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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Scare: ABC Employee's 7-Month-Old Son Infected with Bacteria; Mailroom Worker at AMI Now Has Anthrax

Aired October 16, 2001 - 07:00   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Haunting words from the airplane cockpits the day the World Trade Center towers were hit. Today, the "New York Times" tells what happened and what was said aboard the doomed aircraft before they slammed into the towers, before they claimed the lives of thousands. From inside the cockpit from the hijackers themselves, this, "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be OK."

And the anthrax story touches every parent's greatest fear. The 7-month-old son of an ABC New producer is hospitalized with anthrax after a visit to his mother's office.

All that and more coming up.

Good morning, everybody. Thanks so much for being with us this morning on this Tuesday, October 16. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.

We have lots of new information for you this morning. We're going to give you details of the last few minutes of the doomed flights that hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Transcripts give us a startling look at what the hijackers said on board those planes.

But first, some new developments in the anthrax scare. The investigation now stretches from Florida to New York. We have correspondents in three different locations this morning. We want to begin in New York.

Last night we learned that an ABC employee's 7-month-old son was infected with the bacteria.

Our own Jason Carroll is at ABC this morning with the latest on the baby's condition -- how's he doing, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, Paula, that that 7-month-old baby boy is actually in good condition. He is responding well to antibiotics. As you said, that baby is the son of an ABC producer. He apparently was infected with the cutaneous form of anthrax. It's a skin disease. It is highly treatable with antibiotics.

Now, here's what happened. Authorities say that the baby may have contracted the disease on a visit to ABC back on September 28. Shortly after the visit to ABC, the baby became sick. He went to the hospital. Doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him. Finally, a test done by the CDC confirmed that the baby did, in fact, have a form of anthrax.

Given what has happened here at ABC and at NBC, where an employee there had contracted the disease after opening a letter addressed to Tom Brokaw, health officials are doing environmental reviews of several news organizations including, obviously, ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS and the Associated Press are just a few. They are doing this, Paula, as a precautionary measure only.

Mayor Giuliani says he can understand why everyone is concerned, but he says the time now is for restraint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: We're talking about now two cases. We move in this city probably, I'm going to guess, 15 million pieces of mail per day. Maybe more. So the reality is that there's a psychology here, and don't, and do not, don't fall into the psychology of this, which is that there's nothing to be afraid of in dealing with your mail.

If it turns out that a piece of mail is suspicious in any way, you've got plenty of time to deal with it, if you deal with it calmly. So there's nothing for anyone to be afraid of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: A bit of advice there coming from the mayor. Again, the baby is doing well. He is responding well to antibiotics. He is expected to make a full recovery. Investigators at this point are trying to determine what that baby came in contact with while he was here at ABC -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jason, thanks so much.

And there is some new information today about the September 11 terrorist attacks. The "New York Times" reports conversations in the cockpits of those doomed airliners.

Our own Miles O'Brien is at the CNN Center in Atlanta with that -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

As we've been telling you since September 11 about the track of those aircraft, the radar track, we've heard a lot of conversations about telephone calls which were made by some of the passengers during those hijacked flights and we've gotten a few dribs and drabs of some of the air traffic control radio communications between the pilots and the controllers.

But the transcripts of those air traffic control conversations heretofore have not been released. They are part of a criminal investigation, after all. The "New York Times" got a hold of them. Let's listen in to some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The tapes, recorded on the ground in air traffic control radar rooms, capture radio transmissions between pilots and controllers. They offer fleeting glimpses to an enduring horror. This overhead from the cockpit of the first plane seized out of Boston, American Airlines 11. "Nobody move, please. We're going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."

Air traffic controllers radioed a general call for help to all pilots in locating the missing flight. Ironically, it was the pilot of the second plane to be hijacked who answered that call. Before the terrorists took control, the unsuspecting flight crew of United 175 told controllers he heard a suspicious radio call from American 11. "It sounds like someone keyed the mike and said, 'Everybody stay in your seats,'" he said. But it was already too late, 8:41 a.m. Five minutes later, American 11 flew into the World Trade Center.

The "Times" reports air traffic control heard this message from another unidentified pilot, "Anybody know what that smoke is in lower Manhattan?" he asked. Within minutes, a pair of National Guard F15 fighters scrambled out of a base in Massachusetts. By then, United 175 was streaming south toward New York. The FAA tapes capture a ground controller saying, "We may have a hijack. We have some problems over here right now."

At 9:02 a.m., the second jet liner hit the south tower. The F15s were still eight minutes away. Meanwhile, at an FAA en route center in Indianapolis, a controller was trying to raise a third transcontinental flight. "American 77, Indy, radio check. How do you read?" There was no answer.

At 9:27 a.m., a trio of National Guard F16 fighters left their base in Virginia. At first they headed for New York City. Six minutes later, at 9:33, controllers spotted American 77 speeding toward Washington. It hit the Pentagon five minutes later.

By then, according to the "Times", the fighters had veered toward Washington, but all they could do was look down and confirm the Pentagon was on fire. By then, the fourth hijacked plane, United 93, was homing in on Washington and the fighters. It crashed in a Pennsylvania filed before the pilots had to execute orders to shoot down the 757.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Of course, we know now that the president actually did authorize those potential orders for fighter pilots to shoot down a commercial airliner that might have been headed toward an object and, of course, they did not have to do that because we know now, based on conversations from telephone calls on that United flight, that the passengers apparently decided to take control of the aircraft from the hijackers, truly the heroes in this story.

Now, just to make clear, these are not the so-called black box conversations, the recordings which would be on board those aircraft. The black boxes in the World Trade Center crash has not been recovered. The one which went into the Pentagon was severely damaged and we just have not heard anything about a transcript on the United flight which crashed into Pennsylvania. So stay tuned for that at some point -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Miles, do you think we're likely to learn more about exactly what happened on board or given if the black boxes are never found, this is about it?

O'BRIEN: Well, it's interesting because the, we clearly know that the hijackers knew a fair amount about aviation and it's very simple to disable those cockpit voice recorders. It's just a couple of circuit breakers that need to be pulled. It'll be interesting to see as this investigation unfolds and as more information comes out if, in fact, those cockpit voice recorders, if they ever get recovered, which is a big if, if those cockpit voice recorders were, in fact, recording.

ZAHN: All right, Miles O'Brien, thanks so much. See you a little bit later on this morning.

O'BRIEN: All right.

ZAHN: We move back now to those anthrax cases. Initial concerns were raised when a photo editor at American Media offices in Boca Raton, Florida tested positive and later died from anthrax. And now a second employee, a mailroom worker of that company that produces tabloid newspapers, has anthrax.

CNN's John Zarrella is at the American Media building in Boca Raton with more -- good morning, John. What's the latest from there?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.

The latest is that Governor Jeb Bush is planning to come to Boca Raton later this afternoon and also to West Palm Beach to the emergency operations center in West Palm Beach to meet with local, state and federal health workers. And then the governor is planning to hold a news conference. Representative Robert Wexler will also be there.

And all of this is to allay the fears that are certainly growing here because Ernesto Blanco, the second individual who worked here at American Media, who is in a hospital in Miami, Cedars Hospital, has now been confirmed to actually have anthrax, not just exposure. About nine days ago it was first reported that he had been exposed to anthrax. He is in intensive care but we understand that he is still not exhibiting the symptoms of anthrax. You can see there Ernesto Blanco, 73 years old.

What's interesting also here, Paula, is that Blanco worked in the mail room and he went and picked up the mail at a Boca Raton post office for American, you know, American Media's mail. And at that post office, there were small amounts of anthrax spores found late yesterday. Well, the Environmental Protection Agency went in last night and began to decontaminate the post office. These spores were just found in an isolated area, very minute numbers of spores, and Environmental Protection Agency officials and spokespeople have said that the job to clean up these particular amounts of spores were relatively simple.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED STROUD, EPA SPOKESMAN: We're cleaning up some of the mail bins that have been identified where these letters that were going to AMI might have been sitting at one time or another. There's really only about, I think, about five areas that we'll be cleaning off. We'll be sampling prior to the disinfection and then after just to confirm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, again, this is in a non-public area of the post office and if what we have been described to us as a five by five area where these spores were found. The cleanup took place overnight. The post office is going to be open this morning for business and we also understand that later this afternoon or even early this evening here in Boca there may be a town hall meeting. As you might expect, concerns certainly running high here, and anxiety, in Boca and in the south Palm Beach area given what has happened and transpired here, Paula, over the past couple of weeks.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from Boca Raton -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, John.

The anthrax story now affects Washington and Capitol Hill. There, a letter addressed to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle tests positive for anthrax.

Our own Kate Snow is on Capitol Hill with the latest from there this morning -- good morning, Kate.

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, they're waiting for more conclusive tests, but, indeed, two initial field tests taken yesterday on this letter sent to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle showed positive for anthrax. It's now been sent on to an army facility out in Maryland for those further tests. We're waiting for those results.

It is quiet in the building this morning. It's just up the street from here, the Hart Office Building. That's where Senator Daschle's office, his private office is. Inside yesterday, there were about 40 or 50 people working in the office when this letter was opened, about 10:30 a.m. You see a guard, a police officer there posted outside the office. Shortly after they discovered this letter they cordoned off the area there.

FBI officials say that that letter was sent in from Trenton, New Jersey. It was, arrived here on Friday but wasn't opened until yesterday. When they opened it, there was a powder substance inside. It's unclear how many people were exposed to the powder, but again, about 40 or 50 people inside. They were all treated as if they had been exposed. Just as a precaution, all of them have now been put on Cipro, an antibiotic, just as a precaution. No one, we should note, has shown any symptoms of anthrax or showing any signs of being infected at this point.

Now, yesterday mail service was suspended at the United States Capitol. One congressional source tells CNN that it's expected to resume, at least on the House side, later today. What will not resume, though, are public tours inside the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. DAN NICHOLS, CAPITOL POLICE SPOKESMAN: Given the current situation we reviewed very closely the tour policy and it was our decision that in light of what's going on in the nation and our ability to quickly and safely evacuate the United States Capitol, it would be in everyone's interest to suspend tours of the United States Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Nichols says that they had already been considering that move and that, indeed, the decision to suspend tours was not directly related to the letter sent to Senator Daschle's office yesterday, but certainly that letter has had impact here on Capitol Hill. They're being very cautious about opening mail here. We're told that in some offices they are using gloves to open their mail now -- Paula.

ZAHN: Are there any other precautions being taken, Kate, in terms of sorting through the mail when mail service resumes?

SNOW: There are, one congressional source telling us that on the House side of the Capitol, actually effective last Saturday they had started using a new mechanism to screen mail for biological or chemical threats. That will continue if the mail service continues today. They will be able to screen and at least hopefully, potentially, look for biological or chemical threats that might be inside the mail -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Kate Snow, thanks.

Stay with us. Just ahead, we're going to be talking with Senator Daschle to tell us a little bit more about exactly what happened in his offices the morning after anthrax was found there. And still to come this morning, an interview with Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Also ahead, the Trenton connection. Our own Maria Hinojosa on the post office that's becoming a focal point of the anthrax investigation.

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