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Three Hurt in Texas Building Collapse

Aired December 04, 2002 - 13:15   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: At least three people are hurt when a building partially collapses in downtown San Antonio, Texas. It happened this morning, and now officials are worried more of that building could come down. It was being renovated when a brick and terra cotta wall fell into the street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to find a job. I was on my way trying to find a job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And I know that we talked to you earlier, when -- you were walking down I guess Commerce Street, what did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just saw -- just saw the building collapse when I turned back. I was walking forward and something told me not to come this way. And I -- when I turned -- when I got to Commerce and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right there at the Hard Rock Cafe sign, everything just collapsed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Rosenda Rios joins us now live from San Antonio right there in front of the building to tell us more. She's from our affiliate KSAT.

Rosenda, what can you tell us?

ROSENDA RIOS, KSAT-TV REPORTER: Well, Kyra, what we can tell you right now, there's a search and rescue going on right now. The building collapsed earlier this morning. There were a couple of people who were along the sidewalk when the building collapsed. That's what we're told. There was one construction worker who was also hurt. He was inside the building when it collapsed. Three people have been transported to area hospitals here in San Antonio. There was one firefighter who was also injured during the search and rescue, but he suffered minor injuries.

Now let's go ahead and get an update right now. Joining us is Gabe Trevino with the San Antonio Police Department.

Gabe, what can you tell us right now about the search and rescue?

SGT. GABE TREVINO, SAN ANTONIO POLICE: Well, it's continuing and it's a very slow process. We want to make sure that there were -- you can see some beams that we're trying to take off the actual skeleton of the building now. And we can't get the fireman right underneath that, obviously, to move some of those bricks until we're able to remove some of those beams. So it's a slow process. We want to make sure that the fireman are going to be safe in doing what they need to do so we're just trying to work as quickly as we can, but again, be on -- be safe as we can also.

RIOS: Our understanding also the canine unit dogs, they were out here and they had what was called a hit or an area of interest. What can you tell us about that?

TREVINO: Well we have some dogs out here and they're not -- their specialty isn't necessarily cadaver-type dogs, but they can hit on a human scent. And we put them in there. They've given us some small areas. But again, it's not definitive, but we're going to take that information, we're going to work in those areas; but we first we need to clear off and make that area safe before we can start working in it.

RIOS: How dangerous is this area right now? How -- I mean how concerned are we about what's left of the building?

TREVINO: Well, from where we're standing, obviously it's safe. But right underneath that where that rock pile is it's not safe, and we're not going to be able to make it safe until we can take some of those beams off and that's what we're in the process of trying to do now.

RIOS: All right. Thank you very much, Sergeant Gabe Trevino with the San Antonio Police Department.

Our understanding is that the building was under construction. It's a building that's -- was built back in the 1800s. The building was under construction in hopes of making it a five-star hotel in the downtown area here in San Antonio. They were trying to save the facade, the four walls and then they were going to be gutting the inside of the building when apparently something horrible happened this morning. Our understanding is all of the construction workers that were on the scene, they've all been accounted for. There were 20 construction workers, but unfortunately there are three people that were injured during the collapse. As far as we know, there may be others underneath the debris. They hope not.

Back to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Rosenda Rios from our affiliate KSAT, we appreciate the update.

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 4, 2002 - 13:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: At least three people are hurt when a building partially collapses in downtown San Antonio, Texas. It happened this morning, and now officials are worried more of that building could come down. It was being renovated when a brick and terra cotta wall fell into the street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to find a job. I was on my way trying to find a job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And I know that we talked to you earlier, when -- you were walking down I guess Commerce Street, what did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just saw -- just saw the building collapse when I turned back. I was walking forward and something told me not to come this way. And I -- when I turned -- when I got to Commerce and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right there at the Hard Rock Cafe sign, everything just collapsed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Rosenda Rios joins us now live from San Antonio right there in front of the building to tell us more. She's from our affiliate KSAT.

Rosenda, what can you tell us?

ROSENDA RIOS, KSAT-TV REPORTER: Well, Kyra, what we can tell you right now, there's a search and rescue going on right now. The building collapsed earlier this morning. There were a couple of people who were along the sidewalk when the building collapsed. That's what we're told. There was one construction worker who was also hurt. He was inside the building when it collapsed. Three people have been transported to area hospitals here in San Antonio. There was one firefighter who was also injured during the search and rescue, but he suffered minor injuries.

Now let's go ahead and get an update right now. Joining us is Gabe Trevino with the San Antonio Police Department.

Gabe, what can you tell us right now about the search and rescue?

SGT. GABE TREVINO, SAN ANTONIO POLICE: Well, it's continuing and it's a very slow process. We want to make sure that there were -- you can see some beams that we're trying to take off the actual skeleton of the building now. And we can't get the fireman right underneath that, obviously, to move some of those bricks until we're able to remove some of those beams. So it's a slow process. We want to make sure that the fireman are going to be safe in doing what they need to do so we're just trying to work as quickly as we can, but again, be on -- be safe as we can also.

RIOS: Our understanding also the canine unit dogs, they were out here and they had what was called a hit or an area of interest. What can you tell us about that?

TREVINO: Well we have some dogs out here and they're not -- their specialty isn't necessarily cadaver-type dogs, but they can hit on a human scent. And we put them in there. They've given us some small areas. But again, it's not definitive, but we're going to take that information, we're going to work in those areas; but we first we need to clear off and make that area safe before we can start working in it.

RIOS: How dangerous is this area right now? How -- I mean how concerned are we about what's left of the building?

TREVINO: Well, from where we're standing, obviously it's safe. But right underneath that where that rock pile is it's not safe, and we're not going to be able to make it safe until we can take some of those beams off and that's what we're in the process of trying to do now.

RIOS: All right. Thank you very much, Sergeant Gabe Trevino with the San Antonio Police Department.

Our understanding is that the building was under construction. It's a building that's -- was built back in the 1800s. The building was under construction in hopes of making it a five-star hotel in the downtown area here in San Antonio. They were trying to save the facade, the four walls and then they were going to be gutting the inside of the building when apparently something horrible happened this morning. Our understanding is all of the construction workers that were on the scene, they've all been accounted for. There were 20 construction workers, but unfortunately there are three people that were injured during the collapse. As far as we know, there may be others underneath the debris. They hope not.

Back to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Rosenda Rios from our affiliate KSAT, we appreciate the update.

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