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CNN Live Sunday

Search Under Way for Two Missing American Sailors

Aired November 18, 2001 - 15:02   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: A search is under way for two American sailors who apparently went down with a sinking ship in the Persian Gulf. The missing sailors were part of a security team from the USS Peterson patrolling vessels in and out of Iraq. We want to get the very latest on that story for you from our Kathleen Koch. She is joining us from the Pentagon with more on that -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donna, the search is under way, but there is still no sign of those two missing U.S. sailors. As you said, they were part of an eight-member security team that boarded this tanker in the northern Arabian Gulf. They were based on the USS Peterson. That is a destroyer that deployed from Norfolk, Virginia on September 19, and they had been watching this tanker, this Samra, because it was sitting low in the water and apparently was grossly overloaded.

U.S. 5th Fleet spokesman, Lieutenant Melissa Shuermann, says the team boarded the tanker and then discovered it was, indeed, carrying some 1,700 metric tons of Iraqi oil in violation of United Nations sanctions. Bags of grain apparently had been piled on top in the upper hold to hide the contraband oil tanks.

Now, at some point after the boarding, the ship began to sink. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says it apparently was a tragic maritime accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: My understanding is that this was a part of our normal interdiction efforts to make certain that the U.N. sanctions are being observed, that there was no incident -- no hostile incident at sea, but rather that when American sailors boarded this to check out the cargo, that the ship sank. And it may have been weather related. It may have been overloaded, but we have no reason to believe it was a hostile incident of any kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: At this point, the U.S. Navy says six U.S. sailors were rescued, that 10 members of the crew of the oil tanker were also rescued. One crewmember of the tanker was found dead, the body was recovered, and three crewmembers of the tanker are still missing, along with those two U.S. sailors. Now, search has under way in the area three Navy ships, two civilian vessels, one of them Australian, as well as U.S. Navy helicopters and planes are searching the entire area.

The tanker was flying a United Arab Emirates flag, and its Iraqi captain was at the helm at the time of the accident. The Navy can't say just how long the U.S. sailors were on board the tanker or where exactly they were when it began to go down, but it has launched a preliminary investigation into the incident -- Donna.

KELLEY: Kathleen, thanks very much -- Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon.

KOCH: You're welcome.

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