Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Second Team Trying to Reach Crash Site in Pakistan

Aired January 10, 2002 - 09:19   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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: All morning, we've been reporting on the crash of that KC-130 refueling aircraft that went down in Pakistan, killing seven members of the United States Marines, including the first woman to die in connection with combat operations over there. With us now is CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr, who broke the story on CNN yesterday -- Barbara, what is the latest that might be going on there at the crash site in the way of an investigation this morning?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've now learned that a team of recovery mortuary specialists and investigators are on their way to the site to begin the work of trying to recover the remains, and try and begin the investigation into what caused this crash.

There was an initial team of U.S. soldiers and Pakistani soldiers that went to the site immediately after the crash yesterday, but the plane went down in such mountainous terrain that they had trouble reaching the site, and once they got there, they were forced to turn back, so now a fully-equipped team, as I said, of investigators is on their way, and they are going to begin to work to recover remains and try and figure out exactly what happened.

CAFFERTY: Witnesses to the crash described the plane as appearing to be on fire just before impact. Do we know any more about what that might have been about? The plane was a refueling plane, it could have been full of aviation fuel.

STARR: That's what people are speculating here, informed speculation amongst military people who are familiar with these kinds of planes. If the plane was, in fact, full of fuel to conduct refueling operations, that's probably what did cause the huge explosion. There were reports from observers on the ground who saw the impact of an, explosion and it seems like it probably was the fuel on board.

CAFFERTY: All right, Barbara, appreciate it. Thank you. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joining us from Washington.

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