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CNN Live Saturday
Twelve Believed Dead in Iraq Helicopter Crash
Aired November 15, 2003 - 14:17 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.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ANDREA KOPPEL, ANCHOR: If you've been with us the last couple of hours, there's a breaking news story out of Iraq involving an apparent collision of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters near or around the Iraqi city of Mosul.
For the very latest now, we're going to go live to Baghdad to CNN's Walter Rodgers.
So Walter, now we have a sense as to how many coalition personnel were involved. Is that right?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Andrea. But what's more important at this stage is that, while there was a collision, it may have been initiated by one of the helicopters. The two Black Hawks would have been flying like this at night with no light.
One of the initial reports suggests the lower Black Hawk was taking ground fire, that is, hostile fire from some Iraqis on the ground. One helicopter rose to escape and it's at that point that the collision is believed to have occurred.
Again, it occurred over the western portion of the city of Mosul. The two helicopters came down in Iraqi residential neighborhoods. We don't know anything about the Iraqi casualties, but very bad news for the Americans.
Twelve American soldiers killed in those crashes. Nine others wounded. And that figure could grow, because we were told that when the helicopters came down, they landed, again, in an Iraqi residential neighborhood. Firefighters were called, buildings were said to be on fire. In the region, we have no word of survivors at this point -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Walter, thanks very much. And as always with these breaking news stories, the numbers could change. We're just going by, and we're just trying to give you the very latest information.
We can also tell you that the two Black Hawk helicopters came from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 15, 2003 - 14:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ANDREA KOPPEL, ANCHOR: If you've been with us the last couple of hours, there's a breaking news story out of Iraq involving an apparent collision of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters near or around the Iraqi city of Mosul.
For the very latest now, we're going to go live to Baghdad to CNN's Walter Rodgers.
So Walter, now we have a sense as to how many coalition personnel were involved. Is that right?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Andrea. But what's more important at this stage is that, while there was a collision, it may have been initiated by one of the helicopters. The two Black Hawks would have been flying like this at night with no light.
One of the initial reports suggests the lower Black Hawk was taking ground fire, that is, hostile fire from some Iraqis on the ground. One helicopter rose to escape and it's at that point that the collision is believed to have occurred.
Again, it occurred over the western portion of the city of Mosul. The two helicopters came down in Iraqi residential neighborhoods. We don't know anything about the Iraqi casualties, but very bad news for the Americans.
Twelve American soldiers killed in those crashes. Nine others wounded. And that figure could grow, because we were told that when the helicopters came down, they landed, again, in an Iraqi residential neighborhood. Firefighters were called, buildings were said to be on fire. In the region, we have no word of survivors at this point -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Walter, thanks very much. And as always with these breaking news stories, the numbers could change. We're just going by, and we're just trying to give you the very latest information.
We can also tell you that the two Black Hawk helicopters came from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
