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American Morning
Russian Forces Storm School
Aired September 03, 2004 - 07:00 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: Good morning.
Breaking news in Russia, explosions and gunfire -- the school under siege. Children flee for their lives, a chaotic situation still unfolding at this hour.
Exodus from South Florida, hundreds of thousands chased from their homes by the massive hurricane Frances.
And in New York City, President Bush making his case to keep his job. The convention's over; the campaign continues on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING. Here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: And good morning, 7:00 here on the East Coast. To Florida, we are live in Melbourne, Florida this morning, and good morning. Welcome to our coverage. I'm Bill Hemmer live.
Frances lurking offshore, it weakened overnight, down to a category three hurricane, but still a significant concern to hundreds of thousands of people up and down the coast here.
Frances will be a major part of our coverage over the next three hours, but there is also breaking news from Russia. And for that, let's go back to New York City and say good morning to Kelly Wallace with us today.
Kelly, good morning there.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Good to be with you.
A very busy news morning indeed, numerous developments this morning at the school where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday. Russian forces have stormed the school.
There's still a lot we don't know about the situation. But it began unfolding about two hours ago when dozens of hostages escaped amid loud explosions and gunfire.
We begin our team coverage with CNN's Ron Chilcote in southern Russia via videophone.
Ryan, you've been on the scene for hours. What's the latest on the ground there? RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kelly, heavy fighting still under way here in the southern Russian city of Beslan. We understand that some of the militants that were holed up in this school, holding several hundred people hostage, including many, many children, are trying to make their way out of the city. That report coming from the Interfax news agency.
What we can tell you from what we hear on the ground is lots and lots of explosions, presumably from grenade launchers, also lots of small arms fire. We have Russian attack helicopters hovering overhead. We have not seen them fire yet, but they have been flying up there for some time.
This all began, Kelly, about two hours ago. It began with two very loud explosions, and then ever since then it's been a pretty sustained amount of gunfire.
We understand that Russian forces are now in control of the school. Now, the way that we believe this all began was Russian authorities had won permission from the hostage takers to remove some bodies that were still out in front of the school. These were people that were killed when the school was seized.
So, the Russian authorities moved in to collect these bodies so that their relatives could bury them. As they were collecting these bodies, according to the reports we have now, that is when a group of the armed men inside of the school -- that's the sound of an ambulance.
We now understand that more than 150 children have been hospitalized. That's coming from the radio station Aclamackvi (ph). We've seen at least 15 ourselves.
But back to how this all began, they were being -- a group of the armed men broke out of the school as these, as these bodies were being collected, guns blazing. Then a group of children tried to follow them trying to escape from the school. That's when the hostage takers that remained in the school with the rest of the children opened fire, we are told, on the fleeing children.
Then we understand, of course, that Russian forces took up position and moved in. It does not appear that Russian forces began any kind of storm here. This looks like this was a reaction on the ground here just from events that were provoked by the hostage takers.
A lot of noise, I don't know how much of this you can hear. We have attack helicopters overhead. We have cargo helicopters. We have ATC's moving around. We have heavy fighting in the city of Beslan.
Russian forces saying they're in control of the school, but clearly, clearly Kelly they are not in control of the town of Beslan yet. Reports that several of the militants, several of the hostage takers have made their way out of the building, are trying to fight their way out of the city of Beslan.
WALLACE: Ryan, in some of the live pictures we're seeing, some smoke still coming from the school. Reports also that the roof collapsed. What can you tell us about that?
CHILCOTE: Right, well we've heard numerous explosions from the school. I'm about 200 yards away from it. Russian forces moved in there. They encountered quite a bit of resistance from the hostage takers.
The Interfax news agency is reporting that the roof collapsed at some point. And some of the explosions that we've heard since then, we are being told, are the sound of Russian forces trying to blast their way into the school through the front door.
Perhaps it had collapsed in some fashion, or perhaps it had been barricaded. But they were literally trying, about five to 10 minutes ago, to blow their way into the school, perhaps to evacuate more hostages. We just don't know.
What we do know is more than 150 hostages, 150 children already have been hospitalized. Russian forces saying, though, in general, most of the kids are OK.
Big question there when they say most, we don't know how many kids were inside. Russian forces say they thought that there were at least 354 hostages inside the school, but last night they told me, well, they now think the number is much, much higher.
The relatives that have been standing vigil out here this whole while, now in the third day of this hostage crisis said they thought there were as many as 800 people inside there. So, we don't know exactly how many casualties we have among the hostages.
What we do know is that five of the hostage takers appear to have been killed. Now, that's from a group of 16 to 20. That's what the Russian authorities thought they were up against.
More ambulances.
People continue to be evacuated from this area. Fighting still under way about 100 yards from us right here. That -- I don't know if you heard that -- was a very large explosion.
Another one.
Let's listen to that.
That is the sound of grenade launchers firing. You can hear the initial explosion coming out of the grenade launchers, then you can hear, of course, the sound very loudly of the impact.
That's small arms fire.
This is all right in front of the school. We have people moving again. We can also see people being evacuated from this area. We saw about 15 to 20 people with our very own eyes wounded, being evacuated from there. We saw one cameraman. We saw at least two boys, several men.
Another explosion -- a very big gun fight under way here.
Those were grenade launchers. That was small arms fire.
It continues here in Beslan. Russian forces say they are in control of the school. No word, exactly, on the condition of the hostages other than we understand that at least 150 of the children that were among the hostages have been hospitalized. Some, obviously, have escaped.
We've seen women who said that they were able to escape from the building, but we just don't have enough information right now.
Lots and lots of firing continuing here, Kelly.
WALLACE: Ryan, obviously we want you to take cover there and keep safe.
Give our viewers a sense, Ryan, put this in context for us about what these hostage takers have been demanding from Russian authorities.
CHILCOTE: Absolutely. Well, their largest demand was they wanted Russia to withdraw all of its troops, tens of thousands of troops from Chechnya. Chechnya is a Russian region where the Russian forces have been battling Chechen rebels for nearly a decade now. So that was their demand.
They were also demanding that Russian authorities release some prisoners that were picked up by Russian authorities after a Chechen rebel raid in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia's
The hostage takers wanted the Russian authorities to release at least a couple dozen of those prisoners that were captured.
Lots of gunfire still continuing.
Those were their demands. Russian authorities never indicated that they were willing to end military operations inside of Chechnya, that they were going to take out any troops.
What they've been trying to do is negotiate some smaller points. Apparently, they offered safe passage -- that was on the first day -- safe passage for these hostage takers out of the school if they would release the hostages. That offer was refused.
Very large explosion.
You know, this goes in waves. It's been going on for about two and a half hours. It starts out really big with grenade launch fire, the launcher fire, and then small arms fire and then quiets down a bit and then comes right back.
And we have Russian attack helicopters still in the sky and lots of fighting going on still in the vicinity of the school. The last reports are that the Russian forces are trying to make their way into some of the entrances of the school although they also say they are in control of the school, very confusing.
What is quite clear here is that they're not in control of this area because there's still a lot of people shooting right now.
WALLACE: And Ryan, we still don't know, obviously, 100 percent if all the hostages are out of that school and away from those premises right now?
CHILCOTE: No, we don't know that. Russian authorities have said, a spokesman for the regional government, said most of the children inside are OK; but we just don't know what most means. And we are obviously going to be looking for information about that.
I think there's so much fighting going on in this area right now, quite frankly, so much chaos that Russian authorities, themselves, probably really don't know. Everyone just bolted out of this, out of this school in all different directions.
So -- and I don't think anyone is reporting right now to Russian authorities to say, I'm alive. I think all we can be sure of is that 158 children, at least, have been hospitalized as a result of the fighting around the school, as a result of some of the explosions we're hearing.
We know that number for sure because, of course, they've been registered at the hospital. But the people that have managed to get away, the people that were killed in this operation on both the hostage takers side and the side of the hostages, that's something that we're going to have to wait a bit to see here -- Kelly?
WALLACE: And Ryan, what we're seeing right now, we are seeing live pictures. You see a big plume of smoke coming from what appears to be, obviously, the school area.
Not sure, Ryan, if you can see it -- I know you're about 200 yards away -- from your vantage point.
CHILCOTE: Sure.
WALLACE: Is this something we've been seeing, plumes of smoke throughout...
CHILCOTE: Sure.
WALLACE: ... throughout those several hours this morning?
CHILCOTE: No, we have not. There have -- occasionally, there was -- yesterday, there was a plume of smoke coming from the school. Apparently that was caused by some tracer fire that hit a residential building, a nearby residential building and caused it to cause a small fire there that firefighters then put out.
What that black plume of smoke is we can't say, at this point. All we know is there's been an awful lot of gunfire right here exchanged between the hostage-takers and Russian forces. And it's quite clear that when you have so many explosives going off, fires are a real possibility -- Kelly?
WALLACE: And Ryan, we continue to show these pictures, dramatic pictures from earlier. You see the children, many coming out, some in their underwear, rushing to drink some water.
Do you have a sense, have you been able to talk to anybody about what the conditions were like inside and why so many of them were coming out, some just wearing underwear?
CHILCOTE: Yes, well the conditions inside, Kelly, are nothing short of absolutely horrific. There was a group of 26 women and children.
Hold on. We have something going on right behind us right now. We're going to try and focus in on a woman who is carrying her child -- I'm going to get down so you can see this -- a woman carrying her child out of the school.
This is -- terrifying scenes. She is carrying her small daughter. I'm going to describe it until we can get a shot of it for you.
She's carrying a small girl, and we have a boy here being carried out as well. It looks like the boy's father carrying out his son and the mother carrying out their daughter, a total of three children.
These are people that were released, that have made their way outside of the school, Kelly. This is a very, very fluid situation.
But returning to the conditions inside the school before this attack began, we know that the children and the adults inside the school that were being held were given absolutely no access to water and food. And that was a very big concern for Russian authorities. They were very concerned that these children weren't going to be able to make it.
And just yesterday, we got reports from some of the women that were released, part of that group of 26, that some of the children had already, yesterday, begun fainting.
So, in fact, one woman even described a scene where one of the hostage-takers brought a cup of water to a large group -- hundreds of hostages -- just one cup of water and said, here you go. Drink this. This is all you get.
So, it was an absolutely horrifying scene inside of that school. The men had been separated from the women and the children. The women said that when the men were brought back, there weren't as many men. They didn't know, at that time, what had happened to those men.
WALLACE: And Ryan, of course, this has been a week of not one but many terror attacks inside Russia. Any sense right now from your sources that this incident, this ongoing hostage situation, is connected to the terrorist incidents involving two Russian planes?
CHILCOTE: No -- Russians aren't drawing a connection yet, but a lot of people, you know, a lot of analysts are certainly drawing a connection between the downing of the Russian airliner, then a female suicider -- female suicide bomber attack -- at a Moscow subway station.
Then, now this. Three attacks in eight days. They appeared, each attack, to be more audacious than the last.
That is the sound of small arms fire. We're going to try and show you where it's coming from, but it's about 150 yards behind us. You see the crowd of people running away.
This is how it's been, Kelly. It's been quiet and then sporadic gunfire. Everybody takes off, then they re-gather.
More gunfire.
Russian forces say they're in control of the school, but they're clearly not in control of the town of Beslan.
There are reports that some of the militants that were holed up inside the school are trying to fight their way out of the city. But, you know, it's very difficult to confirm that.
WALLACE: And Ryan...
CHILCOTE: And we have a wounded individual being carried out on a stretcher right here, right now. I don't know if you can see this, but another heartbreaking scene, Kelly. It's just been a horrific morning. This is not how anyone here wanted to see this happen.
It is an elderly woman being carried out on a stretcher. You can see there. I don't know. Can you see that picture, Kelly?
WALLACE: We can. We are. Our viewers are seeing that picture as well, a woman being carried away on a stretcher. We can't tell...
CHILCOTE: Yes, it's very disturbing.
WALLACE: ... can't tell how injured she is.
Ryan, how far away are family members, relatives from where you are because with the constant gunfire, it's obviously a very dangerous situation even near that school?
CHILCOTE: Yes, there's -- Yes, Kelly, it's a little bit difficult to imagine, I think, for our viewers, but they're right here, you know, particularly the men.
And they come and they go with the gunfire. But there's no one really here holding people back from the fighting. It's just -- it seems -- you get the impression that everyone here that has a weapon is too busy to do anything like to try and -- I'm sorry. We're going to try and move over here a little bit -- to try to keep people away.
Just a completely chaotic scene, it's very unclear who was a hostage, who was a relative standing outside. Everything is now mixed up.
Now we understand the militants have made their way out of the school, so there are people, perhaps, in these crowds that were inside the school. We'll show a man here. And this gives you an idea of the security.
You see he has an assault rifle in his arm. No uniform. No way of knowing, of course, whether he was part of the hostage taking group to the naked eye, or whether he was -- is a Russian security official. And that is the situation here on the ground.
But Russian forces say they've taken the school. But, obviously, they have not completed their job here. There is still a lot of fighting in the town of Beslan. It's happening all around us.
From behind us, to the left of us we have small arms fire, and we have grenade fire -- Kelly?
CHILCOTE: Ryan, it's about 17 minutes past the hour. And for any viewers who are just joining us, give our viewers a sense, again, of what precipitated this activity right as we're seeing it because earlier there were negotiations going on.
It seemed to be a peaceful, negotiated release of some of the hostages, and then it turned into a violent situation.
CHILCOTE: Absolutely. In fact, a Russian official had just come out to tell reporters here that the Russians had negotiated permission with the hostage-takers to collect the bodies of seven people that were killed as that school was seized.
What happened was, the school was seized on Tuesday. It was the first day of school. There was a celebration going on in front of the school. And several people, as they fled, were shot by the hostage- takers in the back.
Those bodies have been lying out there for two days, so the Russians asked the permission -- asked permission to collect the bodies so that their relatives could bury them.
And it was just as that was happening that there were two loud, large explosions, and then a group of the armed men inside of the building began to fight their way out of it. They were followed by a group of children who decided to use the opportunity to try and escape. Then the remaining hostage-takers inside the school opened fire on the fleeing children.
Then we heard, about an hour -- it's been about an hour and 45 minutes since then -- we've heard sustained gunfire. Initially it was coming just from the school grounds, now it's coming from throughout the city.
We had Russian helicopters on station. Now we have the Russian special forces saying that they are in control of the school.
You have reports that 158 children have been hospitalized, but we have very little more information than that -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Ryan, we're going to leave it there now, have you get more information and continue to come back to you as developments warrant.
Be safe. You're doing a great job out there.
Ryan Chilcote, reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Another major news story, though, going on as well, that is Hurricane Frances. For that, we turn to Bill Hemmer in Melbourne, Florida -- Bill?
HEMMER: Hey, Kelly. Thanks again. Absolutely extraordinary pictures and extraordinary story coming from Ryan.
In meantime, though, here in the U.S. in the southeast, it was three weeks ago today when Charley came onshore on the western side the state. Now Florida bracing again for Frances.
We'll get you live to the National Hurricane Center for the latest coordinates and the information we're getting in a moment.
Back here live in a moment.
Day is breaking in Southern Florida on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Back here live in Florida.
On the radar you can see this storm. It is still extremely large. Back here live in Melbourne, Florida with our meteorologist Chad Myers here. Good morning to you. We've been watching the winds out here...
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know.
HEMMER: ... the past several hours.
Are these the effects of Frances already?
MYERS: Oh, sure, already. Yes, you can see that on the satellite. That whole are was already spinning onshore here. We've already had a couple of storms to our south, down around Fort Pierce.
They've been rolling onshore, those outer bands, those fingers, as we call them.
HEMMER: You've been watching it and so have I. A lot of people have gotten out because they've taken the warnings...
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: ... that we all saw with Charley two weeks ago. MYERS: Talking to all the folks here, man, they're out. This place is a ghost town, and that's good.
HEMMER: All right, Chad.
MYERS: I don't know where they went, but they went in there somewhere.
HEMMER: That they did. A lot of taillights coming in last night.
MYERS: You bet.
HEMMER: Thanks. We'll be with you throughout the morning here.
MYERS: All right.
HEMMER: Also from Miami, the National Hurricane Center keeping a very close eye on what's happening with Frances, weakening overnight.
Here's Ed Rappaport, he's the deputy director down there in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Ed, what are the conditions you have at this hour?
ED RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: At this hour, it appears that Hurricane Frances has weakened overnight. The eye has become much more fragmented.
So, we are in some sense -- the hurricane has transformed from more of an Andrew or a Charley-like hurricane into one that's more like Isabel last year, a big hurricane with a lot of rain, still potential for wind damage and storm surge spread over a large area.
HEMMER: And we also know the storm has slowed down overnight. What would cause that storm to slow down, Ed?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the hurricanes are steered by the winds around them, by their environment. We did forecast some slowing. The hurricane remains on track.
The biggest change has been the weakening of the inner core. And we expect that there will be even further deceleration, so this is going to be an unnerving period for Florida. It may take as much as two days for the hurricane to get all the way across the state.
HEMMER: If that is the case and it's a category three storm now, and this time yesterday at a category four, could that storm strengthen again; and what would cause that?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the storm has weakened, and it may even go down a little bit more, but we've got this large area of hurricane force winds that we expect to continue. There is one possibility for further strengthening. We expect the hurricane to turn a little bit more to the west, or to the left, in the next 24 hours. So there's a short period that it could intensify.
Either way, there's going to be a large area of hurricane force winds and a lot of rain coming ashore with this hurricane.
HEMMER: You mentioned the rain. Yesterday we were told perhaps as much as 20 inches of rain. Is that what you still may see in the state of Florida?
RAPPAPORT: That's right. It looks like on the order of 10 inches for the worst-hit areas, perhaps locally as high as 20 inches, particularly with the slow speed. It's just going be inching along over the weekend as it crosses the coast.
HEMMER: Ed, if I could, just to get a little better clarification on your first answer. What would cause the eye to break, not apart necessarily, but break loose overnight, as you described to us?
RAPPAPORT: There are a variety of conditions that contributed to the weakening. One is we have a little more sheer. The winds in the upper levels are not going in the same direction as the lower levels.
Also, the slowing of the storm itself may have induced some weakening because the winds have churned up the water underneath it bringing some cooler water towards the surface, and that doesn't support quite an intense hurricane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, Ed Rappaport a short time ago from the National Hurricane Center.
Back here in Melbourne, Florida the fire chief is my guest now. Say hello and good morning to Walt Chamberlain.
Good morning to you, chief.
CHIEF WALT CHAMBERLIN, MELBOURNE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What is your concern right now?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, the concern, mainly, was evacuating the barrier islands. And I think that's gone very well.
The people have heeded the warning. Most of the island is clear. The five shelters Brevard County has are full.
So, anyone that hasn't left the island yet, please do. Go inland. Go north, but stay out of Brevard County.
HEMMER: One thing we're learning as we cover this storm in the early stages, Charley taught a lot of people a lesson here. Do you feel that so far?
CHAMBERLIN: I think so. I think Charley -- this storm coming so close to Charley really sent home a message to people.
In the past, people didn't heed the warnings as readily as they should have and never left the islands.
HEMMER: This beach is empty. How many people left? Do you have a gauge?
CHAMBERLIN: I don't have the number. We know that all five shelters in Brevard County are full. And by the traffic flows on the highway, the reports we're getting, they're going north, so.
HEMMER: Chief, good luck to you. Walt Chamberlin is the fire chief here in Melbourne, Florida.
You're going to need it, OK.
CHAMBERLIN: Thank you.
HEMMER: You got it.
It is daybreak now, Kelly, here in Florida as we continue to watch this storm. You can see it on the radar. It is literally twice the size of Charley.
But again, overnight with that eye breaking apart, as Ed explained, Ed Rappaport explained, with the eye weakening a little bit somewhat at this point. It took it down from a category four to a category three.
Winds sustained about 120 miles an hour. As we go through the day today, here's the thing, I think, that is going to be critical, gauge the damage that was done in the Bahamas once contact is established there and see how strong that storm came through overnight.
The other important indicator that we're hearing right now from the experts who watch this stuff is that the storm slowed down, moving only about nine miles an hour.
If that's the case, that is an enormous rainmaker. Not just for the Bahamas, but if it stays at that speed when it comes ashore in the southeast U.S., they are saying upwards of 20 inches of rain could come as a result of Frances.
We'll be here throughout the morning awaiting Frances. It won't get here until tomorrow afternoon, but already some effects now on the outer bands of wind, anyway, from that storm.
Kelly, back to you now in New York City.
WALLACE: Bill, hard to believe the people of Florida, just a few weeks after Hurricane Charley. Well, still to come, more on the developing situation in the southern Russian city of Beslan, the school situation -- armed hostages inside battling with Russian authorities.
Also, another major story, the Republican National Convention wraps up. Did President Bush win over swing voters last night? We'll explain. We'll answer that.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 3, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Breaking news in Russia, explosions and gunfire -- the school under siege. Children flee for their lives, a chaotic situation still unfolding at this hour.
Exodus from South Florida, hundreds of thousands chased from their homes by the massive hurricane Frances.
And in New York City, President Bush making his case to keep his job. The convention's over; the campaign continues on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING. Here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: And good morning, 7:00 here on the East Coast. To Florida, we are live in Melbourne, Florida this morning, and good morning. Welcome to our coverage. I'm Bill Hemmer live.
Frances lurking offshore, it weakened overnight, down to a category three hurricane, but still a significant concern to hundreds of thousands of people up and down the coast here.
Frances will be a major part of our coverage over the next three hours, but there is also breaking news from Russia. And for that, let's go back to New York City and say good morning to Kelly Wallace with us today.
Kelly, good morning there.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Good to be with you.
A very busy news morning indeed, numerous developments this morning at the school where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday. Russian forces have stormed the school.
There's still a lot we don't know about the situation. But it began unfolding about two hours ago when dozens of hostages escaped amid loud explosions and gunfire.
We begin our team coverage with CNN's Ron Chilcote in southern Russia via videophone.
Ryan, you've been on the scene for hours. What's the latest on the ground there? RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kelly, heavy fighting still under way here in the southern Russian city of Beslan. We understand that some of the militants that were holed up in this school, holding several hundred people hostage, including many, many children, are trying to make their way out of the city. That report coming from the Interfax news agency.
What we can tell you from what we hear on the ground is lots and lots of explosions, presumably from grenade launchers, also lots of small arms fire. We have Russian attack helicopters hovering overhead. We have not seen them fire yet, but they have been flying up there for some time.
This all began, Kelly, about two hours ago. It began with two very loud explosions, and then ever since then it's been a pretty sustained amount of gunfire.
We understand that Russian forces are now in control of the school. Now, the way that we believe this all began was Russian authorities had won permission from the hostage takers to remove some bodies that were still out in front of the school. These were people that were killed when the school was seized.
So, the Russian authorities moved in to collect these bodies so that their relatives could bury them. As they were collecting these bodies, according to the reports we have now, that is when a group of the armed men inside of the school -- that's the sound of an ambulance.
We now understand that more than 150 children have been hospitalized. That's coming from the radio station Aclamackvi (ph). We've seen at least 15 ourselves.
But back to how this all began, they were being -- a group of the armed men broke out of the school as these, as these bodies were being collected, guns blazing. Then a group of children tried to follow them trying to escape from the school. That's when the hostage takers that remained in the school with the rest of the children opened fire, we are told, on the fleeing children.
Then we understand, of course, that Russian forces took up position and moved in. It does not appear that Russian forces began any kind of storm here. This looks like this was a reaction on the ground here just from events that were provoked by the hostage takers.
A lot of noise, I don't know how much of this you can hear. We have attack helicopters overhead. We have cargo helicopters. We have ATC's moving around. We have heavy fighting in the city of Beslan.
Russian forces saying they're in control of the school, but clearly, clearly Kelly they are not in control of the town of Beslan yet. Reports that several of the militants, several of the hostage takers have made their way out of the building, are trying to fight their way out of the city of Beslan.
WALLACE: Ryan, in some of the live pictures we're seeing, some smoke still coming from the school. Reports also that the roof collapsed. What can you tell us about that?
CHILCOTE: Right, well we've heard numerous explosions from the school. I'm about 200 yards away from it. Russian forces moved in there. They encountered quite a bit of resistance from the hostage takers.
The Interfax news agency is reporting that the roof collapsed at some point. And some of the explosions that we've heard since then, we are being told, are the sound of Russian forces trying to blast their way into the school through the front door.
Perhaps it had collapsed in some fashion, or perhaps it had been barricaded. But they were literally trying, about five to 10 minutes ago, to blow their way into the school, perhaps to evacuate more hostages. We just don't know.
What we do know is more than 150 hostages, 150 children already have been hospitalized. Russian forces saying, though, in general, most of the kids are OK.
Big question there when they say most, we don't know how many kids were inside. Russian forces say they thought that there were at least 354 hostages inside the school, but last night they told me, well, they now think the number is much, much higher.
The relatives that have been standing vigil out here this whole while, now in the third day of this hostage crisis said they thought there were as many as 800 people inside there. So, we don't know exactly how many casualties we have among the hostages.
What we do know is that five of the hostage takers appear to have been killed. Now, that's from a group of 16 to 20. That's what the Russian authorities thought they were up against.
More ambulances.
People continue to be evacuated from this area. Fighting still under way about 100 yards from us right here. That -- I don't know if you heard that -- was a very large explosion.
Another one.
Let's listen to that.
That is the sound of grenade launchers firing. You can hear the initial explosion coming out of the grenade launchers, then you can hear, of course, the sound very loudly of the impact.
That's small arms fire.
This is all right in front of the school. We have people moving again. We can also see people being evacuated from this area. We saw about 15 to 20 people with our very own eyes wounded, being evacuated from there. We saw one cameraman. We saw at least two boys, several men.
Another explosion -- a very big gun fight under way here.
Those were grenade launchers. That was small arms fire.
It continues here in Beslan. Russian forces say they are in control of the school. No word, exactly, on the condition of the hostages other than we understand that at least 150 of the children that were among the hostages have been hospitalized. Some, obviously, have escaped.
We've seen women who said that they were able to escape from the building, but we just don't have enough information right now.
Lots and lots of firing continuing here, Kelly.
WALLACE: Ryan, obviously we want you to take cover there and keep safe.
Give our viewers a sense, Ryan, put this in context for us about what these hostage takers have been demanding from Russian authorities.
CHILCOTE: Absolutely. Well, their largest demand was they wanted Russia to withdraw all of its troops, tens of thousands of troops from Chechnya. Chechnya is a Russian region where the Russian forces have been battling Chechen rebels for nearly a decade now. So that was their demand.
They were also demanding that Russian authorities release some prisoners that were picked up by Russian authorities after a Chechen rebel raid in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia's
The hostage takers wanted the Russian authorities to release at least a couple dozen of those prisoners that were captured.
Lots of gunfire still continuing.
Those were their demands. Russian authorities never indicated that they were willing to end military operations inside of Chechnya, that they were going to take out any troops.
What they've been trying to do is negotiate some smaller points. Apparently, they offered safe passage -- that was on the first day -- safe passage for these hostage takers out of the school if they would release the hostages. That offer was refused.
Very large explosion.
You know, this goes in waves. It's been going on for about two and a half hours. It starts out really big with grenade launch fire, the launcher fire, and then small arms fire and then quiets down a bit and then comes right back.
And we have Russian attack helicopters still in the sky and lots of fighting going on still in the vicinity of the school. The last reports are that the Russian forces are trying to make their way into some of the entrances of the school although they also say they are in control of the school, very confusing.
What is quite clear here is that they're not in control of this area because there's still a lot of people shooting right now.
WALLACE: And Ryan, we still don't know, obviously, 100 percent if all the hostages are out of that school and away from those premises right now?
CHILCOTE: No, we don't know that. Russian authorities have said, a spokesman for the regional government, said most of the children inside are OK; but we just don't know what most means. And we are obviously going to be looking for information about that.
I think there's so much fighting going on in this area right now, quite frankly, so much chaos that Russian authorities, themselves, probably really don't know. Everyone just bolted out of this, out of this school in all different directions.
So -- and I don't think anyone is reporting right now to Russian authorities to say, I'm alive. I think all we can be sure of is that 158 children, at least, have been hospitalized as a result of the fighting around the school, as a result of some of the explosions we're hearing.
We know that number for sure because, of course, they've been registered at the hospital. But the people that have managed to get away, the people that were killed in this operation on both the hostage takers side and the side of the hostages, that's something that we're going to have to wait a bit to see here -- Kelly?
WALLACE: And Ryan, what we're seeing right now, we are seeing live pictures. You see a big plume of smoke coming from what appears to be, obviously, the school area.
Not sure, Ryan, if you can see it -- I know you're about 200 yards away -- from your vantage point.
CHILCOTE: Sure.
WALLACE: Is this something we've been seeing, plumes of smoke throughout...
CHILCOTE: Sure.
WALLACE: ... throughout those several hours this morning?
CHILCOTE: No, we have not. There have -- occasionally, there was -- yesterday, there was a plume of smoke coming from the school. Apparently that was caused by some tracer fire that hit a residential building, a nearby residential building and caused it to cause a small fire there that firefighters then put out.
What that black plume of smoke is we can't say, at this point. All we know is there's been an awful lot of gunfire right here exchanged between the hostage-takers and Russian forces. And it's quite clear that when you have so many explosives going off, fires are a real possibility -- Kelly?
WALLACE: And Ryan, we continue to show these pictures, dramatic pictures from earlier. You see the children, many coming out, some in their underwear, rushing to drink some water.
Do you have a sense, have you been able to talk to anybody about what the conditions were like inside and why so many of them were coming out, some just wearing underwear?
CHILCOTE: Yes, well the conditions inside, Kelly, are nothing short of absolutely horrific. There was a group of 26 women and children.
Hold on. We have something going on right behind us right now. We're going to try and focus in on a woman who is carrying her child -- I'm going to get down so you can see this -- a woman carrying her child out of the school.
This is -- terrifying scenes. She is carrying her small daughter. I'm going to describe it until we can get a shot of it for you.
She's carrying a small girl, and we have a boy here being carried out as well. It looks like the boy's father carrying out his son and the mother carrying out their daughter, a total of three children.
These are people that were released, that have made their way outside of the school, Kelly. This is a very, very fluid situation.
But returning to the conditions inside the school before this attack began, we know that the children and the adults inside the school that were being held were given absolutely no access to water and food. And that was a very big concern for Russian authorities. They were very concerned that these children weren't going to be able to make it.
And just yesterday, we got reports from some of the women that were released, part of that group of 26, that some of the children had already, yesterday, begun fainting.
So, in fact, one woman even described a scene where one of the hostage-takers brought a cup of water to a large group -- hundreds of hostages -- just one cup of water and said, here you go. Drink this. This is all you get.
So, it was an absolutely horrifying scene inside of that school. The men had been separated from the women and the children. The women said that when the men were brought back, there weren't as many men. They didn't know, at that time, what had happened to those men.
WALLACE: And Ryan, of course, this has been a week of not one but many terror attacks inside Russia. Any sense right now from your sources that this incident, this ongoing hostage situation, is connected to the terrorist incidents involving two Russian planes?
CHILCOTE: No -- Russians aren't drawing a connection yet, but a lot of people, you know, a lot of analysts are certainly drawing a connection between the downing of the Russian airliner, then a female suicider -- female suicide bomber attack -- at a Moscow subway station.
Then, now this. Three attacks in eight days. They appeared, each attack, to be more audacious than the last.
That is the sound of small arms fire. We're going to try and show you where it's coming from, but it's about 150 yards behind us. You see the crowd of people running away.
This is how it's been, Kelly. It's been quiet and then sporadic gunfire. Everybody takes off, then they re-gather.
More gunfire.
Russian forces say they're in control of the school, but they're clearly not in control of the town of Beslan.
There are reports that some of the militants that were holed up inside the school are trying to fight their way out of the city. But, you know, it's very difficult to confirm that.
WALLACE: And Ryan...
CHILCOTE: And we have a wounded individual being carried out on a stretcher right here, right now. I don't know if you can see this, but another heartbreaking scene, Kelly. It's just been a horrific morning. This is not how anyone here wanted to see this happen.
It is an elderly woman being carried out on a stretcher. You can see there. I don't know. Can you see that picture, Kelly?
WALLACE: We can. We are. Our viewers are seeing that picture as well, a woman being carried away on a stretcher. We can't tell...
CHILCOTE: Yes, it's very disturbing.
WALLACE: ... can't tell how injured she is.
Ryan, how far away are family members, relatives from where you are because with the constant gunfire, it's obviously a very dangerous situation even near that school?
CHILCOTE: Yes, there's -- Yes, Kelly, it's a little bit difficult to imagine, I think, for our viewers, but they're right here, you know, particularly the men.
And they come and they go with the gunfire. But there's no one really here holding people back from the fighting. It's just -- it seems -- you get the impression that everyone here that has a weapon is too busy to do anything like to try and -- I'm sorry. We're going to try and move over here a little bit -- to try to keep people away.
Just a completely chaotic scene, it's very unclear who was a hostage, who was a relative standing outside. Everything is now mixed up.
Now we understand the militants have made their way out of the school, so there are people, perhaps, in these crowds that were inside the school. We'll show a man here. And this gives you an idea of the security.
You see he has an assault rifle in his arm. No uniform. No way of knowing, of course, whether he was part of the hostage taking group to the naked eye, or whether he was -- is a Russian security official. And that is the situation here on the ground.
But Russian forces say they've taken the school. But, obviously, they have not completed their job here. There is still a lot of fighting in the town of Beslan. It's happening all around us.
From behind us, to the left of us we have small arms fire, and we have grenade fire -- Kelly?
CHILCOTE: Ryan, it's about 17 minutes past the hour. And for any viewers who are just joining us, give our viewers a sense, again, of what precipitated this activity right as we're seeing it because earlier there were negotiations going on.
It seemed to be a peaceful, negotiated release of some of the hostages, and then it turned into a violent situation.
CHILCOTE: Absolutely. In fact, a Russian official had just come out to tell reporters here that the Russians had negotiated permission with the hostage-takers to collect the bodies of seven people that were killed as that school was seized.
What happened was, the school was seized on Tuesday. It was the first day of school. There was a celebration going on in front of the school. And several people, as they fled, were shot by the hostage- takers in the back.
Those bodies have been lying out there for two days, so the Russians asked the permission -- asked permission to collect the bodies so that their relatives could bury them.
And it was just as that was happening that there were two loud, large explosions, and then a group of the armed men inside of the building began to fight their way out of it. They were followed by a group of children who decided to use the opportunity to try and escape. Then the remaining hostage-takers inside the school opened fire on the fleeing children.
Then we heard, about an hour -- it's been about an hour and 45 minutes since then -- we've heard sustained gunfire. Initially it was coming just from the school grounds, now it's coming from throughout the city.
We had Russian helicopters on station. Now we have the Russian special forces saying that they are in control of the school.
You have reports that 158 children have been hospitalized, but we have very little more information than that -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Ryan, we're going to leave it there now, have you get more information and continue to come back to you as developments warrant.
Be safe. You're doing a great job out there.
Ryan Chilcote, reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Another major news story, though, going on as well, that is Hurricane Frances. For that, we turn to Bill Hemmer in Melbourne, Florida -- Bill?
HEMMER: Hey, Kelly. Thanks again. Absolutely extraordinary pictures and extraordinary story coming from Ryan.
In meantime, though, here in the U.S. in the southeast, it was three weeks ago today when Charley came onshore on the western side the state. Now Florida bracing again for Frances.
We'll get you live to the National Hurricane Center for the latest coordinates and the information we're getting in a moment.
Back here live in a moment.
Day is breaking in Southern Florida on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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HEMMER: Back here live in Florida.
On the radar you can see this storm. It is still extremely large. Back here live in Melbourne, Florida with our meteorologist Chad Myers here. Good morning to you. We've been watching the winds out here...
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know.
HEMMER: ... the past several hours.
Are these the effects of Frances already?
MYERS: Oh, sure, already. Yes, you can see that on the satellite. That whole are was already spinning onshore here. We've already had a couple of storms to our south, down around Fort Pierce.
They've been rolling onshore, those outer bands, those fingers, as we call them.
HEMMER: You've been watching it and so have I. A lot of people have gotten out because they've taken the warnings...
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: ... that we all saw with Charley two weeks ago. MYERS: Talking to all the folks here, man, they're out. This place is a ghost town, and that's good.
HEMMER: All right, Chad.
MYERS: I don't know where they went, but they went in there somewhere.
HEMMER: That they did. A lot of taillights coming in last night.
MYERS: You bet.
HEMMER: Thanks. We'll be with you throughout the morning here.
MYERS: All right.
HEMMER: Also from Miami, the National Hurricane Center keeping a very close eye on what's happening with Frances, weakening overnight.
Here's Ed Rappaport, he's the deputy director down there in Miami.
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HEMMER: Ed, what are the conditions you have at this hour?
ED RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: At this hour, it appears that Hurricane Frances has weakened overnight. The eye has become much more fragmented.
So, we are in some sense -- the hurricane has transformed from more of an Andrew or a Charley-like hurricane into one that's more like Isabel last year, a big hurricane with a lot of rain, still potential for wind damage and storm surge spread over a large area.
HEMMER: And we also know the storm has slowed down overnight. What would cause that storm to slow down, Ed?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the hurricanes are steered by the winds around them, by their environment. We did forecast some slowing. The hurricane remains on track.
The biggest change has been the weakening of the inner core. And we expect that there will be even further deceleration, so this is going to be an unnerving period for Florida. It may take as much as two days for the hurricane to get all the way across the state.
HEMMER: If that is the case and it's a category three storm now, and this time yesterday at a category four, could that storm strengthen again; and what would cause that?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the storm has weakened, and it may even go down a little bit more, but we've got this large area of hurricane force winds that we expect to continue. There is one possibility for further strengthening. We expect the hurricane to turn a little bit more to the west, or to the left, in the next 24 hours. So there's a short period that it could intensify.
Either way, there's going to be a large area of hurricane force winds and a lot of rain coming ashore with this hurricane.
HEMMER: You mentioned the rain. Yesterday we were told perhaps as much as 20 inches of rain. Is that what you still may see in the state of Florida?
RAPPAPORT: That's right. It looks like on the order of 10 inches for the worst-hit areas, perhaps locally as high as 20 inches, particularly with the slow speed. It's just going be inching along over the weekend as it crosses the coast.
HEMMER: Ed, if I could, just to get a little better clarification on your first answer. What would cause the eye to break, not apart necessarily, but break loose overnight, as you described to us?
RAPPAPORT: There are a variety of conditions that contributed to the weakening. One is we have a little more sheer. The winds in the upper levels are not going in the same direction as the lower levels.
Also, the slowing of the storm itself may have induced some weakening because the winds have churned up the water underneath it bringing some cooler water towards the surface, and that doesn't support quite an intense hurricane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, Ed Rappaport a short time ago from the National Hurricane Center.
Back here in Melbourne, Florida the fire chief is my guest now. Say hello and good morning to Walt Chamberlain.
Good morning to you, chief.
CHIEF WALT CHAMBERLIN, MELBOURNE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What is your concern right now?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, the concern, mainly, was evacuating the barrier islands. And I think that's gone very well.
The people have heeded the warning. Most of the island is clear. The five shelters Brevard County has are full.
So, anyone that hasn't left the island yet, please do. Go inland. Go north, but stay out of Brevard County.
HEMMER: One thing we're learning as we cover this storm in the early stages, Charley taught a lot of people a lesson here. Do you feel that so far?
CHAMBERLIN: I think so. I think Charley -- this storm coming so close to Charley really sent home a message to people.
In the past, people didn't heed the warnings as readily as they should have and never left the islands.
HEMMER: This beach is empty. How many people left? Do you have a gauge?
CHAMBERLIN: I don't have the number. We know that all five shelters in Brevard County are full. And by the traffic flows on the highway, the reports we're getting, they're going north, so.
HEMMER: Chief, good luck to you. Walt Chamberlin is the fire chief here in Melbourne, Florida.
You're going to need it, OK.
CHAMBERLIN: Thank you.
HEMMER: You got it.
It is daybreak now, Kelly, here in Florida as we continue to watch this storm. You can see it on the radar. It is literally twice the size of Charley.
But again, overnight with that eye breaking apart, as Ed explained, Ed Rappaport explained, with the eye weakening a little bit somewhat at this point. It took it down from a category four to a category three.
Winds sustained about 120 miles an hour. As we go through the day today, here's the thing, I think, that is going to be critical, gauge the damage that was done in the Bahamas once contact is established there and see how strong that storm came through overnight.
The other important indicator that we're hearing right now from the experts who watch this stuff is that the storm slowed down, moving only about nine miles an hour.
If that's the case, that is an enormous rainmaker. Not just for the Bahamas, but if it stays at that speed when it comes ashore in the southeast U.S., they are saying upwards of 20 inches of rain could come as a result of Frances.
We'll be here throughout the morning awaiting Frances. It won't get here until tomorrow afternoon, but already some effects now on the outer bands of wind, anyway, from that storm.
Kelly, back to you now in New York City.
WALLACE: Bill, hard to believe the people of Florida, just a few weeks after Hurricane Charley. Well, still to come, more on the developing situation in the southern Russian city of Beslan, the school situation -- armed hostages inside battling with Russian authorities.
Also, another major story, the Republican National Convention wraps up. Did President Bush win over swing voters last night? We'll explain. We'll answer that.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
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