Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Recovery Efforts Resume at Site where Barge Hit Bridge

Aired May 28, 2002 - 10:14   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.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on another story, recovery efforts have resumed at the site of this weekend's bridge collapse in Oklahoma. The death toll now stands at seven, but it's expected to surge ahead today as more divers search through the submerged tangle of vehicles that, of course, plunged into the water.

CNN's David Mattingly has been covering the story. He is in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, with the latest. David, how is the weather today?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kris, we had some very heavy rain and some lightning earlier this morning, here in southeastern Oklahoma. The storms have passed but the work has gotten back under way on the river. Both the Coast Guard and the NTSB on the river this morning -- investigators looking over every aspect of this bridge collapse.

This disaster reclaimed the lives of so many holiday travelers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Once the busiest east-west link if part of the country, additional barges and cranes are now brought in to assist in the recovery operation at the now empty Interstate 40 bridge -- a job that officials say is getting harder, not easier.

LT. CHRIS WEST, OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL: One good thing going on right now is we've got a sonar on the scene and it is running back and forth across the surface, and it's mapping the bottom of the river bed. We are actually able to see a good depiction of what it looks like -- the rubble, the roadway, the vehicles.

MATTINGLY: It is believed, more vehicles and victims may be under two large slabs of the bridge that collapsed Sunday morning after a support was rammed by a barge. The barge was off course; its pilot unconscious at the wheel. The collapse happened to quickly, motorists, like Rodney Tidwell, had no time to react.

RODNEY TIDWELL, SURVIVOR: I come across 40 going west. And the first thing I let you know, I had my seat belt on for the first time yesterday. The last thing I remember, was going off the bridge. Everything else is a blur. Just bits and piece is coming back to me.

MATTINGLY: Tidwell says his first memories after the accident were of someone in a boat pulling him out of the water.

TIDWELL: I'm going home. And I got three small kids. I'm going to be with them a while.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Tidwell, one of just five survivors in this tragedy. He and the others that survived this were rescued in those critical moments right after the collapse of the bridge by bystanders, people on the bridge, people in the water, boaters and fishermen who were there on the scene. So he was among one of the few lucky ones who were able to get help there in the critical moments.

Kris, back to you.

OSBORN: David, thank you very much from Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. We will also point out that at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, we are expecting a press conference from there, Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, about the situation. We will have more on the Oklahoma bridge disaster coming up as well, along with that press conference, such as, what was it like in the terrifying moments immediately following the collapse. We will talk with one man who helped in the rescue.

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