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Obama Prepares to Address Congress; Update on Georgia Mass Murders; Plane Hijacked in Mexico

Aired September 09, 2009 - 15:00 ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This is a conversation. This is not a speech and it's always your turn to get involved.

On this day, I want you to think about this number as the president gets ready to address health care. The number is $375 million. This is the most ever spent to try and influence, some would say confuse, you, you, the American people.

Speaking of confused, listen to this precious moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

REP. JEAN SCHMIDT (R), OHIO: I agree with you, but the courts don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me. My bad. Sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, that is Ohio Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. One of the birthers indoctrinated with falsehoods that have been proven to be wrong, questions whether the president is a real American. That's that woman who's addressing that congresswoman there who eventually leans over.

What you will hear again -- in fact, I'm going to do this. I'm going to play it for you again. You will hear Schmidt whispers that she agrees with what the woman is saying. But the courts, they don't agree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am. (CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

REP. JEAN SCHMIDT (R), OHIO: I agree with you, but the courts don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me. My bad. Sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, it was just before the "my bad." That's where she said, "I agree with you, but the courts don't."

What courts? We have no clue, but we did have ask the congresswoman to come on and explain to us, to which she has responded that she doesn't want to.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GUY HEINZE, FAMILY MEMBER OF VICTIMS: My dad's dead.

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: How many people are there?

HEINZE: There's like six. My whole family's dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

HEINZE: It looks like they have been beat to death. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those the chilling words of Guy Heinze Jr., his cell phone call to 911. He's reporting a grisly mass murder in a cramped mobile home in a seaside Brunswick, Georgia, home, eight people dead today, yet another shocking development on this story that has really been filled with them, twists and turns.

Police are now saying all eight victims were essentially beaten to death, bludgeoned. No, they were not shot, as most thought. They were, as originally reported, bludgeoned to death, eight people beaten to death by a single assailant. And there's a ninth, a 3-year-old, who is in the hospital still on life support. That would mean this guy, Guy Heinze Jr. is his name, beat to death his father, beat to dead a teen with Down syndrome, and almost beat to death a 3-year-old while taking on everybody else. That's what the police are alleging.

And then he called 911. But how could he have done all of this alone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WILLIAM HEINZE, GRANDFATHER OF GUY HEINZE JR.: We want to know what really happened. The police may think they know what happened, but we want to know really the truth. And it couldn't be one person doing all that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There's a lot of people who agree with that. Think about it. How on earth could one man -- one man -- beat eight people to death in a cramped mobile home, and, again, nine if you count the 3-year-old on life support?

Do the police officers have this right?

To try and help us out on this, we have turned to the absolute best when it comes to this type of story. He's Dr. Cyril Wecht, forensic pathologist, consultant in scores of high-profile homicides. I will think you through some of them, Sharon Tate, JonBenet Ramsey, Sunny von Bulow, Vince Foster, and, more recently, Laci Peterson.

He joins us now from Pittsburgh.

Dr., good afternoon.

DR. CYRIL WECHT, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Good afternoon.

SANCHEZ: Have you ever in all your years and all the cases that you have handled seen anything that resembles this?

WECHT: No, not even multiple shootings where people can be dispatched with much moral lack alacrity.

I too am puzzled how this could be accomplished. And the only thing I can think of is that the individuals, the males with more physical strength, were eliminated first, rendered unconscious, if not beaten to death, and then the others were more or less helpless. Still, it begs the question of how this can be accomplished without anybody running out the door and so on. I do not know...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Let me just stop you there, Doctor, just for a moment, just so you and me together can share these pictures with the rest of the country who's watching right now and curious as we are.

Let's put those pictures up, Rog, if you got them. We have got some pictures of the crime scene itself. There's the outside. I don't know if you can see it, but I'm looking at a window which is half-open. There's a fan under it. Obviously, all you got to do is kick the fan and jump out the window. Then there's a porch with what appears to be a sliding glass door. There's another window on the other side and windows all throughout.

So, there are places to exit in an emergency. Why wouldn't someone exit?

WECHT: I don't know the proximity of any neighbors, both for visualization and for hearing any commotion.

The other thing that will be checked to be certain is the toxicological analyses. Were these people in some way drugged? That's a possibility, I think farfetched, but certainly to be accomplished.

The big thing here from a forensic, scientific standpoint is whether or not they can show one particular instrument was used. I doubt very much that he used a crowbar to kill A and then a baseball bat to kill B and then a ball-peen hammer to kill C and so on.

So, they're going to have to show I think one particular instrumentality having been used by the individual. They're also going to have to a complete absence of DNA for anybody else, hair, fiber, perspiration, blood, whatever.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: You mean an accomplice?

WECHT: Yes, an accomplice, exactly.

Now, if there is no DNA, I can't imagine that you could bludgeon people with that kind of physical contact, that kind of altercation without leaving some bit of forensic, scientific evidence, if only this man's forensic, scientific is there, although he lived there I believe too or he visited there at the very least, so that it's not a problem with his DNA being there, unless it is found where it should not be, like in wounds and things of that nature.

There's a lot more certainly to be disclosed about this case, but in the meantime, it certainly does raise a question as you have pointed out so clearly as to how eight people could be bludgeoned to death by one individual. It just...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: And you know what, Doctor? Nine if you include the 3- year-old that's still on life -- that's nine people. And the fact that you could sit there and bludgeon to death, like you said, with a crowbar or a baseball bat, we're not sure, your own father?

(CROSSTALK)

WECHT: What time of day was this?

SANCHEZ: That's a good question. And there's something else that comes into play, by the way, Doctor. Let's do this. I want to hear the 911 tape again. Maybe there's some clues that you can decipher in his voice, in his presentation, which seems to be slurred, somewhat erratic, if not strange. Let's listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Do you live there?

HEINZE: Yes, yes, I live here.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Did you just get home this morning?

HEINZE: Yes, I just got here.

911 OPERATOR: OK. When you came into the house, what did the house look like?

HEINZE: It looks like a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) murder scene!

911 OPERATOR: I understand that, but did somebody tear up everything, or they just beat up these people?

HEINZE: They, they, the people's beat. Everybody's dead.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "The people's beat."

I got to tell you, we had never seen this guy before. All we had done is heard his voice when we first heard this story. I thought he had some kind of problem, mental problem perhaps or something.

But it seems to me -- and I'm sure you would probably say the same thing -- it sounds like he's under the influence of something there, isn't he?

WECHT: Yes, I agree.

One has to be careful in inferring too much from speech patterns, et cetera.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

WECHT: Everybody reacts differently. But I would agree with you. The speech sounds very slurred and it strongly suggests alcohol and/or drugs, which would cause this kind of slurred speech.

I think that we have to learn more about his background. We have to learn more about his relationships with these people who were killed. And murder.

SANCHEZ: Well, I will tell you this, by the way. You asked me just a little while ago.

WECHT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: There's a possibility it could have happened overnight, because the phone call wasn't made until morning. So, I bet you would say that overnight killings are maybe more possible?

(CROSSTALK)

WECHT: Yes, yes.

If you have got people who are sound asleep and you very quickly go, not necessarily producing death with each one as you go from one to two and to number three and four and so on, but sufficient to produce unconsciousness, a degree of immobilization, a degree of lack of alertness, and ability to respond in any way, then you can go back and finish the job.

So, that will be interesting to see, too, the nature of the injuries, and how they relate to the positions of the bodies and, as I have said, and it bears repeating, the instrument that was used, because I think that's extremely important.

SANCHEZ: Toxicology results we're told are going to be back in somewhat like three months. In the meantime...

(CROSSTALK)

WECHT: Three months, that's...

SANCHEZ: It's a long time, isn't it?

WECHT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, we're going to be continuing to follow this fascinating story, as heinous as any murder that I have ever heard of before.

WECHT: Terrible.

SANCHEZ: And we're glad that we had Dr. Cyril Wecht to take us through it.

WECHT: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir.

WECHT: Thank you, sir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the most dangerous place in (INAUDIBLE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: This is an amazing piece of video that I'm going to be sharing with you. That's one of our own. That's Michael Ware. He was reporting on the Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and nearly lost his own life to an IED. You are going to watch this entire thing as it unfolds. It's kind of spooky.

Also, here's a question for you. How much did your voice matter to your congressman or your senator on health care during all those town hall meetings that were going on across the country? Or was it really much more having to do with money, the money that he or she may be getting to argue for or against this reform, regardless of what may be in your interests? I'm asking that question for a very serious reason and I know it's a very serious question. Wait until you hear the numbers that I have got for you on this, the money that's being spent to make sure health care reform is influenced one way or the other. Scary.

We will be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right, we have got some breaking news that I have to share with you right now which is somewhat perilous, as a matter of fact. It is a scary situation, one that none of us would ever want to find ourselves in.

Let me give you the details. You ready? We at CNN have just learned that a plane, an AeroMexico plane, a Boeing 747, with 104 people on board has been taken hostage. The people on board have been taken hostage.

The plane is hijacked. And the threat that the hijackers are making is that they will blow this plane up in midair, we presume, if they don't have an opportunity to speak to the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon.

This is taking place in Mexico City. All right, this is a news feed coming in now. You know what? I'm going to direct simultaneous translation for you. Hold on. Let's play it up and I will translate.

He seems to be saying -- just bad timing. The moment that I started listening to this, the announcer here at CNN started making the same announcement, and I can't hear over his voice. But what I think -- what I think I hear him saying is that they do think the plane is going to try and make some kind of landing.

All right, they're expecting some kind of landing in the south part of the airport. They have security arriving at the airport right now. This is coming in from the west, they say. Security forces and security vehicles are arriving now.

The airplane has been told to land on 27 left. They have hijacked an AeroMexico plane. It was going to land in Mexico. They have asked the pilot to go around seven times. The control tower received a call from the pilot saying the plane has been hijacked. The voice -- they want to speak to the president of Mexico, Calderon.

There are the security forces arriving at the airport now. He says they heard some accents in the cockpit that seemed to be either Colombian or Bolivian, Colombian or Bolivian.

The hijackers say they have an explosive on board, and they will use the explosive unless they are able to speak with the president. The plane has a capacity of 104 passengers. Now we're seeing the plane on the ground. He says they're seeing the plane on the ground. He says the plane has landed. He said that's the plane that was hijacked. He's saying that's the plane. Apparently, the plane is on the ground, the plane has touched down, but they're still on board and still apparently threatening to blow it up unless they talk to the president, Calderon.

So, the plane has landed. The plane has landed is what our -- TV Azteca is reporting at this point. As being reported by TV Azteca, the plane is on the ground. It came down on 27 right. Security forces and federal officials have now arrived at the airport and are getting ready to surround the plane.

They're arriving there where, if you're just joining us now on CNN, we're following a developing story. This is taking place in Mexico City at the international airport, where someone has taken a hostage, has landed it just moments ago, we just learned.

But they're still threatening to blow the plane up with some 104 passengers on board. We don't know if negotiations have started yet. The plane came in from Cancun, Mexico, due to arrive around 1:00 Mexico time there in Mexico City's international airport, the capital airport.

Let's listen to what the correspondent has to say here. He says there's now -- that police and federal security forces are amassing at the airport, but many of them are still arriving. And he says they expect even more people to be arriving at the zone soon.

These are the very first reports that are coming out of the airport now about this situation occurring now in Mexico City.

All right, we have got more -- we have got another correspondent now who's talked to one of the officials. Once again, she's reporting that 1:40 is when this happened. There is the plane that left Cancun -- you see it right there -- from the Yucatan Peninsula, due to arrive in Mexico City, 104 passengers, when it was, as you see there on that graphic (SPEAKING SPANISH) means plane hijacked.

They say the threat came from someone with a Bolivian or a Colombian accent. That's the second time we have heard that, by the way. We don't know if they're actually in the cockpit. As most of us know, those cockpit doors have been now secured.

There is the plane. There is a shot of the plane now for the first time, the actual plane that has been hijacked. They have made the plane land. They want it to go around seven times. That's what they had asked for. They said they wanted to circle the airport seven times while they talked to the president.

At this point, we don't know. Here's correspondent Lara (ph). She's explaining -- she's explaining that she's with the president, and the president is about to -- was scheduled to inaugurate a new hospital in Mexico City. That's President Felipe Calderon, of course.

She's also explaining that the president has not made a comment. With the next couple of moments, they are going to make a decision as to whether the president will be traveling or not. She said that his -- the president's spokesman there in Mexico says they're undecided, that they may be making a decision at any moment now whether they're going to be leaving for Campeche for a scheduled appearance the president was going to make.

It sounds like it's going to be canceled now as they decide what they're going to do with these hijackers and the 104 souls that are, I imagine, sweating bullets right now on board this plane.

Once again, she's now describing that she is where the president is -- the president was scheduled to go to Campeche -- and that there's a helicopter that has just arrived or just left. I'm not sure. I wasn't able to make the translation of what she explained. But she's talking about a helicopter arriving at the place where the presidential palace is, and that the president may be scheduled to go somewhere, but it might be canceled now.

That's the information they're getting from that latest correspondent from TV Azteca.

For those of you joining us here on CNN now, there's breaking news that is coming in to us from Mexico City. An airplane with 104 people on board, it's a 747, I understand, AeroMexico 747. We will check to see. It's starting to look like that's not a 747, by the way.

I think that is a -- is it? It's a 737. Thank you, Chris. It's a Boeing 737 from AeroMexico. We're getting you this information on the fly, literally. I'm translating what I'm hearing now from TV Azteca.

And I can tell you that it's a tough situation. A plane has landed. There are people on board who are hijackers who are threatening to -- no, that's not the plane -- who are threatening to blow up the plane. And they are saying that they will blow up the plane if President Felipe Calderon doesn't speak to the hijackers.

The hijackers are described from their accents as either being Bolivian or Colombian. Some delicate negotiations may soon be taking place here at Mexico City's airport.

Hold on. We have got new information coming on from a correspondent in Mexico. He's saying they're calling this an emergency of national significance. They say, among others, the secretary of transportation and some of the defense officials are now convening in Mexico to try and come up with some kind of decision as to how they're going to deal with this.

While we watch the tail of the plane -- see it right there. That's the tail of the plane. On board that plane are 104 people and we believe at least two, maybe more hijackers, who have taken over the plane, threatening to blow it up if they are not allowed to speak to President Felipe Calderon.

As we watch the story -- and we have been watching it now for about 20 minutes -- you see some of the security officials scurrying to the airport to try and deal with any eventuality -- we're also listening to some of the television correspondents and the anchors at TV Azteca as they explain it, all this of course happening in Spanish.

I'm trying my best to do the -- this simultaneous translation to bring you the information as it happens.

Three -- three hijackers, we're now hearing. And they say one of them is Bolivian. They say it's a bomb. They say it's a bomb in a box, a large box, that apparently is wrapped in brown paper. They say it's a brown box, that there's a bomb on board. Apparently, someone -- see it. They now say there are three hijackers. Three hijackers is what TV Azteca is reporting. And they confirmation that one of them is Bolivian, all of them wanting to speak to the president. We hear the phones going back in the office there as they try and get the information to us.

What's curious -- this again, for those of you joining us, Rick Sanchez at the world headquarters of CNN in Atlanta following what is a really difficult story to watch for the sake of those folks there in Mexico at the international airport, 104 of them on a plane, I imagine extremely nervous at this point, because we're told now there are three hijackers who are threatening to blow up the plane.

The plane has landed and is on the ground. Mexican security forces have been approaching the plane. We don't know just how close they're going to get or what they're going to do or what their strategy is.

We have learned that the president may be canceling some of his plans so that he can deal with this. We also heard that several ministers, minister of defense and the minister of transportation, are having meetings right now to decide what strategy they are going to use. I imagine part of it will be to confirm if in fact there is -- or are explosives on this plane.

But we have been learning quite a lot within the last 25 minutes as we monitor this report from TV Azteca. Now we see helicopters arriving there at the airport, not far from where the plane is. We don't know who's on board those helicopters.

It is curious at this point that there's still as much movement as there is at the airport. Usually, one would think that a lot of the traffic at the airport would be shut down. But, then again, if there's a plane coming in and it only has enough to get to this airport and it's scheduled to land, they have to let it land.

You notice we have seen more landings than we have seen takeoffs. So, I don't know what the next nearest airport is to the international airport there in -- in Mexico, but we do see quite a bit of movement. I believe this is file tape.

This is a live picture. Thanks, Chris. All right, we're looking at live pictures once again. We don't know if in fact this is -- who's on these helicopters who are arriving now. I'm told now that the font -- put that font up if you -- they just changed it. But you said that it said, Chris, three Bolivianos. All right.

Again, the information we got moments ago -- and really we have been getting this information to you as we have been learning it, as I listen to this in Spanish and translate for you -- is that the plane is on the ground, and we have also learned moments ago that they say there are three hijackers, three hijackers who have commandeered this plane and curiously enough are still on the plane.

Now we move back to showing you some of the videotape that we got moments ago. These are Mexican security forces arriving at the airport after learning that the plane had been hijacked and that there's a national emergency. That is how it's being described, a national emergency.

And now we're back to the live pictures that we have been getting from TV Azteca.

Again, I know many of you are just now joining us, getting home from work. You're catching us in the middle of developing news mode. This is a developing news story that's taking place right now at the airport in Mexico.

And I think -- all right, let's listen in, hold on.

We are -- it now is starting to look like they're starting to let some of the passengers off the plane. The correspondent is describing how some of the people have exited the plane and are entering buses.

Yes, they have started to release the passengers. Interesting how fast this story is moving. Members of security forces from the marines and from the army are there at the airport, he says, they have opened the door and some of the passengers are now being allowed to leave the plane.

On the left side of the plane, they are looking out the window now from the plane and they are removing -- they are removing some of the passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: He says, we can't hear you because you're breaking up. Let's go over this information once again. Are the hijackers being freed? Are the passengers being freed? He asks. How many passengers? How many passengers have been freed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We were able to see them leaving -- I was able to see at least 100 people, 100 people, he says. They have been put on buses and they have exited the scene. Cien, he said, 100 people.

They came on buses and we saw the pilot at the door, ground control was there. They came next to the bus and I watched the passengers exit. They looked tired, some were standing, some were sitting, but they got on the buses. And they were able to get away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Jose Ramon (ph), we're having serious problems, we can barely hear you, you're breaking up, says the anchor. A large number of passengers have been freed. Once again, all right, so this is the second time we have heard this now.

When you're doing simultaneous translation, you want to make sure you're getting this right and I want to do the best job I can for you folks at home. The anchor has just reiterated what I thought I had heard as well. That 100 people, according to the reporter who was watching this, 100 people have been freed, "liberado" is what he said, liberated, removed from the plane.

If our numbers are correct, then that pretty much brings this thing to a boil, because we had 104 reported on the plane, if three of them were hijackers, that's all but the pilot I would suppose.

We don't know if he has left, but it does look like most of them have been taken off the plane. Wow, this is amazing to watch.

Mike Brooks is joining us now, our law enforcement expert who has dealt with this kind of things in the past. This story is moving as fast as anything I have seen move in a long time, Mike Brooks.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It really is, Rick. I'm up in Boston right now. I was in a meeting and got word of this. And I was extremely surprised because if you look at security at different airports around the world, you really have not had anything like this happen for quite some time in Mexico City, and especially with the AeroMexico flight that is part of the United States SkyTeam Alliance that many people know that is headed up by Delta Air Lines now.

SANCHEZ: Flight 576 is what we hear now. We hadn't gotten the flight number. It's Flight 576. Angie (ph), tell me what AeroMexico is saying at this point, anything? Are they confirming?

All right. AeroMexico is not commenting at all on this story. I imagine they're busy taking care of the situation there at hand. The information that I'm bringing you is coming direct from reporters there at the scene.

Mike, I know that you probably know Latin American politics as well as I do, I have spent a big part of my life following these kinds of situations and we know that there has been no love lost between the Mexicans and the Colombians and the Bolivians. We know that there is a drug cartel which has been problematic.

We know that there have been indigenous wars that have developed between these countries. Does it look to you like a different brand of terrorism, maybe not the same kind of brand of terrorism that we in the United States refer to which often has its roots in the Middle East, but a different brand of terrorism that might be involved in this? BROOKS: You know, Rick, I was -- right before I joined you, I got off the phone with one of my FBI counterparts. They had just heard about what was going on down there, and they were reaching to the U.S. embassy there as well.

But they could not really say if it was any known terrorist group because we haven't heard any groups mentioned. You know, what first thing comes to mind when you talk about Colombia is the FARC or the ELN, but right now we have heard nothing of that nature to say, you know, if it's associated with a -- you know, an organized terror group, if you will, or if these are just (INAUDIBLE) for somebody who is disenfranchised with the Mexican government in a relationship between Mexico, Bolivia, and Colombia, we really don't know. It's still very early on right now.

SANCHEZ: Well, what's interesting about this is, you know, when we use the words "terrorism," there's a loose translation which means essentially "to terrorize," and I think there would be no doubt that whoever has commandeered this plane had the intent of terrorizing both the passengers on the plane and many other people who had planned to fly and certainly to directly affect the politics of President Calderon.

BROOK: I would totally agree with you, because if you look at, you know, the definition of terrorism, you know, the unlawful use of force intimidate or coerce a government or civilian population or any segment thereof and in the furtherance of political or social objectives. And that's what we're talking about with this and the government of Calderon, you're absolutely right.

SANCHEZ: Are you as surprised as I am that they were able to bring the plane down as quickly as they did and that they were able to get, if true, as reported by this one reporter at TV Azteca, who essentially said he was watching with his own eyes, that they had been able to get as many as 100 people off this plane, 100 passengers off this plane, that would leave just, I imagine, one person, perhaps the pilot and the three suspected hijackers?

BROOKS: Yes. I'm very surprised that that many hostages or those many people were released -- that many people were released. But one of the things I can tell you, Rick, is if they're still on board the plane, the captain, the captain of that aircraft, he or she will be the last one off. And that's usually the way things go.

Having worked I don't know how many different hijacking scenarios over the years, you know, and when working and training for instance, like this here in the United States, that's usually what we see.

SANCHEZ: Are you as curious as I am as to how, in this day and age, with all of the security efforts that we have taken to make sure the wrong people don't get on planes, and be -- to secure those cockpit doors to make sure that no one can get into that cockpit that someone was still able to do so or is there a difference between the standards international airlines use and the standards that we are used to seeing here in this country? BROOKS: No. I can tell you the standards for AeroMexico, because the SkyTeam, Rick, you know, as you recall after I retired I was actually with Delta Air Lines and there corporate security department for a number of years, and we would meet regularly with all of the SkyTeam members, you know, Alitalia, AeroMexico, Air France.

And we would talk about how to handle incidents like this and to make sure that the security was up to snuff. And (INAUDIBLE) they still to this day send the security officials from, you know, Delta to go to different international ports to make sure that the standards are met.

And there is a -- you know, they have the Air Transport Association (ph) here in the United States, and internationally it's called ICAO (ph), and they also stay on top of the standards internationally for different airlines.

SANCHEZ: Mike, let me ask you a question that I think I can't help but ask and it has to do with this time of the year every year where we ponder these types of things, I don't know if terrorists work related to dates, but we are just two days away from the anniversary of 9/11 -- by the way, we're seeing live pictures -- let me interrupt myself, we're seeing live pictures now of the troops on the ground there.

Troops on the ground for the very first time, surrounding what appears to be a helicopter. We're told the U.S. embassy is working with the Mexican government now to try and figure this one out, determine whose responsibility it was for this hijacking.

Mike, let me just ask this question, then I'll listen in once again. We're two days from the anniversary of 9/11. Is there anything going on in your head that makes you think that there may be any relationship at all to this?

BROOKS: You know, Rick, right now we really can't say that there is, but it's something that's always, always in the back of people's minds, especially when we get close to an anniversary because there are a number of different terrorist groups who have (INAUDIBLE) terrorism on anniversary dates of different acts. So I really can't say right now for sure.

SANCHEZ: Yes, well, I figured, it just may be important just to note it.

Let's listen in, these are pictures we haven't seen before. There's the plane, look at the relationship between the plane and the people who are there with security forces. And let me see if I can listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: They're doing an interview with a passenger. How did you know the plane had been hijacked? We learned from the pilot when he announced to us -- when he told us that everything was OK, "tranquilo," tranquil.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: This is a woman describing what it was like to be on that plane. It was very difficult, the whole scene was difficult, she says. But the pilot told us to remain calm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There were children on the plane, there were people coming back from vacations. The plane was full.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Was there ever a crisis? No, not, never, there was never a crisis on the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We were thinking that the plane must have been packed, and that's why we were circling and they weren't allowing us to land. But then, we saw the federal police forces arrive on the plane and people started taking their pictures. The plane was completely full.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: How long were you on the ground before they rescued you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We were sitting on the plane for 45 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: In those 45 minutes, did the hijackers say anything to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: No. He did not speak to us. He did not have any contact with the passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Thank you, Adriana Romero (ph), for taking us through that.

So there you have it. Interesting interview with one of the passengers who says that she didn't know. That she didn't know...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: I'm just listening to see if she adds something else. She is saying she wants everyone to know that she's OK and she wants her family to know that she's OK. The passengers say they had no contact with the hijackers. The hijackers never referred to them, never talked to them.

They were on the plane for 45 minutes after the plane came down and that the pilot never told them that there was a crisis, that there was a problem. The pilot told them that everything was under control, may have alluded to the fact once that they were going through some kind of hijacking situation.

Jill Dougherty is joining us now, she's in Washington, D.C.

I imagine, Jill, you have made contact with some of our folks at the State Department. What do they do in a situation like this?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, number one, they want to find out if there are Americans aboard. And so what they have been trying to do at -- just a few minutes ago, we understand that they did not yet have that manifest, and that manifest would show, Rick, of course, whether there were Americans aboard.

So they are in communication right now, the U.S. embassy in Mexico City is communicating with the Mexican government and also with the airlines trying to find out that information.

And essentially there are three things they want to know: are there Americans aboard? If so, how many might they be? They're also looking at who might be responsible for this. And then finally they want to know what U.S. agencies might be used to assist in all of this.

So it's very early and, as we said, we don't yet know from the State Department whether they indeed have that manifest and they certainly are not saying at this point whether there are Americans aboard.

SANCHEZ: It would almost be difficult to think that a plane can fly from Cancun to Mexico City without having at least one American on board, given its proximity to the United States and the fact that Cancun in and of itself, not to mention Mexico City, is one of the most favored tourist destinations for Americans, right?

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely. Yes. But, again, you have to pin these facts down, and that's the most important thing. They try to work very quickly, obviously this is, you know, a big embassy in Mexico and with the consulate, et cetera. So they will be working very, very hard, and then conveying that information back here to Foggy Bottom, to the State Department.

SANCHEZ: Jill Dougherty, thanks so much for bringing us up-to- date. Stand by, maybe we'll be able to get back to us, and certainly let me know if you have any new information on this story that is playing out right before our eyes.

Flight 576 hijacked in Mexico, has now arrived. It is there on the ground. We understand that all the passengers have been removed from the plane, 100 or so, as described by reporters. One of them has done an interview moments ago. We're hearing from another passenger. Let me see if I can pick this up for you and do a translation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: They did -- we were scared, we were frightened and there was a lot of fear at the time. But it seemed like things got under control once we came down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We were immediately surrounded as soon as we left the plane by the federal police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Did you get a chance to see the hijacker?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Yes, someone told me that -- someone told me it was him at the back of the line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: He was a very well-dressed man who was a passenger, he was just a normal passenger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There was nothing strange going on as far as we thought when we first landed. We had no idea what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Hold on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We have got the Mexican president -- we had the Mexican president. It sounds like they're trying to get an interview now with the spokesman for the president. Sounds like they were going to do an interview, but they lost communications, as we continue the interview with one of the passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Where was the commotion and was there any commotion? Was it going on in first class?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: No. We didn't see anything up there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: What happened in the front of the plane, we didn't see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We were in the middle of the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: It sounds like there may have been some commotion in the front of the plane, but this passenger said where she was, she never saw it, and didn't even know what was happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We're learning now the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has not left, is still in -- he was supposed to go to Campeche, but he's not going to Campeche, he has been delayed. And it sounds like he will be in his residence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Four helicopters have now landed at the airport. And the situation stays as it is. Mike Brooks still with us.

Mike, I still haven't been able to figure out, frankly, as much as I have been listening and trying to translate what's going on, whether the passengers have or have not yet been taken into custody.

It sounds -- it sounds -- there's the plane once again. We're looking at it. It sounds from one description like there's a possibility that at least one of the hostages was in fact taken off the plane because she described him as being someone in the back of the line when we got off.

Now that's just one passenger, and you know how these things are. You start -- you ask a lot of people a lot of questions, and you get a lot of different answers. So I'm still trying to figure out what happened.

But it does seem curious, does it not, that these passengers are all saying that most of them, most of them did not even know that there was a hijacking going on on the plane.

BROOKS: You know, Rick, that's a good possibility because many times after the passengers get off the plane, you know, if they don't see what's going on up in first class up near the door to the cockpit, they really don't know.

And we heard one of the passengers saying that they were surrounded immediately by the Mexican federal authorities, and what they do is they will take each one of these people, they will divide them into different groups, and they will interview them. Because one of the things you always are concerned about, Rick, are what we call sleepers. These are people who we don't know if they are passengers or if they possibly could have been hijackers or involved in the hijacking plot.

These are things that law enforcement will talk to these people about and take a look at the manifest, just like Joe was saying to see if there's any Americans on board.

Now what we've also been seeing, Rick, it looks as if one of the pilots was leaning out the window of the cockpit talking to some officials there on the ground. You also see, it looks like one of the chutes was deployed on the other side -- on the opposite side of the aircraft.

Because most airports, Rick, have an area, a designated area that they will go to -- that the plane will pull up to, a run-off area, if you will, for hijacking situations, usually a designated area at every international airport.

SANCHEZ: Mike, if there is still -- would they still be handling this right now as an active potential explosive situation? Is there still a possibility that there are explosives as the threat came in on board that -- that plane? And if so, why are there so many security forces so close to that plane?

BROOKS: You know, I was thinking the same thing. It's very, very close. It's hard to see also, the camera position, how close they are to the aircraft. But, you know, you always have to keep that in mind. You don't know, you know?

There's -- you don't know what you don't know, and, you know, you always have to say, if they believe that there were explosives on board and there was a hijacking taking place or still ongoing, you have to go under the assumption that there could be explosives on board.

SANCHEZ: Look at this. Look at these pictures here. Look how close the ambulances have come. Look how close the security forces and the airport police are. There are pictures now of them going on board.

All right. There's the soldiers actually going on board the plane. There's the soldiers actually going on board the plane. These are the first shots we've seen of them doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: And these are the passengers leaving the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: And there's the passengers on the ground. They seem to be told to stay down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH) SANCHEZ: There's a pilot. There's another pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: So he just said the totality of passengers have been rescued, all passengers have been rescued, and he pointed out the two pilots, once again for those of you just joining us, these are the very first pictures we are seeing of what we can describe as a rescue.

These are the passengers after they are on the ground, just after the plane hits the ground. The plane lands at the airport, forced to land, as we understand, and these are the 104 or so passengers who are immediately or -- well, let me not say immediately.

We learned from the passenger that they were sitting on the plane for 40 to 45 minutes before they were rescued, but considerably -- considerably brief considering what many people were thinking could happen in this situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There are some passengers who are receiving first aid, according to the reports that we're getting there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We apologize for going on the fly on this for you, but the story really has been developing before our eyes, and I've been trying to describe it to you and do the translations as best I can, and really the story has unfolded at a very brisk pace.

Usually these things can take a long, long time. If we look close there, it's hard to tell the difference between the hostages and the potential suspects.

Mike Brooks, you're joining us now. Do you see anything there as you look at these pictures? And how do you know anybody there is or isn't a potential suspect?

BROOKS: No. You really don't, Rick, and that's the thing. As I said, they will take all of these people. We see the law enforcement take them away from the plane. They will all be questioned because, again, you never know who on board could be a sleeper.

Now we see that there are steps having been put up to the plane, and we see a bus there right in front of the plane, so that apparently there -- are there going to be more people released? That's what it looks like now.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's interesting to see. We are really -- you know what? I've got to tell you. It's good to see these pictures. I know that I had reported it earlier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Five people have been detained. We see them now with their hands tied above their heads. The passengers are walking on by, but five suspects have been detained, taken by armed security forces. We see them. They are handcuffed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Firefighters arrive on the scene now, but, again, he refers to the suspects. I do believe he said as many as five, which would be somewhat confusing because the number we've been using has been three.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There are some of the suspects now. All right. There's one of the suspects there in the yellow shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There's another one wearing a pink shirt who are the suspects being taken away now from the scene, from this plane, apparently hijacked, commandeered by these suspects, these hijackers -- these alleged hijackers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: It appears they are going to be taking the -- they are going to be taking the suspects on to a Black Hawk helicopter that has arrived at the airport now. There's one of the suspects in the yellow shirt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: Three, three suspects now, clarification, "tres," three suspects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: One of them with the yellow shirt, another one with a pink shirt and another one with a shirt with checkerboards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: We don't see them all, but one of them looks like he's very young.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: There he is. There's the one in the pink right there. See him right in the middle of the screen. There's another one of the suspects being taken away. He has got the jeans. He has got the pink shirt. He has got his hands above his head said to be handcuffed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

SANCHEZ: "Cinco," cinco, we're back to five. There could be more, even, he says. Five suspects now. Five suspected hijackers. That's what the reporter was asked once again to count, and he said, I'm counting five people who are being taken away or detained.

Now as Mike Brooks would tell you, because he has been having this conversation with them, that doesn't mean they are all hijackers. That might mean that they are all simply suspects for one reason or the other, and they are going to be questions or perhaps even conversations that they may have had with the suspects.

Mike, am I right?

BROOKS: I'm seeing one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, possibly eight people that are -- that have their hands behind their backs that are being escorted by law enforcement right there at the scene.

SANCHEZ: Well, that doesn't jibe with the three suspects that all of the passengers described or that officials described to us earlier.

BROOKS: It doesn't, but as I said, you know, there's always a possibility that there could be sleepers, so these people that are traveling alone -- you know, we don't know right now, but there's always that possibility because you never know who will just kind of blend in with the crowd and appear to be -- here they are right here, Rick, getting on board...

SANCHEZ: Wow, look at these pictures. Talk about immediacy...

BROOKS: ... to an armored personnel carrier.

SANCHEZ: ... this story developing here. That is an armored personnel carrier where as many as -- you know, man, we don't know, five, seven suspects are being taken away now.

All right. We're going to turn things over to Wolf Blitzer. I'll stand by here if Wolf needs me to help him take you through this. "THE SITUATION ROOM" now and Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, take it away.