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CNN Live At Daybreak

Russian Airliner Crashes into Black Sea

Aired October 04, 2001 - 07:44   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.
O'BRIEN: Working on some breaking news once again this morning.

A Tupolov 154 Russian airliner apparently has crashed into the Black Sea about 114 miles off the coast of Adler, Russia. There you see a picture of a Tupolov 154, very similar to the Boeing 747 as far as its configuration, its size and its range. It's a medium range airliner, considered a workhorse of the Russian aviation fleet.

We don't have too much on the circumstances except to tell you there were 66 passengers aboard, 11 crew members.

Our Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty is standing by with more from there -- hello, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, as you said, the details still are very sketchy, but the ministry of emergencies here in Russia says that it disappeared at 1:45 Moscow time. That would be, it is now 3:45, so that would be a couple of hours ago. The reports are, as you said, a Tupolov 154 leaving Tel Aviv on its way to Novosibirsk which is a major city in Siberia, crashing into the Black Sea.

Now, there are reports coming from Interfax news agency quoting the emergency ministries here in Russia as saying that a neighboring plane from Armenia, the pilot of a neighboring plane saw this plane explode before crashing into the ocean. That as yet is unconfirmed by us. That is a report coming from Interfax news agency.

Again, this immediately was reported to President Vladimir Putin. He has already set up an investigative group, the defense ministry and the emergency ministries looking into this. They have sent out a plane to look at that location and immediately try to assess why this happened -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jill, let's try to assess the potential accuracy of that Interfax report that the plane might have exploded in midair. We want to make sure we put this out with the proper caveats here.

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Would you take that as something we should go with at this point or how much credence should we put in that, put it that way?

DOUGHERTY: Well, Interfax is usually, it's basically a semi- governmental news agency and certainly we are trying to get in touch with the MJS to pin down that part of it. Now, the Tupolov 154 has been involved in other accidents before. It is the workhorse, but it has been plagued with some problems. But certainly if you have a report, again, unsubstantiated, of an explosion, that would seem to take it beyond the average problems that planes of this type have happened.

And, of course, all of this, Miles, is happening in the context of high concern about retribution, perhaps, to Russia because of its strong support for the international coalition against terrorism and certainly Russia has feared that there might be retaliation for its joining with the West in this coalition.

Now, again, we have to say this is very, very early in all of this. Certainly no indication, no concrete information that that is the case. But that is the context, certainly, of what's happening -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Jill Dougherty, thanks very much for giving us all of that.

Just to recap quickly, a Tupolov 154 airliner, Russian airliner en route from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport to Novosibirsk, Siberia, apparently has crashed into the Black Sea. Sixty-six passengers are on board, 11 crew members. A search and rescue operation is under way and we, of course, will keep you posted as details come in.

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