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American Morning

Two Missing from USS Nassau

Aired May 26, 2003 - 08:02   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the story of the USS Nassau. An incredible story of tragic consequences here and tragic coincidences. The USS Nassau is now due to be in port later on this morning. It's returning and it's being overshadowed, this return, by the apparent loss of two sailors in three days.
Frank Buckley is on board the ship and they're just off the coast of North Carolina.

Frank checks in now live -- hello, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Leon.

We are steaming toward North Carolina, where some Marines will be getting off this ship, finally having their homecoming after nine months of deployment. But it is going to be a difficult day in the sense that, you're right, two sailors are missing. One is presumed dead. The other is still declared technically missing, that is, HM1 Shaun Dale, who went missing yesterday morning after failing to report for a routine 10:00 a.m. muster. A search was conducted on the ship and then a -- the entire ship was turned around and steamed back some 80 miles, four to five hours, to the last known location where Dale was known to be on board. That was four or five hours earlier.

Helicopters searched the area. The Coast Guard also searched the seas with a C-130 aircraft. The hospital corpsman was not found. But today he is still listed as missing, as the ship's crew continues to search all of the literally hundreds of compartments, thousands of spaces that Dale could be in on this ship. So he is still listed as missing.

It was a stunning development in light of the fact that just 48 hours before that, another sailor, a petty officer third class, Dwayne Williams (AUDIO GAP) gone overboard in a tragic, what the captain called a freak accident when he was chasing a football across the flight deck. And the, as he went to go retrieve that ball, he tripped, fell over the side. He was seen going over the side. But somehow even though the fact that the ship turned around immediately, smoke was dropped into the water to mark his location, they were not able to recover Dwayne Williams and he is presumed dead.

So, a tragic situation, just within the last days after a nine month deployment that saw no loss of life, one sailor presumed dead, another one missing -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Frank, what are they telling you behind-the-scenes if they don't believe that Shaun Dale went overboard or if they -- he may hiding somewhere on board ship? Why would he be hiding and what else do they think may possibly be happening here?

BUCKLEY: Well, we were told yesterday that he had some issues on board. They didn't clarify what those issues were. They said he had spoken with a chaplain and had talked to a doctor. But they wouldn't go beyond that.

They do say there are a number of possibilities, that he could be hiding out on the ship, that he could be incapacitated somewhere on the ship and they are not ruling out the possibility of suicide.

So, those are the things that they're looking at. As far as the sea search, that has been called off.

HARRIS: All right, well, thank you, Frank.

Frank Buckley aboard the USS Nassau 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






Aired May 26, 2003 - 08:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the story of the USS Nassau. An incredible story of tragic consequences here and tragic coincidences. The USS Nassau is now due to be in port later on this morning. It's returning and it's being overshadowed, this return, by the apparent loss of two sailors in three days.
Frank Buckley is on board the ship and they're just off the coast of North Carolina.

Frank checks in now live -- hello, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Leon.

We are steaming toward North Carolina, where some Marines will be getting off this ship, finally having their homecoming after nine months of deployment. But it is going to be a difficult day in the sense that, you're right, two sailors are missing. One is presumed dead. The other is still declared technically missing, that is, HM1 Shaun Dale, who went missing yesterday morning after failing to report for a routine 10:00 a.m. muster. A search was conducted on the ship and then a -- the entire ship was turned around and steamed back some 80 miles, four to five hours, to the last known location where Dale was known to be on board. That was four or five hours earlier.

Helicopters searched the area. The Coast Guard also searched the seas with a C-130 aircraft. The hospital corpsman was not found. But today he is still listed as missing, as the ship's crew continues to search all of the literally hundreds of compartments, thousands of spaces that Dale could be in on this ship. So he is still listed as missing.

It was a stunning development in light of the fact that just 48 hours before that, another sailor, a petty officer third class, Dwayne Williams (AUDIO GAP) gone overboard in a tragic, what the captain called a freak accident when he was chasing a football across the flight deck. And the, as he went to go retrieve that ball, he tripped, fell over the side. He was seen going over the side. But somehow even though the fact that the ship turned around immediately, smoke was dropped into the water to mark his location, they were not able to recover Dwayne Williams and he is presumed dead.

So, a tragic situation, just within the last days after a nine month deployment that saw no loss of life, one sailor presumed dead, another one missing -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Frank, what are they telling you behind-the-scenes if they don't believe that Shaun Dale went overboard or if they -- he may hiding somewhere on board ship? Why would he be hiding and what else do they think may possibly be happening here?

BUCKLEY: Well, we were told yesterday that he had some issues on board. They didn't clarify what those issues were. They said he had spoken with a chaplain and had talked to a doctor. But they wouldn't go beyond that.

They do say there are a number of possibilities, that he could be hiding out on the ship, that he could be incapacitated somewhere on the ship and they are not ruling out the possibility of suicide.

So, those are the things that they're looking at. As far as the sea search, that has been called off.

HARRIS: All right, well, thank you, Frank.

Frank Buckley aboard the USS Nassau 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