Stephen Miller insists it's for the better.

MILLER: Lindsey Graham's Republican Party is a Republican Party of more foreign wars, of large scale wage suppressing immigration and trade deals that send our manufacturing jobs overseas. That is not a long term recipe for growth.

TRUMP: So incredible.

BASH: Some scholars compare this Republican identity crisis to the one in 1964 when Barry Goldwater was on the ticket.

Until then, the GOP was the Civil Right Party of Abraham Lincoln. But, Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

BARRY GOLDWATER, OPPOSED CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964: I will never vote for Republican nomination cause in any civil rights bill because I think it's unconstitutional.

BASH: Party leaders inside the 1964 Republican Convention work against him. And protesters outside in the street warned Goldwater wouldn't just ruin the GOP but the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am compelled towards the Negroes and all people of good world who vote against him. This election would be a tragedy and suddenly suicidal almost for the nation and the world.

BASH: Back in 1964, George Romney said about Goldwater what his son Mitt Romney is now saying about Donald Trump.

MITT ROMNEY, 2012 U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee the prospect for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished.

BASH: But Trump supporters argue American anger he's tapping in to stance from decades long Republican orthodoxy that left workers behind from free trade to military intervention.

MILLER: If the voters are ignored long enough they're going to force change unto the party.

BASH: Which you think is what exactly what will happen now? MILLER: Which was happening now.

BASH: To be sure, frustration with the Republican establishment has been brewing for sometime. Showing itself with the Tea Party movement and propelling half GOP disruptors like Rand Paul's presidential campaign.

RAND PAUL, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So they're terrified of competition, now the establishment has competition really look strong. There's a lot of people behind Trump. So, this is a big problem for them.

BASH: Conservative activist meeting in Washington this week talked about abandoning the GOP for another party if Trump becomes Republican nominee. He and Trump is already urging against that arguing for that old Republican big tent.

TRUMP: I think as we go down the line I think things will happen and there will be a healing process. But, this has been a very rough one.

BASH: A rare understatement from Donald Trump.

Dana Bash, CNN Washington.

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ALLEN: We'll be seeing all of the candidates here on CNN. Be sure to tune in to CNN Tuesday at midnight that's London time, all five remaining presidential candidates Democrats and Republicans will be sitting down with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, five conversations one night here on CNN.

Well, after months of nightmares, an orphan Palestinian child who survived a horrific attack inside the home able to make some of his dream come true with this fabulous opportunity. We'll have that story, next.

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[03:26:36] ALLEN: A Palestinian boy whose parents and brother were killed in a fire bomb attack made a trip to Spain where he got to meet his favorite football club this week. CNN's Oren Lieberman has more on this brave young boy's visit with Real Madrid.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cristiano Ronaldo bringing life to a face that's been shrouded in agony, five year old Ahmed Dawabsha meeting the stars of Real Madrid. The Palestinian boy mingling with his favorite football club and his team jersey who's grandfather during the time just as much as (inaudible).

The dream of this young Palestinian boy came true after months of nightmares.

On July 31st, a suspected Jewish extremist fire bomb to Dawabsha family home in the town of Duma in the West Bank. Ahmed's parents and baby brother were killed in the attack.

Ahmed who had burns over 80 percent of his body was in the hospital for months. He didn't know what happened to his family. Hospital feared it would be too much for this young boy to bear.

Before he was even out of the hospital his extended family put into request for him to meet Real Madrid. It was a way of giving him a goal something to look forward to.

He walked onto the pitch of Santiago Bernabeu, off the grass beneath his shoes and admired the stadium of stars, the burn scars still very visible on his head.

The dream of a new beginning for Ahmed starts with the shared smile and the game whose goal is to bring happiness.

Oren Liebermann, CNN Jerusalem.

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ALLEN: And that's CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.

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