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Ferry Crashes Into Marina In West Vancouver; Ex-Hostages Identify Iran's Leader as a Captor; Searching For Holloway

Aired June 30, 2005 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news to tell you right now about a ferry that has crashed during a docking attempt in West Vancouver. You're looking at videotape right now via our affiliate, Canada's CTV. We're going to go to live pictures in a moment, but this is to give you an idea of what the scene looks like right now, you know, right when the crash happened.
What we can tell you is this ferry had run into about 50 or 20 boats when it crashed in Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. People, as you can see, still on the ferry right now. We're told that somehow the ferry lost its steering, it just lost control. They don't know how the vessel lost control. So far, no injuries reported. That's the good news. But we are told that when this ferry made impact while trying to dock, that a few boats were dragged underneath.

You can see rescue crews now, live pictures. Rescue crews coming out to make sure -- try to make sure that there was no one on those boats that were dragged underneath, that everybody on the small boats are OK, in addition to those on the ferry. You can see the divers on board, in case they need to go into a search and rescue mode. I'm told that the Coast Guard is also on site. This might possibly be a Coast Guard vessel or boat. I'm not quite sure, but I am told that they are there on the scene.

Once again, live pictures via Canada's CTV of rescue workers arriving at the scene of a B.C. ferry that ran into about 20 boats when it crashed during a docking attempt here at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. There are individuals still on that ferry. And now I'm being told that CTV has reported two injuries aboard the ferry, two injuries reported on that ferry at this point. I'm getting information as we bring you these live pictures, as we follow this breaking news.

The vessel is called the Queen of the Oak Bay. It just missed the terminal berth as it was starting to come in. It started blowing its horn before it crashed into the marina. And as you can see, it did take a crash -- it crashed, rather, right into this marina. About 20 boats have been ruined, we're told. Some boats even being dragged underneath the ferry once impact was made.

Coast Guard on the site. Rescue crews on the site. Not quite sure if there is anybody that is in the water or any individuals that were on those small boats when the ferry crashed into the marina there. This B.C. ferry had been coming in, obviously, with visitors on board, trying to make a docking attempt on Horseshoe Bay. If you don't know where that is, it's in West Vancouver, there in Canada. You can see the rescue crews talking -- trying to figure out if, indeed, there might be people in that water.

We're not quite sure what happened and how the vessel lost its power, why it was so close to the marina, coming in at a pretty slow speed. No injuries had been reported, but now we're getting word from CTV there, reporting two injuries on that ferry. We'll keep you updated on as much information as we get, and continue to follow this breaking news story out of Canada.

Well, a quarter century later, former hostage Chuck Scott says that he recognized the face right away. We're talking about the man that was elected Sunday as the president of Iran. Chuck says it was one of his captors during the U.S. hostage crisis in Tehran. Now, Iran is denying that and the State Department says it's investigating. But Scott and several others say they have no doubts.

Chuck Scott joins us now live. Sure appreciate it, Chuck. Nice to see you.

CHUCK SCOTT, FORMER IRAN HOSTAGE: Good to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me tell you -- or let me ask you, what was your first reaction when you saw the videotape come across the screen of who had been elected the new president of Iran? Did it hit you as soon as you saw his face?

SCOTT: I was sauntering through the living room when we were watching the news and I'd stopped dead in my tracks and said to my wife, I know that guy. And I took a really good look at him and realized it brought back memories of 440 days as a hostage in Iran.

PHILLIPS: And Chuck, take me back to that time. Tell me why you believe this man, the new president of Iran, Ahmadinejad, is the man that was one of the individuals holding you captive in that embassy back in the '70s.

SCOTT: Why do I think he was? Because I could identify him when I saw him, even given 24 years later or 25 years later.

PHILLIPS: Was it the voice? Was it the face? Tell me what it was.

SCOTT: All of the above, plus the nuances, the mannerisms and all the rest of that. There was no question in my mind when I saw him that he was one of the captors.

PHILLIPS: What do you remember about his personality, his attitude, how he treated you? Could you even put in perspective how violent he was?

SCOTT: I never had a conversation with him. He was sort of a back fielder. He was sort of an adviser whispering to the guards and that sort of thing during some of the interrogations. But a really good example of the kind of person he was happened in July of 1980. I never had a conversation with him. He wouldn't speak to a hostage. He wouldn't even look us in the eye. But we could tell he was in some sort of control of the other guards. And as an example, in July of 1980, at Evin Prison, we were in a prison a couple levels below ground, no daylight, no air, no ventilation and one of the more lenient guards moved us to the cell next door to the one we were in, my cellmate and I, because it had some ventilation. He came in a couple days later and walked into the cell and said, no, this is -- in Farsi, this is totally unsatisfactory. They could see outside. There was a little pinhole in one of the painted windows on the steel bars that they put on the windows there. And he said, we had to be moved back to the other cell.

And about that time, one of the other guards told him that the guard who had been more lenient had allowed us to walk out in the hallway a little bit and talk to the hostage who was next door to us. He flipped out right there. He was livid. He said, that will not work. That's unacceptable. These people are dogs, they're pigs. The only time they should be allowed out of their cells is for their execution.

And at that point he kind of glanced over my way and I think he was wondering if I understood the Farsi or not and I did. So, by way of acknowledging that I understood what he said, I flipped him a birdie and a nasty cuss word in Persian, at which time he averted his eyes once again -- he never did look me in the eye -- and walked out. But I could tell I had gotten to him.

PHILLIPS: Now, did you ever hear the name Ahmadinejad? Did you ever him...

SCOTT: No, I never heard -- no, I never heard the names of any of our captors, the last names.

PHILLIPS: How did you learn Farsi?

SCOTT: With great difficulty. I was -- I went to school out in Monterey at the Defense Language Institute for a year.

PHILLIPS: So when you said something to him, you were an army officer at the time. Is that right, Chuck?

SCOTT: I was a colonel in the army, but I was not in uniform because wearing a military uniform in Iran at that time right after the revolution would have been like waving a red flag in front of a bull. So I was over there, didn't even have a uniform in country with me. I was strictly in civilian clothes, looked like just the rest of the State Department and other agency personnel over there.

PHILLIPS: Well, I've been reading that several former students among the hostage-takers have said that there's no way Ahmadinejad is the man that everybody is talking about right now, that the new president is not this man that was a captor. Also, there are some former hostages, even a retired Air Force colonel, that's coming forward, saying that he doesn't recognize him by face or name as one of the captors. Why do you think there's a group that is saying, yes, definitely that's the guy and why are others saying, nope, that is not -- indeed, that is not the man? SCOTT: OK, let's take the case of Tom Schaefer, first of all. I'm sure Tom could identify certain of the captors that I never saw or couldn't identify. That's not unusual. It wasn't a club where we all saw each other and went for happy hour every day. There were a lot of the captors that I never saw. I didn't see this man that often. I did see him a few times. The time I mentioned early on in the thing and when they had dog and pony shows and brought celebrities and some of their own officials through there, he usually accompanied them.

As far as Iran denying it, I would expect them to deny it. When you look at the revolutionary government of Iran, if you want to be able to tell whether they're lying or telling the truth, if their lips are moving, they're probably lying.

And the point is, in Iran if you had on your resume that you were part of the group that took over the embassy, it would be a political asset up to the time that you became an elected official that was going to have to deal with the rest of the world, then it would certainly be a liability and the Iranians understand that. So, they're going to do everything they can to purge the record of anything that he had to do with the hostage crisis that labeled him a terrorist.

PHILLIPS: And we should make the point, Chuck, that it's on his resume...

SCOTT: If you look on his...

PHILLIPS: That is on his resume, that he was a part.

SCOTT: Yes, that's what I was just going to say. It's on his own resume that he was instrumental in the planning for the takeover of the American embassy on November 4th, 1979.

PHILLIPS: Chuck, I want to ask you one more question. We've got to go to some breaking news of a ferry that has crashed in Canada, but I've got to ask you this: What are you going to do now?

You're not the only hostage -- former hostage coming forward. There's a number of you coming forward, saying this new president of Iran is the one that held me hostage. There are generals in the military, retired generals, saying this man was a part of Hezbollah. He is a terrorist. He was involved in assassinations. You know, this is scary, the fact that he's running a country and this could lead, possibly, to a war situation with the U.S. if, indeed, this is the man and he's running this country.

SCOTT: Well, the bottom line is he's not running the country. We should know that from past experience with the presidents in Iran: From Abolhassan Banisadr on through the current president Khatami. The supreme leader in Iran right now, Ahmadinejad, replaced the Ayatollah Khomeini and he has, by the Iranian constitution, the authority to fire the president or dismiss the Majilis, the parliament or do anything he wants. So, he's the power in Iran, along with the Guardian Council and they're all hard-liners.

PHILLIPS: And, of course -- well...

SCOTT: You want to know what it will do to -- I don't see a war coming out, but I don't think you're going to see a lot of changes in Iran. I think for the Iranian people, that it says that any idea of having reforms in the next few years while he's president are going to go on the back burner and the president, President Bush, was right when he said that it wasn't really a Democratic election.

If you recall, all of the so-called reformers were forbidden to run by the Guardian Council, so the only people that were even authorized by the Guardian Council to run for the various offices, including the presidency, were those that were blessed by the Guardian Council. And to be blessed by them, you had to be a hard-liner.

PHILLIPS: That -- and if you look at the Guardian Council, that is a group of hard-liners and if indeed, Ahmadinejad is this individual that held you captive, they could have a lot in common and that could be pretty frightening for the state of U.S.-Iranian relations.

Chuck Scott, we sure appreciate your time today. Thank you very much.

SCOTT: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: We're going to go now -- more information coming in to us on that breaking news story we've been covering out of West Vancouver. The BC Ferry -- you're seeing here, live pictures via Canada's CTV television.

Basically, it was coming in, it was making a docking attempt at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, ran into these small boats -- don't know why. The vessel lost power. We are told that two people, injured that were on this ferry, possibly others, possibly in the water.

Deborah Marshall, now, with BC Ferry is joining us on the phone.

Deborah, what can you tell us?

First of all: Are there any more reported injuries, besides the two that were on the ferry?

DEBORAH MARSHALL, BRITISH COLUMBIA FERRIES: Well, actually we don't have any reported injuries, at this time. What I can tell you is that approximately 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, the "Queen of Oak Bay," which is one of our vessels, lost power while coming around the corner into the Horseshoe Bay terminal. The ship drifted into the Sewells Marina and damaged several boats obviously. The vessel is aground, and we will be providing more information as soon as that becomes available.

PHILLIPS: Now, the boats that the ferry ran into there, we're looking at sort a wide shot, we can see that some of the boats are even kind of nestled underneath the ferry. Do we know if any individuals were on those small boats when the ferry came in -- Deborah?

MARSHALL: We don't know that, at this point. I do know the that ferry sounded its warning signals quite a few times to alert people that the ferry was in danger. We do have divers going down now to check out the small vessels, as well as the structural integrity of the hull of the ferry. Once that happens, then we can tow the vessel using tugs over to the terminal and discharge the passengers.

PHILLIPS: How many passengers did you have on board?

MARSHALL: We've got 544 passengers and 189 vehicles.

PHILLIPS: One eighty-nine vehicles. Now, do you know how fast the ferry was going as it was coming into the marina there?

PHILLIPS: I don't know.

MARSHALL: OK. And do you know why it lost power? Any word yet on how that could have happened?

MARSHALL: There's no word on that, at this point. Obviously, we're going to be doing a full investigation with the regulatory bodies about that.

PHILLIPS: Who gets involved in the investigation, Deborah, at this point?

MARSHALL: Well, obviously the Ferry Corporation, there would be Transport Canada and the safety board.

PHILLIPS: Has this ever happened before with one of your ferries?

MARSHALL: I've been working for BC Ferries for 17 years and no, I don't recall an incident like this.

PHILLIPS: It's pretty rare.

All right. So, at this point, you're not hearing of any injuries. CTV television there has reported two injuries, but you're telling me, to this point, you have not heard of any injuries?

MARSHALL: I haven't heard of any injuries and as I say, there are divers going down to check out the vessels by the ferry.

PHILLIPS: Where was the ferry coming from, Deborah?

MARSHALL: The ferry was coming from Vancouver Island, our port called Departure Bay.

PHILLIPS: So, is this a -- the typical ferry that folks take, tourists or locals to get back and forth? How is this ferry usually used?

MARSHALL: Yes, this ferry would be heavily utilized. We've got three of these vessels on this run and we are quite a big operation. We service 22 million passengers a year.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

So, in a situation like this happens -- let's talk safety for a moment. Obviously, the crew knew it had lost power for some reason. What's the first plan of action? Do they alert the passengers? Do they hit the warning sirens for those who are not on the ferry? Kind of take me through the procedure of, when this happens, how your crews respond to protect, of course, passengers on that ferry and individuals that are in the boats out in the water.

MARSHALL: Well, certainly the bridge crew would jump into action. We have extensive safety procedures. They would alert the ship's whistle and constantly blast that to alert anybody on shore. There would have been announcements made on board the vessels and there's a whole raft of safety procedures that the crew would start to undertake.

PHILLIPS: Now, you said we have divers coming out. Does BC Ferries, the business itself, actually have its own divers for situations like this, or is this the Coast Guard you're talking about?

MARSHALL: No, these would be Coast Guard or contracted divers. We don't have our own divers.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, right now divers in the water looking for, just in case if anybody by chance were on those small boats. Right now, Deborah Marshall with BC Ferries telling us that she does not know of any reported injuries.

Deborah, thank you very much.

Once again, we're following breaking news. Live pictures now, via Canada's CTV television of a BC Ferry that ran into about 20 small boats, when it crashed in a docking attempt at Horseshoe Bay, in West Vancouver. We will keep you updated on the situation as we get more information.

We'll take a quick break.

More LIVE FROM, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, today marks a somber milestone in the search for Natalee Holloway. It's been exactly one month since the Alabama teenager disappeared while vacationing with schoolmates in Aruba. A scaled-back team is out again today searching. Some volunteers went back home to Texas yesterday. More could arrive tomorrow. Aruba's top prosecutor is defending the investigation. She tells CNN authorities are making progress and she says criticism of how they handled the case is just not justified. We'll have police (INAUDIBLE) that Holloway investigation.

Our next guest can talk a lot about this. Eddie Rantz is an attorney now, but he was former homicide division commander with the New Orleans Police Department. He joins me now live from Metairie, Louisana. Eddie, good to see you.

EDDIE RANTZ, FORMER HOMICIDE ATTORNEY: Nice to see you, too, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, from what you've been watching and reading and monitoring, what's your overall impression, first of all, of this case and I guess can we call it a homicide case at this point?

RANTZ: Well, it's probably fair to call it a homicide at this point, even though you don't have a body. But being that it's been a month, it's probably significant time passed that you can say it's a homicide. From what I've seen and read of the case, they've been a little slow in their progress.

PHILLIPS: We're talking about one homicide a year. And now this department has all of this media attention and there -- officers are really getting scrutinized. Now, how is that inexperience playing out here? What have you noticed?

RANTZ: Well, the biggest thing when you have one or two homicides a year and -- fortunate for them -- but the problem is, you lack experience. And their one homicide may have been a domestic homicide, which actually clears itself, it solves itself. So when you have a homicide of this magnitude with this type of investigation that needs to be conducted, it actually -- it's a big strain on the Aruba police, I'm sure.

PHILLIPS: Now, they've got these suspects in custody, these young boys. And, you know, what do you think? If you were on this case, I mean, you dealt with dozens and dozens and dozens, probably hundreds, of homicide cases. Do you think you could have solved this, considering the number of suspects that are in that jail cell?

RANTZ: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Why? Tell me why.

RANTZ: As a homicide investigator, the more suspects you have, the happier you are. Because you can actually play them against each other. Obviously, you're not going to conduct interviews and interrogations while they're all in the same room. You're going to have them in different places, talk to them at different times and turn -- they'll turn on each other.

PHILLIPS: So either they'll turn on each other, they'll brag about something, or they'll just confess, right?

RANTZ: Oh, absolutely. There's -- basically, there's three types of people who -- suspects and/or perpetrators in any type of homicide. One is a cold-blooded -- cold-hearted killer. I seriously doubt that these people are of that nature. The other two is, you'll find that one person will want to confess and the other person will want to brag about it. So all you have to do is find out which avenue to take and start, you know, basically pushing the right buttons until you get to that conclusion. PHILLIPS: All right. What do you make of the father, this judge? His son, obviously, one of the prime suspects. Being questioned, then being let go. Why is that happening? I mean, everybody thought he was so closely tied and was -- they were holding him for good information. Then all of a sudden, he was let go.

RANTZ: Well, obviously, and I'm not privy to the information that's available, but I would have to say he is an attorney and I understand that he's studying to be a judge in that jurisdiction. And Aruba, as you know, is actually a relatively small area, so I'm sure he's well-connected with the judicial system. Now, I'm not saying that that lends itself to anything as improper or wrong, but he knows the system and people know him and I would believe that they would tend to believe things that he said.

PHILLIPS: Do you believe that if there is no body, there is no case here?

RANTZ: Well, the standard belief is no body, no case, because one of the first things you have to do as a prosecutor would be to show a cause of death. Without a body and no coroner's report, it's pretty difficult to show the cause of death of a person, not to mention the fact that you're not sure 100 percent that there is a homicide.

PHILLIPS: My gut is they need to bring you over there, Eddie Rantz. Thanks for your time today. We appreciate it.

RANTZ: You're welcome. Nice to see you again, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, details of a Hollywood wedding.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's official. Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have tied the knot, but that's only part of the big news. I'll have that and more when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, one of Hollywood's hottest couples says "I do" and the family's about to get a whole lot bigger. CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas has been busy tracking down the stories. She joins live from L.A.

VARGAS: So busy.

PHILLIPS: So busy, with all the buzz. Busy with the buzz.

VARGAS: It's all abuzz around Hollywood and the world. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, in fact, have tied the knot. But not only that, they have also announced the actress is pregnant. Representatives from both camps confirmed the marriage to the Associated Press today. The publicists, Ken Sunshine and Nicole King, also confirm that Garner is pregnant with her first child. The confirmation comes after reports that the couple wed last night at the Parrot Cay Resort in the Caribbean island of Turks and Caicos. Well, they're not exactly newlyweds, but Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston are definitely two peas in a pod. And now they're ready to share their marriage and a whole lot more on their new reality show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD (singing): With Gilligan, and Skipper, too. A millionaire and his wife. The movie star...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS: "Being Bobby Brown" is billed as a slice of the star's life and critics are already having a field day with it. "The Hollywood Reporter" calls the show the most disgusting series ever to ooze its way onto television. Yes, well, can you be judge starting tonight, when the show debuts on the Bravo network. Oh, boy, already panning the show and it's not even on yet -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Sibila, thank you.

Now, we're still following that's breaking in Vancouver, British Columbia. "Now in the News," live pictures where a ferry missed its berth and ran into a marina at Horseshoe Bay. That's in West Vancouver. At least a dozen smaller boats were crushed in that accident. Divers are in the water right now, checking for possible victims. A spokeswoman for British Columbia Ferries say that there are no reports of any injuries at this time.

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