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American Morning
Fun of Several Parties Turns to Tragedy
Aired June 30, 2003 - 08:06 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In just seconds, the fun of several parties turned to tragedy. The structures were removed yesterday. A third floor porch packed with people suddenly gave way early yesterday in Chicago. It collapsed onto porches below, killing 12 people and injuring at least 57. The unsafe wreckage was taken down yesterday, as you see here.
With us now are two women who witnessed the tragedy, Elizabeth Guidici and Andrea Muzzupappa. They are with us from Chicago this morning.
Thank you so much to the two of you for being here.
Elizabeth, I'd like to start with you. How far were you from the accident when it happened?
ELIZABETH GUIDICI, WITNESSED ACCIDENT: I would say probably about 10 feet.
COLLINS: And what did you see? You were very close.
GUIDICI: We were very close. We had a fence that blocks the view of the middle deck, but we were able to see the top deck and the stairs. And we just saw the middle part of the top deck collapse in and it was really in a matter of seconds. It just, you know, fell that quickly.
COLLINS: Now, were the two of you together? Andrea, where were you when all of this happened?
ANDREA MUZZUPAPPA, WITNESSED PORCH COLLAPSE: Yes, we were together. We were just sitting on our rooftop...
COLLINS: So you guys actually had a chance...
MUZZUPAPPA: ... you know, enjoying the night.
COLLINS: OK. You actually had a chance to talk with some of the guests just before this happened. What were they saying to you?
GUIDICI: They were just joking around. They had, you know, wanted us to come over and hang out. And we had contemplated it and we ended up staying, you know, on our rooftop...
COLLINS: Why?
GUIDICI: ... which was social. COLLINS: Why did you not want to go?
GUIDICI: It was late and, you know, obviously we didn't think about the fact that there were that many people. Or it didn't even cross my mind. We did consider it. Andrea, as a matter of fact, said, you know, I don't really feel like going over there. So we just decided to stay on our deck.
COLLINS: Andrea, in your best view, was there any sort of warning before this porch went down?
MUZZUPAPPA: No. I mean there's something that fell on our deck. It was kind of a pick. It was probably this big. But we didn't assume it was going to lead into something like that. And then there was no sounds, no noises, no creaks. It just fell.
COLLINS: We're looking at some pictures right now on the screen here of the aftermath. Tell me, how did people react?
MUZZUPAPPA: People, I know my initial reaction was just fear and I ran inside to call 911. And when I came back out, people were moving around. They were mobile on the ground, trying to pick through the debris. A lot of people on their cell phones, everybody working together to try and, you know, try and find people that were buried underneath.
COLLINS: Andrea, you guys also say that some people were actually able to jump to safety while that porch was collapsing. Where did they go?
GUIDICI: They actually jumped on our rooftop. There's a metal box up there that they jumped on because some of the porch was still intact and they were able to jump over and not fall.
COLLINS: What was...
GUIDICI: It was actually pretty ugly.
COLLINS: So it was close enough that you were able to help those people once they jumped over to where you were?
GUIDICI: Yes. Well, I asked them if they needed help. I think they were, initially they were just scared and wanted to keep running because the deck was still, you know, it was, I don't know, they just kept running. So they ran downstairs and they wanted to look for their friends, I'm sure, too so.
COLLINS: To the two of you, thank you so much for being here this morning.
I'm sure that you will be dealing with the memories of what has happened here, so close to where you lived, for quite some time.
Elizabeth Guidici and Andrea Muzzupappa, thank you once again, ladies.
MUZZUPAPPA: Thank you.
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 June 30, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In just seconds, the fun of several parties turned to tragedy. The structures were removed yesterday. A third floor porch packed with people suddenly gave way early yesterday in Chicago. It collapsed onto porches below, killing 12 people and injuring at least 57. The unsafe wreckage was taken down yesterday, as you see here.
With us now are two women who witnessed the tragedy, Elizabeth Guidici and Andrea Muzzupappa. They are with us from Chicago this morning.
Thank you so much to the two of you for being here.
Elizabeth, I'd like to start with you. How far were you from the accident when it happened?
ELIZABETH GUIDICI, WITNESSED ACCIDENT: I would say probably about 10 feet.
COLLINS: And what did you see? You were very close.
GUIDICI: We were very close. We had a fence that blocks the view of the middle deck, but we were able to see the top deck and the stairs. And we just saw the middle part of the top deck collapse in and it was really in a matter of seconds. It just, you know, fell that quickly.
COLLINS: Now, were the two of you together? Andrea, where were you when all of this happened?
ANDREA MUZZUPAPPA, WITNESSED PORCH COLLAPSE: Yes, we were together. We were just sitting on our rooftop...
COLLINS: So you guys actually had a chance...
MUZZUPAPPA: ... you know, enjoying the night.
COLLINS: OK. You actually had a chance to talk with some of the guests just before this happened. What were they saying to you?
GUIDICI: They were just joking around. They had, you know, wanted us to come over and hang out. And we had contemplated it and we ended up staying, you know, on our rooftop...
COLLINS: Why?
GUIDICI: ... which was social. COLLINS: Why did you not want to go?
GUIDICI: It was late and, you know, obviously we didn't think about the fact that there were that many people. Or it didn't even cross my mind. We did consider it. Andrea, as a matter of fact, said, you know, I don't really feel like going over there. So we just decided to stay on our deck.
COLLINS: Andrea, in your best view, was there any sort of warning before this porch went down?
MUZZUPAPPA: No. I mean there's something that fell on our deck. It was kind of a pick. It was probably this big. But we didn't assume it was going to lead into something like that. And then there was no sounds, no noises, no creaks. It just fell.
COLLINS: We're looking at some pictures right now on the screen here of the aftermath. Tell me, how did people react?
MUZZUPAPPA: People, I know my initial reaction was just fear and I ran inside to call 911. And when I came back out, people were moving around. They were mobile on the ground, trying to pick through the debris. A lot of people on their cell phones, everybody working together to try and, you know, try and find people that were buried underneath.
COLLINS: Andrea, you guys also say that some people were actually able to jump to safety while that porch was collapsing. Where did they go?
GUIDICI: They actually jumped on our rooftop. There's a metal box up there that they jumped on because some of the porch was still intact and they were able to jump over and not fall.
COLLINS: What was...
GUIDICI: It was actually pretty ugly.
COLLINS: So it was close enough that you were able to help those people once they jumped over to where you were?
GUIDICI: Yes. Well, I asked them if they needed help. I think they were, initially they were just scared and wanted to keep running because the deck was still, you know, it was, I don't know, they just kept running. So they ran downstairs and they wanted to look for their friends, I'm sure, too so.
COLLINS: To the two of you, thank you so much for being here this morning.
I'm sure that you will be dealing with the memories of what has happened here, so close to where you lived, for quite some time.
Elizabeth Guidici and Andrea Muzzupappa, thank you once again, ladies.
MUZZUPAPPA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
