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CNN Live Saturday

Rhode Island Works to Identify Remains Found at Site of Club Fire

Aired February 22, 2003 - 16:12   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: In West Warwick, Rhode Island, officials are convinced there are no more bodies to find in the charred ruins of a nightclub that burned late Thursday night. Their attention now is on an equally grim task, identifying the remains of the 96 people who are known to have died in the fire. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is in Rhode Island, as he has been since the story began, with the latest -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, it's sort of a sad ritual we've come to expect when a major tragedy happens, here or anywhere for that matter. And if you look over there, over to my left, you will see that part of that ritual is being realized. They started setting up a makeshift memorial, so members of the family have come, others have come to leave flowers. There's been something of a traffic jam, as a matter of fact.

The actual area which once was The Station, the club that burned to the ground, is over to my right. And there's some cleanup work that's going on, but, of course, as you pointed out, they believe that they've found all the bodies; 96 is the death toll. They don't believe, though, that that is going to be the final death toll. We know that there are about 25 people who are in intensive care units in hospitals around this area, and they don't expect all of them to survive.

Of course, the biggest problem, as you pointed out, is the very grim, tedious job of identifying the victims. They're identifying victims that for a while were in the club that we have a sort of a representation of their floor plan that really caught fire almost immediately. It was almost this Byzantine club, a bit of a labyrinth, like so many clubs are, a lot of different rooms, but it all just went up, and many people, of course, struggled to find exits. Too many of them went for the front exit, and that's where a number of the bodies were found.

But as I said, they're now trying to identify many of these victims. Rhode Island is an interesting state, of course, because it's so small, it's part of the identity that everybody knows everybody else, and they're really going through some fundamental ways to get the identities established. Specifically, they want to use dental records. And in this particular case, they're asking the families of missing people to come forward, give them the name of the dentist. And then the governor, who held a news conference a while ago, had a plea for the area's dentists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DON CARCIERI, RHODE ISLAND: The message I have to any dentist out there today is please check your office voice mail, call your office on the possibility that you are trying to be contacted. And that if you are, you should have a message there to contact a number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And as you know, Anderson, the governor has been holding regular news conferences. We expect that he's going to hold another one in about an hour -- Anderson.

COOPER: Bob, last night at the governor's press conference, he said that they were going to be having five forensic teams coming in to help make this a 24-hour operation. Do we know, have those teams arrived?

FRANKEN: They have arrived. As a matter of fact, probably some of them are down there now. But yes, they are here. They were brought here by one of the state's U.S. senators, Jack Reid, but they're out doing their jobs now.

COOPER: All right. A grisly tale. Bob Franken, thanks very much.

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




Club Fire>


Aired February 22, 2003 - 16:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: In West Warwick, Rhode Island, officials are convinced there are no more bodies to find in the charred ruins of a nightclub that burned late Thursday night. Their attention now is on an equally grim task, identifying the remains of the 96 people who are known to have died in the fire. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is in Rhode Island, as he has been since the story began, with the latest -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, it's sort of a sad ritual we've come to expect when a major tragedy happens, here or anywhere for that matter. And if you look over there, over to my left, you will see that part of that ritual is being realized. They started setting up a makeshift memorial, so members of the family have come, others have come to leave flowers. There's been something of a traffic jam, as a matter of fact.

The actual area which once was The Station, the club that burned to the ground, is over to my right. And there's some cleanup work that's going on, but, of course, as you pointed out, they believe that they've found all the bodies; 96 is the death toll. They don't believe, though, that that is going to be the final death toll. We know that there are about 25 people who are in intensive care units in hospitals around this area, and they don't expect all of them to survive.

Of course, the biggest problem, as you pointed out, is the very grim, tedious job of identifying the victims. They're identifying victims that for a while were in the club that we have a sort of a representation of their floor plan that really caught fire almost immediately. It was almost this Byzantine club, a bit of a labyrinth, like so many clubs are, a lot of different rooms, but it all just went up, and many people, of course, struggled to find exits. Too many of them went for the front exit, and that's where a number of the bodies were found.

But as I said, they're now trying to identify many of these victims. Rhode Island is an interesting state, of course, because it's so small, it's part of the identity that everybody knows everybody else, and they're really going through some fundamental ways to get the identities established. Specifically, they want to use dental records. And in this particular case, they're asking the families of missing people to come forward, give them the name of the dentist. And then the governor, who held a news conference a while ago, had a plea for the area's dentists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DON CARCIERI, RHODE ISLAND: The message I have to any dentist out there today is please check your office voice mail, call your office on the possibility that you are trying to be contacted. And that if you are, you should have a message there to contact a number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And as you know, Anderson, the governor has been holding regular news conferences. We expect that he's going to hold another one in about an hour -- Anderson.

COOPER: Bob, last night at the governor's press conference, he said that they were going to be having five forensic teams coming in to help make this a 24-hour operation. Do we know, have those teams arrived?

FRANKEN: They have arrived. As a matter of fact, probably some of them are down there now. But yes, they are here. They were brought here by one of the state's U.S. senators, Jack Reid, but they're out doing their jobs now.

COOPER: All right. A grisly tale. Bob Franken, thanks very much.

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




Club Fire>