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American Morning

Nightclub Inferno: Who's to Blame?

Aired February 24, 2003 - 09:07   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The state of Rhode Island conducting a criminal investigation into who may be responsible for the deadly blaze. Family members were taken by bus yesterday to visit the site where The Station nightclub once stood.
Whitney Casey back live on the scene with more this morning for us.

Whitney, good morning.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And the governor of Rhode Island characterized this day as an emotional odyssey. As the family members came here for the very first time, I'm just going to show you what they saw. First, they saw this empty parking lot, where their loved ones' cars used to be parked, and then this -- the disaster behind me. And they left flowers here.

But as they continue to look into the numbers here, there are only 42 people that had been identified. That leaves 55 still unidentified. And the governor credits the pathologists that have been working around the clock in their tireless effort for these, and the burgeoning database of dental records.

However, when the question of culpability comes out, it's shifted back and forth, the governor maintains that his top priority today is to identify those 55 people who are still unidentified. And he said he hopes to have that done by the end of the day. But in the meantime, he's placed a moratorium on pyrotechnic displays in Rhode Island, in buildings like this one, and he's also sent out 200 fire marshals to inspect buildings like this, in hopes that something like this will never happen again -- Bill.

HEMMER: Whitney, thanks. Whitney Casey there, in West Warrick.

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






Aired February 24, 2003 - 09:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The state of Rhode Island conducting a criminal investigation into who may be responsible for the deadly blaze. Family members were taken by bus yesterday to visit the site where The Station nightclub once stood.
Whitney Casey back live on the scene with more this morning for us.

Whitney, good morning.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And the governor of Rhode Island characterized this day as an emotional odyssey. As the family members came here for the very first time, I'm just going to show you what they saw. First, they saw this empty parking lot, where their loved ones' cars used to be parked, and then this -- the disaster behind me. And they left flowers here.

But as they continue to look into the numbers here, there are only 42 people that had been identified. That leaves 55 still unidentified. And the governor credits the pathologists that have been working around the clock in their tireless effort for these, and the burgeoning database of dental records.

However, when the question of culpability comes out, it's shifted back and forth, the governor maintains that his top priority today is to identify those 55 people who are still unidentified. And he said he hopes to have that done by the end of the day. But in the meantime, he's placed a moratorium on pyrotechnic displays in Rhode Island, in buildings like this one, and he's also sent out 200 fire marshals to inspect buildings like this, in hopes that something like this will never happen again -- Bill.

HEMMER: Whitney, thanks. Whitney Casey there, in West Warrick.

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