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CNN Live Sunday

Recovery Efforts Continue at Bridge Collapse in Oklahoma

Aired May 26, 2002 - 18:02   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating just talked about the bridge collapse on CNN just a few moments ago. You may have seen that live. He described it as a human tragedy and a terrible accident. The number of fatalities has yet to be determined, and divers are expected to go back into the murky waters to resume their search. Governor Keating had this to say about the barge captain, who was taken to the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR FRANK KEATING, OKLAHOMA: Obviously, there's some question about what happened to have a barge hit a bridge abutment as occurred here. Apparently, he suffered a seizure or something behind the wheel, because the captain was in charge of the barge when the accident occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Joining us now on the telephone is Rebecca Smith with the Muskogee County EMS. Rebecca thanks for being with us today. Can you give us the latest on the recovery effort going on there?

REBECCA SMITH, MUSKOGEE COUNTY EMS: Pretty much Governor Keating summed it up when he said that we are in a recovery mode, instead of a rescue road. There has not -- we haven't received any -- the victims that were recovered that were transported were all transported within the first 30 minutes. Other than that, you know, we'd like to hold out all the hope possible, but we really don't see any hope for any more live victims at this point.

CALLAWAY: Rebecca, we're hearing numbers of five to possibly 12 feared dead in this accident. Can you give us any more information on that? What are you hearing?

SMITH: Well, the information that we received when we first arrived on scene this morning right after it happened from one of the fishermen who was an eyewitness stated to me that -- I'm sorry, stated to a colleague of mine that he counted 11 vehicles. I've also heard as few as seven. The number that EMS has been working with is 11, which gives possibility to even more people under the water still.

CALLAWAY: Rebecca, tell us some of the challenges that you were facing there in trying to recover people from the situation there. SMITH: One of the biggest challenges is that the first two people who were transported were actually in a vehicle that, while it was on a section of the bridge that collapsed, it was not in the water and they were able to free themselves and climb up the embankment.

Other than that, the victims were not reachable by land. We simply had to find a boat dock and go out into the water into boats to rescue the other people that were transported, so that was a -- hampered us significantly.

CALLAWAY: And I understand there was some type of tournament there. Were there a lot of boats in the water that could help in the search?

SMITH: I wasn't aware until just a few minutes ago that there was a tournament. That's simply because that is an area that is such a big resort area with a lot of fishing and camping and that sort of thing going on all the time. So it doesn't surprise me that there were a great number of private boats in the water.

CALLAWAY: I should ask you this, Rebecca, did you ever imagine this kind of accident could happen, haven't seen many of these types of accidents before?

SMITH: Absolutely not. We were stunned. You know, Oklahoma City has not been that long ago and to have another tragedy of this magnitude in such a short time, it's been on all the rescuers minds. We're just pretty much stunned.

CALLAWAY: How is everyone responding there in the communities, because, I mean, it's obviously an emotional situation. It seemed that everyone came to everyone else's aid rather quickly there.

SMITH: Absolutely. One thing about Oklahoma is that, you know, sort of like brothers and sisters. You fight among each other but nobody else better bother you. We come together with amazing strength and amazing unity in these situations.

We had so many smaller support agencies, rural fire departments, EMS, the small town police departments, our sheriff department, fire department, EMS, all are acting as one cohesive unit.

CALLAWAY: I should say, Rebecca, that you're with Muskogee County, is that right? I mispronounced it.

SMITH: That's right.

CALLAWAY: I said MUS-KE-GEE. I'm in the south down here. We have lots of MUS-KE-GEE but no Muskogee. But thank you very much for being with us, Rebecca, and I know they appreciate all the great brave work you're doing there and the rest of the rescuers who have been working there. That's Rebecca Smith with Muskogee County EMS. Thank you, Rebecca, and good luck to you. Our thoughts are with you.

SMITH: Thank you.

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