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CNN Sunday Morning

French Officials Say Boat With Explosives Responsible for Tanker Fire

Aired October 06, 2002 - 10:12   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: French officials still say a small boat with explosives caused the oil tanker explosion off Yemen that we've been telling you about all morning. At first, Yemeni officials denied it was a terrorist attack, now they're saying they're looking into that possibility.
The question remains, was it an accident or an attack? Still probably too early to say anything definitive. But joining us with his perspective and to kind of walk us through the scenarios that investigators will go through right now is our security analyst Kelly McCain. Good to have you back, Kelly.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Hi. Let's set up a scenario, a plausibility here for an accident. How could that happen? We do have a report this vessel was let's say four, five miles off the shore, whatever. Not in port, we do know that much. And we do also have a report that a fishing vessel was nearby. Now that in and of itself is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that will be seen as some sort of parallel to the Cole incident of October 2000, but it could be something else. Lay that out for us.

MCCANN: Well, you know, maritime law prohibits getting too close to vessels. A barge doesn't steer very quickly and it can't stop very quickly. And everybody knows that, experienced captains. So the only thing that really comes to mind that could be plausible here is that there may have been an incident aboard the tanker, which has its own momentum, and it was either seen or a call for distress went out, and I'm sure they'll check the communications record, where a fairly unskilled captain of a fishing vessel tried to draw alongside to either offload crew members or lend some assistance and, in fact, got sucked into the wake and then collided.

That puts all these pieces together in a possible scenario. Now, what's going to be important is to actually go back and listen to the recordings, if they exist, of the communications of the barge's captain who may have called for distress. But that would take care of all the elements we're seeing right now.

O'BRIEN: Give me a ball park, when you're talking about a super tanker here, which is what we're talking about, double hulled, big, huge vessel. I always learned growing up sailing that you don't want to get near them, because the suction which occurs around them. How big, small a vessel does it need to be to actually be taken under by something like this?

MCCANN: Well, in maritime counterterrorism, where we routinely exercise small boats alongside and then climb up poll ladders or caving ladders in order to do, you know, hostage recoveries aboard ships and things like that, that is one of the most critical and most dangerous elements is when a small craft goes alongside an underway ship, because in front, of course, the bow pushes a wake. Amidship, it kind of draws the wake, and in the back it actually lets the wake out. So you always have an obstacle to get alongside. It's very, very dangerous, and it takes an awful lot of skill.

So, in fact, if a well-intended captain meant to just come alongside to a ship that was slowing down but hadn't yet, it could be possible that he actually was sucked into and sucked under and collided and just wreckage, et cetera.

It wouldn't explain the explosion, because it would be a low velocity kind of collision. But if there was already an electrical fire or some other kind of event on board the barge, then it would explain it.

O'BRIEN: All right, so just to be clear, though, you don't see a scenario where a fishing boat not laden with explosives, just a regular old fishing boat, gets into a collision with a tanker like this and causes that photograph we've been putting up on the air?

MCCANN: No, because the oil industry has been very careful to make sure that they safeguard against, you know, oil slicks and spoiling water, et cetera. So I mean, it would be a terrible condition worldwide if a mere -- a small collision could create that explosion we're seeing right now.

There could be a question, although unlikely, of an unconscious captain or, you know, of the fishing vessel, and basically kind of unavoidable by the barge's path. But it still wouldn't explain the ignition of crude, which is not an easy thing to occur. So there's still a lot of questions out there.

O'BRIEN: And among the questions, we're not exactly sure of the fate of all the crew members. We do believe, based on most of the information we've gotten, that at least some of them survived. So presumably we're going to get something more definitive shortly, we hope.

MCCAN: Critical to talk to them, because obviously the captain would have passed over the PA system, the internal communications that there was an incoming vessel. I'm sure they tried to warn them off. There's a process for that. So those crew members will know, hopefully, exactly what happened, that there had to have been some time where this vessel was seen to be intersecting with the path of the barge.

O'BRIEN: Kelly McCann, who looks at matters relating to security and terrorism for us, thanks, as always, for your insights. We appreciate it.

MCCANN: You bet, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Rudi.

RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the White House is also following the developments off the coast of Yemen, as the president is preparing to address the nation on the topic of Iraq. For more now we go to Kennebunkport, Maine and White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who is traveling with the president. Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, a lot of those details are sketchy. The White House is really not reacting to the Yemeni situation, but certainly following the developments. The president earlier this morning attending church services with his family. He's going to be returning to Washington later this afternoon after spending a productive weekend at the Kennebunkport family estate.

The president really focusing on two top priorities, that is fighting for Republican candidates, fighting against Saddam Hussein. The president preparing for a critical week of diplomacy and public relations maneuvers to make his case against Saddam Hussein.

BAKHTIAR: OK, Suzanne, can you tell us, are there any -- any chance that the president will be speaking to anybody in France about this issue?

MALVEAUX: Well, we haven't heard that yet. It's really too soon. We've been told that they're simply monitoring the situation, trying to get some of the answers. They really don't know. It seems to be a lot of questions what's coming out of there to begin with, whether or not this is a terrorist attack or not. But certainly we expect that the administration will be in touch with others to at least gather information before they come up with that conclusion.

As you know, the president, however, is going to be delivering a very significant speech to the American people. That is going to be tomorrow evening, 8:00 prime time. We're told the president is going to spend his day, the next couple of days actually drafting that and practicing that speech. We're told do not expect any type of smoking gun, any type of new evidence regarding Saddam Hussein or any type of new policy initiative, but rather he's going to lay out the most extensive and detailed case against Saddam Hussein.

He's going to talk about the fact that the Iraqi leader is capable of using rape, torture and gas against his own people. He's also going to talk about the role of the United Nations, the importance to get a new resolution before those inspectors go back inside of Iraq. And he's also going to talk about the important role of Congress to get those lawmakers to sign a resolution that would give him the military force, the authority to use military force against the Iraqi leader if necessarily.

BAKHTIAR: Thank you, Suzanne. Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president.

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




Tanker Fire>


Aired October 6, 2002 - 10:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: French officials still say a small boat with explosives caused the oil tanker explosion off Yemen that we've been telling you about all morning. At first, Yemeni officials denied it was a terrorist attack, now they're saying they're looking into that possibility.
The question remains, was it an accident or an attack? Still probably too early to say anything definitive. But joining us with his perspective and to kind of walk us through the scenarios that investigators will go through right now is our security analyst Kelly McCain. Good to have you back, Kelly.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Hi. Let's set up a scenario, a plausibility here for an accident. How could that happen? We do have a report this vessel was let's say four, five miles off the shore, whatever. Not in port, we do know that much. And we do also have a report that a fishing vessel was nearby. Now that in and of itself is pretty strong circumstantial evidence that will be seen as some sort of parallel to the Cole incident of October 2000, but it could be something else. Lay that out for us.

MCCANN: Well, you know, maritime law prohibits getting too close to vessels. A barge doesn't steer very quickly and it can't stop very quickly. And everybody knows that, experienced captains. So the only thing that really comes to mind that could be plausible here is that there may have been an incident aboard the tanker, which has its own momentum, and it was either seen or a call for distress went out, and I'm sure they'll check the communications record, where a fairly unskilled captain of a fishing vessel tried to draw alongside to either offload crew members or lend some assistance and, in fact, got sucked into the wake and then collided.

That puts all these pieces together in a possible scenario. Now, what's going to be important is to actually go back and listen to the recordings, if they exist, of the communications of the barge's captain who may have called for distress. But that would take care of all the elements we're seeing right now.

O'BRIEN: Give me a ball park, when you're talking about a super tanker here, which is what we're talking about, double hulled, big, huge vessel. I always learned growing up sailing that you don't want to get near them, because the suction which occurs around them. How big, small a vessel does it need to be to actually be taken under by something like this?

MCCANN: Well, in maritime counterterrorism, where we routinely exercise small boats alongside and then climb up poll ladders or caving ladders in order to do, you know, hostage recoveries aboard ships and things like that, that is one of the most critical and most dangerous elements is when a small craft goes alongside an underway ship, because in front, of course, the bow pushes a wake. Amidship, it kind of draws the wake, and in the back it actually lets the wake out. So you always have an obstacle to get alongside. It's very, very dangerous, and it takes an awful lot of skill.

So, in fact, if a well-intended captain meant to just come alongside to a ship that was slowing down but hadn't yet, it could be possible that he actually was sucked into and sucked under and collided and just wreckage, et cetera.

It wouldn't explain the explosion, because it would be a low velocity kind of collision. But if there was already an electrical fire or some other kind of event on board the barge, then it would explain it.

O'BRIEN: All right, so just to be clear, though, you don't see a scenario where a fishing boat not laden with explosives, just a regular old fishing boat, gets into a collision with a tanker like this and causes that photograph we've been putting up on the air?

MCCANN: No, because the oil industry has been very careful to make sure that they safeguard against, you know, oil slicks and spoiling water, et cetera. So I mean, it would be a terrible condition worldwide if a mere -- a small collision could create that explosion we're seeing right now.

There could be a question, although unlikely, of an unconscious captain or, you know, of the fishing vessel, and basically kind of unavoidable by the barge's path. But it still wouldn't explain the ignition of crude, which is not an easy thing to occur. So there's still a lot of questions out there.

O'BRIEN: And among the questions, we're not exactly sure of the fate of all the crew members. We do believe, based on most of the information we've gotten, that at least some of them survived. So presumably we're going to get something more definitive shortly, we hope.

MCCAN: Critical to talk to them, because obviously the captain would have passed over the PA system, the internal communications that there was an incoming vessel. I'm sure they tried to warn them off. There's a process for that. So those crew members will know, hopefully, exactly what happened, that there had to have been some time where this vessel was seen to be intersecting with the path of the barge.

O'BRIEN: Kelly McCann, who looks at matters relating to security and terrorism for us, thanks, as always, for your insights. We appreciate it.

MCCANN: You bet, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Rudi.

RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the White House is also following the developments off the coast of Yemen, as the president is preparing to address the nation on the topic of Iraq. For more now we go to Kennebunkport, Maine and White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who is traveling with the president. Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, a lot of those details are sketchy. The White House is really not reacting to the Yemeni situation, but certainly following the developments. The president earlier this morning attending church services with his family. He's going to be returning to Washington later this afternoon after spending a productive weekend at the Kennebunkport family estate.

The president really focusing on two top priorities, that is fighting for Republican candidates, fighting against Saddam Hussein. The president preparing for a critical week of diplomacy and public relations maneuvers to make his case against Saddam Hussein.

BAKHTIAR: OK, Suzanne, can you tell us, are there any -- any chance that the president will be speaking to anybody in France about this issue?

MALVEAUX: Well, we haven't heard that yet. It's really too soon. We've been told that they're simply monitoring the situation, trying to get some of the answers. They really don't know. It seems to be a lot of questions what's coming out of there to begin with, whether or not this is a terrorist attack or not. But certainly we expect that the administration will be in touch with others to at least gather information before they come up with that conclusion.

As you know, the president, however, is going to be delivering a very significant speech to the American people. That is going to be tomorrow evening, 8:00 prime time. We're told the president is going to spend his day, the next couple of days actually drafting that and practicing that speech. We're told do not expect any type of smoking gun, any type of new evidence regarding Saddam Hussein or any type of new policy initiative, but rather he's going to lay out the most extensive and detailed case against Saddam Hussein.

He's going to talk about the fact that the Iraqi leader is capable of using rape, torture and gas against his own people. He's also going to talk about the role of the United Nations, the importance to get a new resolution before those inspectors go back inside of Iraq. And he's also going to talk about the important role of Congress to get those lawmakers to sign a resolution that would give him the military force, the authority to use military force against the Iraqi leader if necessarily.

BAKHTIAR: Thank you, Suzanne. Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president.

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




Tanker Fire>