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CNN Live Sunday

U.S. Navy Sailors Last Seen Boarding Sinking Ship Suspected of Carrying Black-Market Iraqi Oil.

Aired November 18, 2001 - 17:11   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: As the hours pass, the hopes dim that two U.S. sailors missing in the Persian Gulf will be found alive. The sailors were last seen early this morning boarding a sinking ship suspected of carrying black-market Iraqi oil. Want to get the latest for you from CNN's Kathleen Koch. She is with us for a live report at the Pentagon -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donna, it has been just over 20 hours since the oil tanker the Samra sank in the north Arabian Gulf after it was boarded by a search team of some eight U.S. soldiers. This security team was checking the vessel to see if it was carrying contraband Iraqi oil.

At this point, still missing are two U.S. sailors as well as three of the 14 Iraqi crew members aboard that ship. One Iraqi crew member was apparently killed in the incident and his body has been retrieved.

The sailors had been stationed aboard the USS Peterson based out of Norfolk, Virginia, which departed that port on September 19 with the Theodore Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier battle group.

It had the Samra under surveillance, because it was said to be listing and sitting quite low in the water. The sailors boarded the tanker, found that hidden underneath bags of grain was some 1,700 metric tons of Iraqi oil being exported in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz explained what happened next. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is one of many tankers that we seize and confiscate and apparently was very rusty. It started sinking and we put people onboard to figure out what was happening. I don't think it is more than that, but we will know later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Three Navy ships, two civilian vessels, as well as U.S. Navy helicopters and planes are desperately searching the area. The vessel was sailing under a United Arab Emirates flag and its Iraqi captain was at the helm of the ship at the time of the incident.

The Navy can't say how long the U.S. sailors were onboard or exactly where they were when the ship began sinking. The U.S. Navy does point out that some 99 times already this year it has diverted ships which were carrying contraband Iraqi items for export. And clearly they are going to be conducting an investigation to find out just went wrong this time --Donna.

KELLEY: OK, Kathleen. Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon for us. Thank you very much, as usual.

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