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CNN Sunday Morning

China Airlines Plane May have Broken Apart Before Hitting Sea

Aired May 26, 2002 - 07:22   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the new information this morning about the crash of China Airlines plane in the Taiwan Straits, Taiwan's top aviation safety investigator says the plane broke apart before plunging into the sea. We're going to switch gears now and talk about this story. CNN's senior Asia correspondent, Mike Chinoy, is live from the Penghu Islands, where the plane went down -- Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. Well, it's early evening here in the Penghu Islands. I am standing at a small airbase, which has been turned into a -- both a morgue and a reception center for relatives of those who died when China Airlines Flight CI 611 crashed not quite 30 hours ago.

The building to my left has become a makeshift morgue. Inside now, are dozens of bodies. Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels have been pulling bodies from the sea throughout the day, although, a lot of those onboard, their remains have not yet been recovered. The bodies inside here being identified by relatives then placed into coffins as Buddhist volunteers chant. And other religious groups also are here helping the hundreds and hundreds of family members who have been flown to this island by China Airlines.

Meanwhile, the investigation continues, but there are more questions than answers. Taiwanese Aviation officials say that the plane did in fact break apart at about 30,000 feet and plunge to the earth. One of the mysteries is that the bodies that have been retrieved -- and we've been watching that all day long and I can even see into the morgue here -- are by and large intact and do not appear to have any signs of burns or the kind of trauma that would be associated with a mid air explosion. In addition, the pilot did not radio any kind of distress call or a May Day signal and so, there is simply no indication as to what may happened.

Investigators have not yet located the black box, the cockpit voice recorder that might give them some clues. Although, all the signs were that communications from the aircraft were normal on what would have been a very routine flight in one of the busiest air routes in Asia.

Earlier in the day, nearly 900 family members were brought to the seashore almost within view of where the plane went down and we saw heart-wrenching scenes. People wailing, shrieking, shouting out the names of their loved ones as they peered into the distance. A day of tragedy here compounded by the continuing mystery -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Mike, you talked yesterday and mentioned a little bit today about this airline having such a poor safety record. Is this finally going to be the time where this airline is put under heavy scrutiny and looked at the situation much more seriously?

CHINOY: Well, China Airlines has had problems with its safety record. It has been under intense scrutiny. It had a change of management a couple of years ago. It had pledged to do everything possible to turn its reputation around, to make safety the number one priority.

Certainly, this is not going to help the airline and it will increase the pressure. I was looking in one of the Chinese language newspapers earlier today and there was a commentary, which said, "Yet Another Accident, Yet Again China Airlines." So the spotlight and the pressure and the scrutiny on the airline are very intense indeed.

And yet, as one China Airlines official, with whom I was speaking earlier, noted in his many years of working with the airline and he's been around for all the earlier crashes, he says he's never been involved in any episode as mysterious, as puzzling as this one. So there are an awful lot of questions, suspicions, of course, because of the airlines poor safety record. But at this point, we don't simply don't have any answers -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Mike Chinoy, thank you very much.

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