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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with Aviad Tzabari
Aired August 16, 2003 - 07:41 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.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: As they say, there is a story for every light on Broadway. And now, you can say there's a good blackout story for every light that comes back on.
Joining us now live from New York is an Israeli tourist.
His name is Aviad Tzabari and he got to see New York in a whole new way.
Aviad, good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
AVIAD TZABARI, ISRAELI TOURIST: Hi.
Good morning.
ROBERTS: I guess explain exactly what happened. You've been in the U.S. for about a week. You were in New York Thursday at four o'clock. Where were you?
TZABARI: I was in the R train going downtown. I wanted to go to go the ferry boat. It's like going to Staten Island. I wanted to take some pictures. And when we was about like on 30th Street, the train just stopped and we were for a while like a few seconds there was no electricity at all. And then the emergency lights went up and everybody was looking at each other and didn't know exactly what happened. And then it was, the driver said, "Stay calm." He said it so slowly that at that point people understood that they should be panicked.
ROBERTS: And, Aviad, being a tourist from a different country, what was your first reaction experiencing this? Did you think that it was just a minor situation or did you have an inkling that maybe this was something a little more major?
TZABARI: No, I was thinking like that maybe this train is just, there is a failure only on that train. I didn't know. Only when I went upstairs to the street, I saw the traffic lights and everything is down. And, you know, I didn't thought that it's the whole city.
ROBERTS: Aviad, for your situation, how many people were stuck with you on this train? How long were you on the train? And then how, eventually, did you get out?
TZABARI: Yes, most of the cars was already in the station. But some of the cars was still in the tunnel. People understood in like 10 or 20 seconds that they should get out. You know, they was afraid that another train come and hit us. It was like things were not clear enough. So everybody went up and, you know...
ROBERTS: And, Aviad, thankfully, everyone did get safely out. And then once you got to the surface, you had a pretty long trek. You had to go roughly 100 blocks?
TZABARI: Yes. The thing is that, you know, I thought it was going to be like for one hour at the most. So I went to the ferry boat and did what I wanted to do. And when I wanted to come back, like around 8:30, I had no choice but walking, you know? Taxis was not available and buses was so crowded that I can't do nothing. For an hour I tried to catch something and then I decided that I'm going to walk to my hotel in Broadway 100 by foot. And I was stopping in Times Square. You know, it was amazing over there, to see Times Square with no lights, you know, it's like surrealistic, you know?
ROBERTS: It is. It is surrealistic. It was for so many millions of people there around the country, for it to be surrealistic, the fact that the power went off.
Aviad Tzabari, we appreciate your time this morning.
I understand you're going on to L.A. on Sunday.
TZABARI: Yes, Sunday.
ROBERTS: So have a safe journey there and enjoy your time here in the U.S.
Thanks again for joining us.
TZABARI: Thank you.
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 August 16, 2003 - 07:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: As they say, there is a story for every light on Broadway. And now, you can say there's a good blackout story for every light that comes back on.
Joining us now live from New York is an Israeli tourist.
His name is Aviad Tzabari and he got to see New York in a whole new way.
Aviad, good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
AVIAD TZABARI, ISRAELI TOURIST: Hi.
Good morning.
ROBERTS: I guess explain exactly what happened. You've been in the U.S. for about a week. You were in New York Thursday at four o'clock. Where were you?
TZABARI: I was in the R train going downtown. I wanted to go to go the ferry boat. It's like going to Staten Island. I wanted to take some pictures. And when we was about like on 30th Street, the train just stopped and we were for a while like a few seconds there was no electricity at all. And then the emergency lights went up and everybody was looking at each other and didn't know exactly what happened. And then it was, the driver said, "Stay calm." He said it so slowly that at that point people understood that they should be panicked.
ROBERTS: And, Aviad, being a tourist from a different country, what was your first reaction experiencing this? Did you think that it was just a minor situation or did you have an inkling that maybe this was something a little more major?
TZABARI: No, I was thinking like that maybe this train is just, there is a failure only on that train. I didn't know. Only when I went upstairs to the street, I saw the traffic lights and everything is down. And, you know, I didn't thought that it's the whole city.
ROBERTS: Aviad, for your situation, how many people were stuck with you on this train? How long were you on the train? And then how, eventually, did you get out?
TZABARI: Yes, most of the cars was already in the station. But some of the cars was still in the tunnel. People understood in like 10 or 20 seconds that they should get out. You know, they was afraid that another train come and hit us. It was like things were not clear enough. So everybody went up and, you know...
ROBERTS: And, Aviad, thankfully, everyone did get safely out. And then once you got to the surface, you had a pretty long trek. You had to go roughly 100 blocks?
TZABARI: Yes. The thing is that, you know, I thought it was going to be like for one hour at the most. So I went to the ferry boat and did what I wanted to do. And when I wanted to come back, like around 8:30, I had no choice but walking, you know? Taxis was not available and buses was so crowded that I can't do nothing. For an hour I tried to catch something and then I decided that I'm going to walk to my hotel in Broadway 100 by foot. And I was stopping in Times Square. You know, it was amazing over there, to see Times Square with no lights, you know, it's like surrealistic, you know?
ROBERTS: It is. It is surrealistic. It was for so many millions of people there around the country, for it to be surrealistic, the fact that the power went off.
Aviad Tzabari, we appreciate your time this morning.
I understand you're going on to L.A. on Sunday.
TZABARI: Yes, Sunday.
ROBERTS: So have a safe journey there and enjoy your time here in the U.S.
Thanks again for joining us.
TZABARI: Thank you.
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
