Return to Transcripts main page

Breaking News

Greyhound Bus Accident in Tennessee

Aired October 03, 2001 - 08:23   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to bring you all up to date on the Greyhound bus crash south of Nashville earlier this morning. We're going to go to the White House for Major Garrett's input on that.

But before we do that, I just want to remind you the president is now on his way to the New York area. He'll be boarding Marine One and then head for a jet. He will be meeting with a bunch of business officials from New York City, as well as the mayor of New York City.

And, Major, the mayor this morning would not confirm exactly what he'd be asking the president for, but there certainly is a big budget gap here in New York City. There is talk of curtailing all kinds of city services. So it will be interesting to see what Rudy asks the president for today -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Paula.

But let me give you the latest information CNN has obtained from the Department of Transportation about the developing situation in Manchester, Tennessee with that Greyhound bus crash.

I just got off the phone with Chet Lunner, who is the chief spokesman for Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta. And he said that there is a high level response team at the Department of Transportation analyzing all of the data from Manchester, Tennessee.

And this is a direct quote from Chet Lunner: "We don't have any indication throughout our system that this is part of a pattern." Meaning that this crash, which was allegedly set in motion by a passenger slitting the throat of the driver of that Greyhound bus, the Department of Transportation at this moment -- quote -- again, "We do not have any indication throughout our system that this is part of a pattern."

I asked Chet Lunner how he knew that, and he said that the Department of Transportation since September 11 has set up a crisis management center, which tries to analyze all data from all of the various transportation sectors throughout the U.S. economy to see if there are any situations that are developing that require this kind of analysis. He said based on the information they have been able to develop so far, there is no sense that this is part of a larger pattern. I asked Chet Lunner if, in fact, the Department of Transportation at any time was contemplating sending out a warning or an advisory to other bus carriers in the United States to follow suit as Greyhound has and at least temporarily suspend service as a precaution, Chet Lunner said that is under review.

The Transportation Department may, in fact, release a statement later on this morning advising one way or the other on that key question.

So again to reiterate, Paula, the Department of Transportation monitoring the situation in Tennessee, has developed no information that this situation, where a bus crashed as a result of a passenger slitting the throat of the driver, is part of any larger pattern. And later on this morning, there very well may be a statement from the Department of Transportation advising other bus carriers in the United States one way or the other whether or not to suspend service at least as a precaution -- Paula.

ZAHN: I don't know, Major. If I'm sitting out there and I had plans to take a trip on a bus, this would make me really, really nervous.

Is there a concern among transportation officials that you would really be alarming people like this, particularly when they are telling you there doesn't seem to be any patterns involved here, at least what they know at the moment?

GARRETT: Well, they, like everyone else in the country right now, is clearly a bit on edge. But they are trying to develop the information as best they can. What information they have developed -- and it's early. We should all underscore the point that it's early. But what they've developed so far through this crisis management team offers no indication that this is part of a larger pattern.

As you can see there, we are now showing pictures of New York's -- oh, I'm sorry, forgive me -- of the scene in Manchester, Tennessee. There is no indication from the Transportation Department that it is part of a larger pattern, but they've got to try to get as much information as they can.

And if they're going to put out a statement, the Transportation Department, they want to make sure it's based on the best available information. Because as I'm sure you can imagine, other bus carriers are now asking themselves this very same question. Greyhound, a major bus carrier in this country, has already decided to suspend all services. They're probably wondering what they should do as well.

They're going to look to the Department of Transportation for some advice on this point. The Transportation Department is going to try to provide that advice just as soon as it can -- Paula.

ZAHN: Major Garrett, thanks so much for that report. And Miles and I are going to continue to talk about this for a second to try to share with you what we know at the moment, because this information has been changing throughout the morning. But I guess the -- an official at the Tennessee Transportation Department is now confirming that 10 people are dead. He is also confirming that the man who slit the driver's throat is among the dead. And now, contrary to earlier reports, they believe that the driver is, in fact, alive.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're looking at some live pictures here from our affiliate WSMV. This is Interstate 24 -- central Tennessee -- about halfway from Chattanooga to Nashville.

And just to bring our viewers up to date and for those of you who are just kind of joining in on all of this, what happened about 4:30 a.m. local time, Central Time there, so it would be 5:13 Eastern Time, a passenger on board this bus, after repeatedly asking the bus driver, according to witnesses on the bus, what time it was, became agitated, slit the throat of the bus driver, he slumped over, and the bus went into the median, flipped over, bringing us to the situation we have now.

Immediately subsequent to this, Greyhound made the decision to cease and desist all service this morning; 1,900 buses sent to terminals, taken off the road. The routes terminated abruptly.

ZAHN: And Major Garrett is now saying that the Transportation Department, even though it's saying right now that there doesn't seem to be any pattern at work here, that what is under review is potentially stopping other bus service across the country by other carriers.

O'BRIEN: All right. So some potentially ominous things here, but we have to keep it in perspective. A lot of this might be a reaction just to the overall atmosphere in this country. We don't have any direct evidence right now that this is part of any concerted effort. And to underscore one point that speaks louder than anything, we know of no other bus this morning that has been involved in any sort of incident along these lines.

ZAHN: But we will continue to bring you the details as they become available to us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.