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Hot Air Balloon Crashes in Virginia; New L.A. Clippers Ownership May Include Donald Sterling's Wife; U.S. Advisors Sent to Nigeria to Help Find Kidnapped Girls

Aired May 10, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the big stories we're following right now in the CNN Newsroom.

A terrifying sight at a Virginia festival, a hot air balloon catching fire, and now search crews are combing a wooded area looking for the wreckage. We'll take you there.

A near nightmare in the sky. A passenger plane almost crashes into a drone. A big question now, how safe are you when you fly on commercial jets?

And a worldwide campaign to bring back our girls, and first lady Michelle Obama is part of it. Hear how the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls is impacting her.

First up, a grim search is underway right now in a wooded area north of Richmond, Virginia. Crews are looking for one of the victims of a fiery hot ire balloon accident. Three people were onboard when the balloon hit a live utility line and burst into flames. Two of the victims are confirmed dead. Here is an eyewitness describing the tragic scene as flames engulfed the balloon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could hear them screaming, "Please, dear god. Sweet Jesus, help us. We're going to die. Oh, my god, please help us. Please help us!"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More now from CNN's Erin McPike.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, Virginia state police wrapped up a news conference just a short time ago, and they said they've located the second victim. Of course, earlier in the day they said this has moved from a rescue mission to a recovery operation, so now they are still looking for the third victim and will continue the search until that turned victim is found as well as the basket and all of the debris.

Now here is the spokesman for the Virginia state police describing how the entire community has been helpful in the process.

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CORINNE GELLER, SPOKESWOMAN, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: We've had probably anywhere between 30 to 40 calls from people who witnessed it, from here at the festival on Friday to neighbors to people driving within the vicinity, and it's been a tremendous help. We've been following up with those folks and we truly appreciate them taking to time and call and give us their names and contact information.

There are actual scientific steps taken that help us to kind of tri triangulate where these search points could be. It could be almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. So based on witness accounts, where they were standing at the time they saw things, where the video was taken and the photos were taken has really helped us in concentrating our search efforts, and I think it has definitely expedited the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: The search has been somewhat difficult because the balloon separated from the basket during the fire, and we've heard from several witnesses that two of the victims jumped out of the basket during that fire. I want to play for you some dispatch calls last night so you can hear what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Possible mass casualty incident, reported multiple hot air balloons have crashed into power lines and the balloons are now on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do have visual of the airborne hot air balloons, appears to be still smoking, still pretty high there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got a report that the basket has come off. So we're trying to find that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Advise all units, the airborne balloons aren't the issue. We need to locate the basket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Obviously a horrific and chaotic scene. We've heard from a number of eyewitnesses today who described just how awful it was. One man telling me he could hear the explosion from about two miles away, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Erin McpikeP

Let's bring in our safety analyst, David Soucie, who is in New York, and aviation analyst Mary Schiavo joining us via Skype from Charleston, South Carolina. So let's begin with you, David. Officials say the balloon's pilot tried to contain the fire by letting the hot air out. Is there anything else the pilot could have done when in trouble like that?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALSYT: At that point, no. Actually, there wasn't anything he could have done, and leading up to the accident as well. There are surprises. We don't know at this point whether he had run low on fuel and wasn't able to climb back up to get over the wires, or what exactly what happened. It's too early to tell, but this certainly is a tragic situation.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And Mary, how are investigators trying to collect data, evidence, trying to piece together what went wrong here?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, they'll be looking at a number of things, and there are so many things to look at in a balloon accident, whether they can consolidated charts and knew where the wires were. The skill of the pilot is always a very, the balloon pilot, highly significant. More fatal accidents happen with inexperienced pilots. If the weather played any type of activity, and the things that David already mentioned as well. but what's interesting is about 80 percent of fatal balloon accidents happen when the balloons hit wires. So this would be kind of, I don't want to say any accident is typical, but this kind of accident happens with some frequency.

WHITFIELD: And Mary, you've said that, you know, a lot of people take hot air balloon rides, and it's more riskier than flying a plane, but to what degree?

SCHIAVO: Yes. Well, actually, quite a bit. It's more risky than general aviation. Of course we know general aviation is many times riskier than commercial aviation, but about 35 accidents per 100,000 flights, which would make it roughly three times riskier than fixed wing general aviation.

WHITFIELD: And then David, how is this industry regulated? Or is that part of the problem, that it's not regulated?

SOUCIE: Actually, it's very regulated. I used to do this with the Federal Aviation Administration in Colorado. There's a lot of planning that goes into these festivals far advance. As Mary mentioned, there's maps to where the wires are, what to do. We have meetings ahead of time with all of the pilots, make sure they're familiar with the drafts and where the weather might be coming down, through which valleys.

What's a little peculiar to me is in all the ones I've done, there's never been a night or late evening balloon rally or rides beforehand other than tethered rides. So I'm a little confused as to why this was happening then.

WHITFIELD: You're saying visibility usually an issue? Is that why, visibility?

SCHIAVO: Not only visibility, but there's a lot going on with the weather and temperature inversions and things like that at this point during the day. So it's an exciting ride because you get to go faster and in different directions and things like that in the evening. But it's just -- with the festival, it's not something I think I would have approved when I was with the FAA.

WHITFIELD: David, Mary, thank you so much to both of you. Appreciate it.

SOUCIE: Thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: The FAA says a major domestic airliner flew dangerously close to a drone, and now there are new concerns today about the growing number of unmanned aircraft in the skies. An official says a pilot of a 50-seat jet reported a near collision with a camouflaged drone over Florida on March 22. An inspection of the plane turned up no damage. There was no contact between the two. You're looking at a graphic here. The U.S. defense department is not commenting on eth whether this was a government drone. Government officials say not usually are there drones painted in camouflage. The FAA is investigating the incident.

Birds striking planes can also cause problems for planes. A U.S. Airways flight struck a bird just yesterday afternoon. The plane was flying from LaGuardia airport to Ronald Reagan in D.C. It turned around and then landed safely. None of the 96 passengers and five crew onboard were hurt. The plane is now being inspected. This is reportedly the second bird strike this week involving a LaGuardia flight.

All right, there's a new boss in the L.A. Clippers front office, and he wants to turn things around in the middle of the Donald Sterling controversy. What that new CEO says about the whole thing, next.

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WHITFIELD: All right, it was a rough game for the Los Angeles Clippers last night. You see, Blake Griffin, ouch, going away with a bloody nose right there, and the team ending up losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder who now lead the playoff series two games to one.

And while that happens on the hard court, the drama surrounding the team's owner Donald Sterling is getting even more complicated off court. In a new recording released yesterday, a man alleged to be Sterling says it was jealousy that drove him to make racist remarks. And the NBA has named a new interim CEO to the Clippers, former City Group Time Warner chairman Richard Parsons. Here's Alexandra Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Clippers players still playing, Donald Sterling still talking.

DONALD STERLING, CLIPPERS OWNER: I'm talking to a girl. I'm trying to have sex with her.

FIELD: The latest recording released by Radar Online is believed to be Sterling offering some kind of explanation for his racist rant.

STERLING: What the hell, I'm talking to a girl? The girl's black. I like her. I'm jealous that she's with other black guys. I want her. FIELD: Sterling could be forced through a vote by NBA owners to sell the team. This week, his estranged wife Shelly Sterling is saying she's a partial owner and she wants to keep it. Clippers coach Doc Rivers.

DOC RIVERS, L.A. CLIPPERS COACH: I think it would be a very hard situation if you want me -- I'll say that much. I think it would be very difficult. I can guarantee you every person wouldn't be on board with that.

FIELD: Players have already protested Donald Sterling turning their shirts inside out. Sports law professor Marc Edelman said they could turn to social media, too. Beyond that, there are consequences.

MARC EDELMAN, SPORTS LAW PROFESSOR: Everybody is so quick to say what the players should do when they don't have any skin in the game. For a player, they have to be cognizant of their contract. And the fact that if they do not show up to a game where they have an obligation to appear, they do run the risk of termination.

FIELD: Professional athletes have had lockouts and contract disputes, but a team rarely publicly goes up against its owner. There is an extreme example. Eight players, including the infamous shoeless Joe Jackson on the 1919 Chicago white sox team were accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose the World Series, an apparent act of retaliation against an unpopular owner.

EDELMAN: It just goes to show what could happen if all levels of respect between an owner and a player would fall apart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, has asked the owners of the other NBA teams to vote to force Sterling to sell his team. It was a topic of discussion among about NBA committee earlier this week. It will be the topic of discussion during another meeting next week. But so far no vote yet, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Alexandra Field there in Manhattan outside the NBA headquarters.

All right, Nigeria's president make as promise to the world today, one that many hope will happen, including first lady Michelle Obama.

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WHITFIELD: The search intensifies this hour to find hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by a terrorist group. U.S. advisers are in Nigeria right now to help in the effort to rescue those girls. Earlier Nigeria's president promised the world, quote, that "We must get these girls out." That's precisely what first lady Michelle Obama would love to see happen. She explains in her first weekly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: In these girls' Barack and I see our own daughters. We see their hopes and their dreams. And we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now. Many of them may have been he hesitant to send their daughters off to school fearing that harm may come their way, but they took that risk because they believed in their daughter's promise and wanted to give them every opportunity to succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's go to CNN's Vladimir Duthiers Nigeria. So Vladimir, the first lady also said President Obama directed his administration to do every possible to help the Nigerian government. How are they and other countries helping?

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred, the president saying that everybody should be all hands on deck to try to bring these girls home. The United States sending in a team, Britain sending in a team, France as well. What they're going to do, Fred, is act as advisers. They're going to provide logistical analysis. They're going to look at aerial reconnaissance. They're going to be providing some hostage negotiation techniques with law enforcement officials if it ever gets to that stage.

Today, Fred, we were at a protest, a sit-in going on for 11 days, and we talked to a young mother who very much echoed the sentiments of Michelle Obama. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AISHA YESUFU, PROTESTOR: If 23 years ago somebody had abducted me, taken me away, it would have killed my dreams. Where would I be today? I might be dead. And for those kids, for nobody to care, the parents, some of the parents were here yesterday, and one of them said they have nothing. All they have is the hope in the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUTHIERS: And there you go, Fred, very much echoing the sentiments of Michelle Obama, saying for these people in northeastern Nigeria going through this without their children, their lives have no meaning. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And then, Vladimir, Amnesty International in a report saying the Nigerian government knew about this plot in advance by way of, like, four hours, but, you know, the government didn't act. What kind of response is coming from the Nigerian military on that specifically?

DUTHIERS: Fred, they vehemently deny that report. They say it's simply not true. They say they were, in fact, during the attack sending in reinforcements when those reinforcements themself came under fire. This is the modus operandi of Boko Haram, attacking villages dressed in military fatigues, armed with RPGs and armored personnel carriers. And the presidents on the ground have told us, Fred, time and time against that the Nigerian military is outmanned and outgunned when it comes to righting these terrorists. So the idea that the Nigerian military might be derelict in their responsibilities is very believable, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Vladimir Duthiers, thank you so much. Keep us posted there from Nigeria.

Coming up, a driver gets pulled over by an officer, and then the unthinkable happens. Did either of them get hurt?

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. The identities of the victims in that hot air balloon accident taking place yesterday still have not been revealed, but we are learning more about two of the three victims in that hot air balloon accident, worked for the University of Richmond and may have been involved in the women's basketball program. That's all that we're being told about their identities. Again, the search continues for a third victim. Officials reporting just moments ago that two bodies have been found. They continue to scour a very treacherous area looking for the third victim from that hot air balloon accident, an explosion, and that balloon may have hit power lines. That might be part of the culprit of why it went down.

Meantime, somewhere within the 3:00 eastern hour we understand a live press conference will be taking place. There's a picture of the live podium right there. When someone steps to the mike we'll take it live for an update on the hot air balloon disaster there in Virginia.

All right, on to New York now. Unidentified remains from the 9/11 terror attack have been moved to the national September 11th memorial and museum. It happened during a solemn procession, you see right there. But the decision to place the remains in an underground repository at the site remains controversial. Nearby protesters say it's disrespectful to the dead. They say replacing they are their remains in a monument separate from the attack site.

The deaths of four people leasing the home of tennis star James Blake have been ruled as murders and a suicide. Police in Tampa say Darin Campbell shot his wife and teenage children in the head, and then set the home on fire before shooting himself. Police do not have a motive.

And the Texas Rangers are investigating why police in the town of Hearne, Texas, fatally shot 93-year-old Pearly Golden. It happened Tuesday about 150 miles south of Dallas. The shooting has sparked protests. The city attorney says when police arrived at the house, golden was holding a firearm. He says Officer Stephen Stem asked her to put the handgun down, and when she refused he fired three shots, hitting the elderly woman twice. She died at the hospital.

And a routine traffic stop in Iowa was anything but. As you see in this dash-cam video, a Centerville police officer pulled over an SUV when a large tree fell and -- right there -- oh, my gosh, fell and hit him and the SUV as you saw. Somehow the officer suffered only minor injuries in all that. The police chief says it was an old, rotting tree that just snapped, a freak accident at that moment. The driver did not get a ticket after all of that.

All right, we've got much more straight ahead in the Newsroom. Don't go away.

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