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American Morning
49-Year-Old American Sandy Alan Booker Killed in Moscow Hostage Crisis
Aired October 29, 2002 - 08:05 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It has now been confirmed that 49-year- old Sandy Alan Booker is the American who was killed over the weekend in the Moscow hostage crisis. He happened to be a survivor of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
As you probably know by now, 115 hostages died from the gas. Only two were killed by the Chechen rebels holding them captive. The government has not said what was in the gas, but the U.S. Embassy says it may have been made from an opiate or an opiate derivative.
CNN correspondent Mike Hanna joins us now from Moscow with the very latest -- good morning, Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello there, Paula.
I'm standing outside the hospital where hundreds of hostages are still being treated as a result of that gas poisoning in the early hours of Saturday morning. The government continuing to insist it will not reveal exactly what gas was used. However, I spoke to a representative of the operational center who actually directed that operation on Saturday morning, him saying that while he will not divulge what the gas exactly was, insisting that it was not a military weapon, that it was not any form of weaponized agent, that it was, in fact, a kind of narcotic used in surgery situations, but used in vast volumes in order to make sure that those Chechen separatists who were holding 800 people hostage in that theater were completely immobilized.
The decision, he said, was taken within an instant whether or not to actually go in, perhaps risk the lives of a number of hostages, but at the same time save the lives of at least 800. So it was a very difficult decision, a very complicated situation.
People have been coming out of the hospital behind me in the course of the day. At least eight hostages being released. And one of them said to us that well, whatever gas was used, she still welcomes that Russian special forces operation, believing that more people would have died if the gas was not used to immobilize those Chechen separatists.
Now, also in the last hour or so, this gate that was closed throughout the past two and a half days has now been opened before people were gathered outside, not being able to go in to see their loved ones in the hospital. This has now changed. The gate's been opened. Everybody's free to move in and out, so the situation returning to a semblance of normality. But 115 people dead as a result of this gas. At least hundreds more still in hospital and as many as 20 of these are still said to be in a critical condition -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike, so give us a perspective on how outraged family members might be. You have this Russian group called the Union for Chemical Safety coming out, saying the antidote was only given to the attack group and the rescue group and the hostages didn't even get the antidote once they were evacuated outside.
HANNA: Well, once again, Paula, there's so much speculation because the Russians are not revealing details of what it is. Now, I've been told by that representative of the special operations department that this particular agent did not need an antidote, that it was, in fact, a narcotic that was used in surgery and the effects would dissipate very quickly.
However, this is disputed by a number of the doctors that treated the hostages. They used a number of antidotes on the assumption that that substance was, initially, a nerve gas. Those antidotes did not work. It was a long time before they discovered using a drug used to deal with the overdoses of heroin produced results.
So there is an outrage about this among the Russian public, that perhaps more lives could have been saved if more details had been given about the drug. But one must stress this, as well, is that the outrage is not directed to the operation itself generally. People accept that the situation was complicated, that extreme measures needed to be taken. The criticism and the anger is directed at what happened subsequent to that and the lack of information that's come from the Russian authorities.
ZAHN: Thanks so much.
Mike Hanna reporting from Moscow this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hostage Crisis>
Aired October 29, 2002 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It has now been confirmed that 49-year- old Sandy Alan Booker is the American who was killed over the weekend in the Moscow hostage crisis. He happened to be a survivor of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
As you probably know by now, 115 hostages died from the gas. Only two were killed by the Chechen rebels holding them captive. The government has not said what was in the gas, but the U.S. Embassy says it may have been made from an opiate or an opiate derivative.
CNN correspondent Mike Hanna joins us now from Moscow with the very latest -- good morning, Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello there, Paula.
I'm standing outside the hospital where hundreds of hostages are still being treated as a result of that gas poisoning in the early hours of Saturday morning. The government continuing to insist it will not reveal exactly what gas was used. However, I spoke to a representative of the operational center who actually directed that operation on Saturday morning, him saying that while he will not divulge what the gas exactly was, insisting that it was not a military weapon, that it was not any form of weaponized agent, that it was, in fact, a kind of narcotic used in surgery situations, but used in vast volumes in order to make sure that those Chechen separatists who were holding 800 people hostage in that theater were completely immobilized.
The decision, he said, was taken within an instant whether or not to actually go in, perhaps risk the lives of a number of hostages, but at the same time save the lives of at least 800. So it was a very difficult decision, a very complicated situation.
People have been coming out of the hospital behind me in the course of the day. At least eight hostages being released. And one of them said to us that well, whatever gas was used, she still welcomes that Russian special forces operation, believing that more people would have died if the gas was not used to immobilize those Chechen separatists.
Now, also in the last hour or so, this gate that was closed throughout the past two and a half days has now been opened before people were gathered outside, not being able to go in to see their loved ones in the hospital. This has now changed. The gate's been opened. Everybody's free to move in and out, so the situation returning to a semblance of normality. But 115 people dead as a result of this gas. At least hundreds more still in hospital and as many as 20 of these are still said to be in a critical condition -- Paula.
ZAHN: Mike, so give us a perspective on how outraged family members might be. You have this Russian group called the Union for Chemical Safety coming out, saying the antidote was only given to the attack group and the rescue group and the hostages didn't even get the antidote once they were evacuated outside.
HANNA: Well, once again, Paula, there's so much speculation because the Russians are not revealing details of what it is. Now, I've been told by that representative of the special operations department that this particular agent did not need an antidote, that it was, in fact, a narcotic that was used in surgery and the effects would dissipate very quickly.
However, this is disputed by a number of the doctors that treated the hostages. They used a number of antidotes on the assumption that that substance was, initially, a nerve gas. Those antidotes did not work. It was a long time before they discovered using a drug used to deal with the overdoses of heroin produced results.
So there is an outrage about this among the Russian public, that perhaps more lives could have been saved if more details had been given about the drug. But one must stress this, as well, is that the outrage is not directed to the operation itself generally. People accept that the situation was complicated, that extreme measures needed to be taken. The criticism and the anger is directed at what happened subsequent to that and the lack of information that's come from the Russian authorities.
ZAHN: Thanks so much.
Mike Hanna reporting from Moscow this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hostage Crisis>
