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CNN Sunday Morning
Forensic Teams Continue to Work to Identify Victims of Club Fire
Aired February 23, 2003 - 07:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Forensic teams do continue to work at identifying the remains of 81 victims of the Rhode Island nightclub fire.
For the very latest this morning, we go live to Whitney Casey in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Good morning, Whitney.
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And this morning, today will be the first day 96 of those victims' families will be able to come here, to the site, for the very first time to the site where we're standing right now. I'm just going to show you around a little bit. This is actually where the nightclub used to be, the parking lot where cars of some of the victims now have all been towed and removed, and as you can see right here, just across the street, a small memorial is beginning to grow here.
Now, the family members will be allowed on to the site for time without the media here. They will be allowed to see this and leave flowers and letter to their loved ones.
Now, meanwhile, state officials are working with pathologists and examining these bodies and matching that with a growing database full of dental records.
Now, as families wait, their anguish has begun to turn to a bit of anger, and they want answers. They want answers as to why this happened, and how it happened just so fast, and they were getting them yesterday in the form of the club owner. Jeffrey Derderian actually spoke out for the very first time, he was very emotional, and let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY DERDERIAN, NIGHTCLUB CO-OWNER: As we said in the statement released yesterday, at no time did my brother or I have any knowledge that pyrotechnics were going to be used by the band Great White. No permission was ever requested by the band, or any of its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given.
This tragedy has claimed the lives of our friends -- sorry -- people who are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We will somehow live with this grief, like so many other people, for the rest of our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY: Now, a very distraught Jeffrey Derderian. Though, he was not allowed to answer reporters' questions because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Now, Great White, the band that performed here that night, maintains that they had verbal agreement two weeks in advance from club owner Jeffrey Derderian.
Now, the "Boston Herald" was reporting this morning that another band, a band called Loving Cry, has come out and said they have performed here, at The Station nightclub, many times in the past, nearly a dozen times, and that they also received a verbal agreement from the club owners.
But, again, today the focus remains on those unidentified 81 people are still unidentified, only 15 have been identified, including a Jane Doe in an area hospital. Still another Jane Doe remains unidentified in a Massachusetts hospital, and 25 people are still in critical condition. So, those numbers at 96 victims here could still rise -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Whitney Casey, thanks for the update this morning from West Warwick.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Club Fire>
Aired February 23, 2003 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Forensic teams do continue to work at identifying the remains of 81 victims of the Rhode Island nightclub fire.
For the very latest this morning, we go live to Whitney Casey in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Good morning, Whitney.
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And this morning, today will be the first day 96 of those victims' families will be able to come here, to the site, for the very first time to the site where we're standing right now. I'm just going to show you around a little bit. This is actually where the nightclub used to be, the parking lot where cars of some of the victims now have all been towed and removed, and as you can see right here, just across the street, a small memorial is beginning to grow here.
Now, the family members will be allowed on to the site for time without the media here. They will be allowed to see this and leave flowers and letter to their loved ones.
Now, meanwhile, state officials are working with pathologists and examining these bodies and matching that with a growing database full of dental records.
Now, as families wait, their anguish has begun to turn to a bit of anger, and they want answers. They want answers as to why this happened, and how it happened just so fast, and they were getting them yesterday in the form of the club owner. Jeffrey Derderian actually spoke out for the very first time, he was very emotional, and let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY DERDERIAN, NIGHTCLUB CO-OWNER: As we said in the statement released yesterday, at no time did my brother or I have any knowledge that pyrotechnics were going to be used by the band Great White. No permission was ever requested by the band, or any of its agents to use pyrotechnics at The Station, and no permission was ever given.
This tragedy has claimed the lives of our friends -- sorry -- people who are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We will somehow live with this grief, like so many other people, for the rest of our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY: Now, a very distraught Jeffrey Derderian. Though, he was not allowed to answer reporters' questions because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Now, Great White, the band that performed here that night, maintains that they had verbal agreement two weeks in advance from club owner Jeffrey Derderian.
Now, the "Boston Herald" was reporting this morning that another band, a band called Loving Cry, has come out and said they have performed here, at The Station nightclub, many times in the past, nearly a dozen times, and that they also received a verbal agreement from the club owners.
But, again, today the focus remains on those unidentified 81 people are still unidentified, only 15 have been identified, including a Jane Doe in an area hospital. Still another Jane Doe remains unidentified in a Massachusetts hospital, and 25 people are still in critical condition. So, those numbers at 96 victims here could still rise -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Whitney Casey, thanks for the update this morning from West Warwick.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Club Fire>
