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CNN Live Saturday
Rescuers Search Through Mud, Rubble In California
Aired December 27, 2003 - 16:02 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.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in San Bernardino, California. Officials say the victims of Thursday's disaster may be buried under as much as 20 feet of debris-filled mud. Still the search for nine people goes on. CNN's Miguel Marquez is in San Bernardino with more. Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA: Fredricka, it is a very grisly going through right now up in the valleys just north of where we are, north of San Bernardino in an area called Old Waterman Canyon. It is still so far seven people dead, four of them are children, three of them are adults, and two of those children are siblings. A third sibling of those two are missing and also the father and mother of those two siblings are among the missing.
There are nine missing all together, although officials tell us it could rise as well because they still haven't figured out who belongs to which cars that are up there that they are still finding. About 65 search and rescuers are up in the area today. The area is 4 1/2 miles by 1/2 mile wide. So it's a very large area that they are walking by foot, trying to find anything under trees, under old fences, in the wrecks of old cars, houses that have been destroyed.
Eight dog teams are also up there that can smell either cadavers or live people, if it comes to that. And they still are calling this a search and rescue mission, hoping against hope that they will find somebody. We talked to the coroner, one of the coroners out here in San Bernardino County a short time ago, and he gave us an idea of just how difficult the extraction of the bodies are once they find them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCKY SHAW, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, DEPUTY CORONER: The extraction took approximately five hours from the time that we were first involved. We participate with, again, members of search and rescue, the fire recovery hand crews, because of the mud and debris that is there. It is a very difficult task.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Rescuers saying that, because of the force of the water coming down off of the mountains here in the San Bernardino National Forest and the rocks and the boulders and the trees that also came down, the force of all of that could have carried some of these bodies for several miles, and it could take some time, possibly days, even weeks, before the bodies can be located, and they can get to them under all of the rubble. The dogs, as we know, today at least, have spotted on two other locations that rescuers are looking into. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Miguel Marquez, thanks very much for that update from San Bernardino.
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 December 27, 2003 - 16:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in San Bernardino, California. Officials say the victims of Thursday's disaster may be buried under as much as 20 feet of debris-filled mud. Still the search for nine people goes on. CNN's Miguel Marquez is in San Bernardino with more. Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA: Fredricka, it is a very grisly going through right now up in the valleys just north of where we are, north of San Bernardino in an area called Old Waterman Canyon. It is still so far seven people dead, four of them are children, three of them are adults, and two of those children are siblings. A third sibling of those two are missing and also the father and mother of those two siblings are among the missing.
There are nine missing all together, although officials tell us it could rise as well because they still haven't figured out who belongs to which cars that are up there that they are still finding. About 65 search and rescuers are up in the area today. The area is 4 1/2 miles by 1/2 mile wide. So it's a very large area that they are walking by foot, trying to find anything under trees, under old fences, in the wrecks of old cars, houses that have been destroyed.
Eight dog teams are also up there that can smell either cadavers or live people, if it comes to that. And they still are calling this a search and rescue mission, hoping against hope that they will find somebody. We talked to the coroner, one of the coroners out here in San Bernardino County a short time ago, and he gave us an idea of just how difficult the extraction of the bodies are once they find them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCKY SHAW, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, DEPUTY CORONER: The extraction took approximately five hours from the time that we were first involved. We participate with, again, members of search and rescue, the fire recovery hand crews, because of the mud and debris that is there. It is a very difficult task.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Rescuers saying that, because of the force of the water coming down off of the mountains here in the San Bernardino National Forest and the rocks and the boulders and the trees that also came down, the force of all of that could have carried some of these bodies for several miles, and it could take some time, possibly days, even weeks, before the bodies can be located, and they can get to them under all of the rubble. The dogs, as we know, today at least, have spotted on two other locations that rescuers are looking into. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Miguel Marquez, thanks very much for that update from San Bernardino.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
