Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Recovery Efforts Continue in Red Sea
Aired January 04, 2004 - 11:01 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: But first to Egypt. Recovery efforts are continuing in the Red Sea where a charter plane crashed yesterday. 148 people died in the accident when the Boeing 737 plunged into the sea shortly after takeoff. With us now live from Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt is CNN's Chris Burns.
So, Chris, I guess it's evening there now. Is the recovery effort still continuing?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Andrea, yes, evening has fallen here in downtown Sharm el-Sheikh. The nightlife has begun, but there is still a mood, at least among some tourists here, a bit of fear of flying and with good reason.
Out here, out off the coast, the search had been going on, not immediately clear if the search is going on at this hour, but it had been going on. You could see that sort of haunting reminder all day of those ships out there undertaking that search deep, deep under the Red Sea. In fact, some of that wreckage of that Boeing 737 is a half a mile or so down underneath the surface, way down far beyond where divers can get to, and that is why the French sent a robotic submarine to help in that search. Keep in mind it was mostly French package tourists who were killed in that crash, so the search goes on.
Officials still believe they think it was some kind of an accident, some kind of mechanical malfunction that caused the pilot to lose control at 5,000 feet just minutes after takeoff and plunged in 17 seconds into the ocean shattering that plane.
Now, today there was a ceremony at the site. We witnessed that as the deputy foreign minister of France joined Egyptian officials throwing flowers into the spot where the plane was believed to have crashed. The French officials have not -- don't seem to have 100 percent ruled out the possibility there could have been foul play, but they still believe there was most likely some kind of a mechanical malfunction. But they still say they need to find the black box that flight recorder from the cockpit to make sure because, keep in mind, there was no warning, no distress signal, no talk at all from the co- pilot, from the crew, before the plane went down. So a lot of questions remain right now as to why that plane crashed. Andrea?
KOPPEL: It will probably be days longer by the time they recover that black box due to the depth the plane and whatnot sunk. Chris Burns in Sharm el-Sheikh, 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 January 4, 2004 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: But first to Egypt. Recovery efforts are continuing in the Red Sea where a charter plane crashed yesterday. 148 people died in the accident when the Boeing 737 plunged into the sea shortly after takeoff. With us now live from Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt is CNN's Chris Burns.
So, Chris, I guess it's evening there now. Is the recovery effort still continuing?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Andrea, yes, evening has fallen here in downtown Sharm el-Sheikh. The nightlife has begun, but there is still a mood, at least among some tourists here, a bit of fear of flying and with good reason.
Out here, out off the coast, the search had been going on, not immediately clear if the search is going on at this hour, but it had been going on. You could see that sort of haunting reminder all day of those ships out there undertaking that search deep, deep under the Red Sea. In fact, some of that wreckage of that Boeing 737 is a half a mile or so down underneath the surface, way down far beyond where divers can get to, and that is why the French sent a robotic submarine to help in that search. Keep in mind it was mostly French package tourists who were killed in that crash, so the search goes on.
Officials still believe they think it was some kind of an accident, some kind of mechanical malfunction that caused the pilot to lose control at 5,000 feet just minutes after takeoff and plunged in 17 seconds into the ocean shattering that plane.
Now, today there was a ceremony at the site. We witnessed that as the deputy foreign minister of France joined Egyptian officials throwing flowers into the spot where the plane was believed to have crashed. The French officials have not -- don't seem to have 100 percent ruled out the possibility there could have been foul play, but they still believe there was most likely some kind of a mechanical malfunction. But they still say they need to find the black box that flight recorder from the cockpit to make sure because, keep in mind, there was no warning, no distress signal, no talk at all from the co- pilot, from the crew, before the plane went down. So a lot of questions remain right now as to why that plane crashed. Andrea?
KOPPEL: It will probably be days longer by the time they recover that black box due to the depth the plane and whatnot sunk. Chris Burns in Sharm el-Sheikh, 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
