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Gathering Debris From Columbia

Aired February 06, 2003 - 13:12   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: Gathering the debris from Columbia, 12,000 pieces recovered so far. Two Texans are charged with stealing debris. But a brief amnesty is offered to people who turn in items they have taken.
CNN's Patty Davis is in Hemphill Texas, where the search has turned cold and wet -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very cold and wet, Kyra. In fact, the weather so bad here that a Forest Service official tells us they are now pulling back hundreds of searchers at this point. They'll be coming back to the base. What they're worried about here, being that it is so cold and so wet, is number one, hypothermia. Number two, it's so muddy out there, people are going to be able to get into the places they need to? They could fall and hurt themselves as well. So pulling back those searchers right now. Very rugged terrain, very muddy.

The primary objective has been, and continues to be, finding human remains. They did find more human remains yesterday. They also found a lot of debris, some 625 pieces found, about 200 pieces recovered, one of those, the nose cone from the shuttle. In fact, that was hauled out yesterday. They were able to stick that on a truck and sent it out to one of those collection sites. They've also recovered landing gear, more landing gear. Also, a switchboard piece from the shuttle. We're also told some windows from the cabin and parts of a rocket.

Lots of searchers here. They include Native American firefighters, who are experts at combing forests and looking for things. Also, astronauts as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC WEBB, U.S. PARK SERVICE: Overall here today, with support personnel included, there's probably approximately 700 people involved in this effort. We are expecting an additional 200 National Guard troops to arrive today and to add to this, the ground search. This is a large area. There are nearly 50 federal state and local agencies cooperating, along with a host of volunteers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Now, yesterday, we had two people, as you said, Kyra, indicted for stealing parts of the shuttle. There is an amnesty program out, where if you return things that you might have picked up by 5:00 tomorrow, they will not charge you. If it's after that, they will. And in fact, the sheriff here saying they have been seeing an increase in the debris coming in from people since those two people were indicted.

Now even though the weather is bad here and those searches are being called back, the Coast Guard is still going out on the Toledo Bend Reservoir today. That is where that large chunk, almost the size of a small car, somebody saw going in there. They've had a hard time getting at that. They'll going to go back and look at that again today. They're also going to looking for more debris on the Toledo Bend Reservoir -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And of course, there was talk about this debris being toxic, Patty. Is that till a threat?

DAVIS: Well, absolutely. This is something that they also fear. Somebody said, these things could blow up, and they've got explosive properties to them. So they've been bringing in explosive teams, the second bomb wing from Barksdale, in fact, was out here. So absolutely, they're looking at this very carefully. And you can see by the number of items that actually have been spotted, 625, they've only taken 200 of them away, because they have to make sure those pieces are safe -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our Patty Davis, live in Hemphill, Texas, thanks, Patty.

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 February 6, 2003 - 13:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Gathering the debris from Columbia, 12,000 pieces recovered so far. Two Texans are charged with stealing debris. But a brief amnesty is offered to people who turn in items they have taken.
CNN's Patty Davis is in Hemphill Texas, where the search has turned cold and wet -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very cold and wet, Kyra. In fact, the weather so bad here that a Forest Service official tells us they are now pulling back hundreds of searchers at this point. They'll be coming back to the base. What they're worried about here, being that it is so cold and so wet, is number one, hypothermia. Number two, it's so muddy out there, people are going to be able to get into the places they need to? They could fall and hurt themselves as well. So pulling back those searchers right now. Very rugged terrain, very muddy.

The primary objective has been, and continues to be, finding human remains. They did find more human remains yesterday. They also found a lot of debris, some 625 pieces found, about 200 pieces recovered, one of those, the nose cone from the shuttle. In fact, that was hauled out yesterday. They were able to stick that on a truck and sent it out to one of those collection sites. They've also recovered landing gear, more landing gear. Also, a switchboard piece from the shuttle. We're also told some windows from the cabin and parts of a rocket.

Lots of searchers here. They include Native American firefighters, who are experts at combing forests and looking for things. Also, astronauts as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC WEBB, U.S. PARK SERVICE: Overall here today, with support personnel included, there's probably approximately 700 people involved in this effort. We are expecting an additional 200 National Guard troops to arrive today and to add to this, the ground search. This is a large area. There are nearly 50 federal state and local agencies cooperating, along with a host of volunteers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Now, yesterday, we had two people, as you said, Kyra, indicted for stealing parts of the shuttle. There is an amnesty program out, where if you return things that you might have picked up by 5:00 tomorrow, they will not charge you. If it's after that, they will. And in fact, the sheriff here saying they have been seeing an increase in the debris coming in from people since those two people were indicted.

Now even though the weather is bad here and those searches are being called back, the Coast Guard is still going out on the Toledo Bend Reservoir today. That is where that large chunk, almost the size of a small car, somebody saw going in there. They've had a hard time getting at that. They'll going to go back and look at that again today. They're also going to looking for more debris on the Toledo Bend Reservoir -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And of course, there was talk about this debris being toxic, Patty. Is that till a threat?

DAVIS: Well, absolutely. This is something that they also fear. Somebody said, these things could blow up, and they've got explosive properties to them. So they've been bringing in explosive teams, the second bomb wing from Barksdale, in fact, was out here. So absolutely, they're looking at this very carefully. And you can see by the number of items that actually have been spotted, 625, they've only taken 200 of them away, because they have to make sure those pieces are safe -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our Patty Davis, live in Hemphill, Texas, thanks, Patty.

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