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American Morning

Israel: 25 Now Confirmed Dead in Building Collapse

Aired May 25, 2001 - 10:32   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We have been following a story all morning, a moment of joy which turned into a moment of tragedy in Jerusalem at a wedding. Some 650 people there at a hall called The Versailles, when in an instant the floor collapsed, sending several people on the dance floor to the floor beneath. At least 250 were injured, 25 now killed, and the search for more survivors and perhaps more who have been killed continues.

On the line with us is CNN's Ben Wedeman, who's been on the scene ever since this happened -- Ben, bring us up to date on the search and rescue effort.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, the search and rescue effort is continuing at an intense pace. In the meantime, a video has emerged from the event itself, from the wedding celebration where you see the bride, Keren Sror, just moments before the floor collapsed in this four story building last night at about 10 o'clock, 10:00 P.M. local time. There were more than 600 people at this wedding reception, held in a four story building. The top floor is a wedding hall.

Clearly, according to Israel sources here, there were too many people in a building that they believe was not built to the highest standards. At the moment, the death toll stands at somewhere in the mid-20s. Now we're hearing from officials here that they believe there's somewhere between 10 and 20 people still unaccounted for from this disaster. They continue to work intensely trying to find either the living or the dead among the debris.

Just a little while ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came and inspected the site. He, in a brief statement afterwards he said that the government would be having a special cabinet meeting in the coming days to discuss such things as building standards and to try to avoid this kind of disaster in the future -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Ben, let me just interrupt you. We are watching the videotape which you referred to, which showed the bride, Keren Sror, just soon after the wedding, obviously. Her groom, Assi, was also depicted there. We should tell you that the bride was removed from the scene. She was slightly injured. The groom was unhurt. And I just have to warn our viewers that in just a short order here this videotape does depict the actual collapse. It's a very dramatic and troubling scene and we'd just like to warn our viewers that that is just about to happen here. The tapes were rolling. There were several -- there you see it happen. The floor collapsing, 250 people at least injured, and as Ben Wedeman has been reporting to us, as many as two dozen or perhaps more that have been killed as a result of that, all of it in an instant. And we are obviously following the story and watching as the troubling pictures come in.

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