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CNN Live Sunday

Comair Crash in Kentucky; Fox Journalists Released in Gaza; Ernesto's Travels

Aired August 27, 2006 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. "Now in the News", a developing story, moments ago Comair's president called it a tragedy and one of utter devastation. Also we're learning from other sources that the commuter plane that crashed today in Lexington may have taken off on the wrong runway, one too short for a plane that size and weight. One person survived, the copilot, 49 others including two crew members are believed to have died. The Comair flight to Atlanta went off the runway just shortly after the last communication between the pilot and the control tower.

And a developing story out of Florida. Tourists are ordered to leave the Florida Keys because of Hurricane Ernesto. Forecasters new say the first hurricane of the season is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it hits western Florida on Thursday. A live update from our weather center in 10 minutes here at your Hurricane Headquarters.

Relief and joy in Gaza City. Two FOX News journalists are free. Correspondent Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were held captive for two weeks by a group calling themselves the "Holy Jihad Brigade." The Palestinian interior minister says there are promises that such abductions won't happen again.

And countdown on hold, NASA says the shuttle "Atlantis" will not take off until at least Tuesday. The space agency had previously delayed a launch scheduled for today. Officials say they need to check for possible damage from a lightning strike at the launch pad which happened yesterday.

Welcome to a special edition of CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center live in Atlanta. And as you can see we are following four big stories this afternoon. We begin with the top story in Lexington, Kentucky. A tragic scene after a packed commuter plane slams into a ground and catches fire. Here's what we know right now. Sources tell CNN there is evidenced plane may have taken off from the wrong runway, one that was too short in length for a plane of that weight and size. Only one person, the copilot, survived the crash, 49 other people lost their lives. As they begin to search for clues, investigators have already located the plane's two flight recorders.

And just minutes ago, Comair's president faced reporters and camera in Lexington to talk about the crash. Here's some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON BORNHORST, COMAIR PRESIDENT: I cannot tell you the emotional devastation that this brings upon ar airline, both professionally and for the professionals at Comair, this is a very difficult thing for the families who are affect bide this, and we view the pain...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A search and rescue operation has ended at the crash site. Authorities are now focusing on removing bodies from the wreckage.

Tom Kenny, with our affiliate WTVQ, is with me now from Lexington.

You are there listening to the president of Comair, Don Bornhorst, who didn't give a whole lot of detail about what they know and about what kind of information they're trying to uncover, but mostly focused on what Comair can do for the grieving family members of so many who died on that plane.

TOM KENNY, WTVQ CORRESPONDENT: Indeed they are, Fredricka. That has been the focus so far, in fact, very little has been said all day about the investigation of this crash. Understandably, everyone referring to the National Transportation Safety Board which has been on the scene since mid-morning, because everyone wants to know what happened. Why did it happen? The weather doesn't appear to be a factor, and there's been so much talk and speculation about, did the pilot of this plane literally use the wrong runway to leave Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky?

A relatively small airport, although it does have a lot of traffic, but there are only two runways. One, the main runway, 7,000 feet long, just repaved and well lit, but then also what they have a general aviation runway which runs across that, it is only 3,400 feet. It is not lit at all, and it is only used for usually non-commercial or smaller flights during daylight hours.

There has been some speculation as well as evidence at the crash scene that this plane may have used that unlit runway at a flight that left just after 6:00 this morning Eastern Time it was still dark. Sunrise wasn't until 7:04 Eastern Time in Lexington, Kentucky this morning, and the plane crashed only about a half mile to a mile at the end of that 3,400 foot short non-lit runway. But officials have also pointed out, don't assume that that means the pilot used the shorter runway, in other words, the wrong runway. They said he could have used the main runway and immediately banked a turn. So, they're cautioning the media and everyone else not to jump to conclusions, but clearly, that is the focus. Did the pilot use the right runway or not?

Again, this was a flight that was full. It is a plane that holds 50 people, and it had 47 passengers and a crew of three, the pilot with seven years' experience. The only survivor, the copilot, who has been with Comair for four years, and he certainly, Jim Polehinke, is his name, rushed to the University of Kentucky Hospital where he underwent surgery, were told, in critical condition. We also -- they have identified the flight attendant, Kelly Heyer, as one of the fatalities, but no other names mentioned. You talked about the bodies being removed. I'm told by the county coroner that process may not begin until tomorrow at the earliest.

Most of the plane is still intact, there was a huge fire. It had a full load of jet fuel, since it was just taking off from Lexington to Atlanta. It was a fiery crash, the coroner says most of the people dern burned to death as opposed to the impact of the crash or smoke inhalation and a forensic anthropologist, Dr. Emily Craig, who's known throughout the world for her work, has been called to the scene, an they are using dental records it try to identify some of the 49 victims of the worst plane crash in the history of Lexington, Kentucky.

Many more questions than answers right now. We hope to hear from the NTSB tonight at either 5:00 or 6:00 Eastern Time and as soon as that information's available, we'll have it on CNN. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Well Tim, indeed, lots of questions still. And let me ask you, since you really are underscoring the need for the use of the word "may" -- "may" have taken the wrong runway. Since we're looking, and we've been looking at a graphic of those two runways, Runway 22 and 26, and how they crisscross when you say that it can't be presumed that that plane was automatically on the wrong runway, it could have been on the right, but it banked, potentially. How could that happen?

KENNY: That was one of the scenarios that brought forth by the executive director of the Blue Grass Airport, Michael Gobb, when we did question, since this plane went down just beyond that short runway, the physical evidence would suggest to you that that's the runway it took to take off, and as a result, since it was too short and not lit, in the dark, that it didn't have enough space for that plane to get the proper speed and altitude to have a successful takeoff. That's when he brought up the scenario, don't jump to conclusions opinion they may have been on the right runway and just banked a turn. But, the physical evidence, anyway, preliminarily, suggests otherwise.

WHITFIELD: Now, are any of those sources, or any early investigative notes that are coming to light, saying anything about whether the plane actually ever left the ground, or if on that short runway it simply careened, continued going off that runway before crashing in to that area a half mile away and bursting into flames?

KENNY: We can't say with certainty, Fredricka at this point, but we do know from talking to investigators and other people who are close to the investigation that there doesn't appear to be any damage at all at the very end of that runway, but shortly beyond that, we did witnessed, from some of our aerial view, some damage to a fenceline and some treetops that were taken out just beyond the end of that short 3,400 foot runway.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right. Tom Kenny, thank you so much from our affiliate WTVQ for that report. Very informative.

A very emotional day in Lexington as news of the crash spread. More reaction now from our affiliates in that area as it happened earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON HUDSON, WTVQ NEWS ANCHOR: Three hours and 20 minutes ago a plane took off from the Lexington airport headed to Atlanta. That plane was full, had 50 people onboard, 47 passengers and three crew members. That plane crashed one mile west of the airport. We had witnesses that heard it, Witnesses that saw smoke and a flash of light and one survivor right now that we know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard the windows shook on the house. I live at the top of the hill, right up to of Rice Road, here, and you know, the windows shook and I really thought it was a big clap of thunder, so I didn't think much about it and I heard all the sirens and got us all and came down.

GARY GRINN, FAYETTE COUNTY CORONER: It was a fiery incident with the fire traveled with the plane.

BORNHORST: I say this with a heavy heart (INAUDIBLE). This is, the airline industry has these risks, and so you brace yourself for them as best you can. I can tell you, based upon getting notified the difficulty to experience in receiving such news is hard.

GINN: We do know that one individual was transported to U.K. of medicine -- or U.K. Chandler Medical Center, but it's not a good scene, whatsoever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see, there's just not a lot left there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took the earlier flight so he could get back with his family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went out the backdoor and looked and there was no one there and I just looked around and I saw over the hillside, I saw the flash of light and then the explosion and then just a big plume of smoke come up.

GINN: It's never good when you have something like this that happens and where there's large numbers of people that have died. But -- you know -- we'll do the best we possibly can.

BORNHORST: Emotionally devastated. I mean, these are tough thing, and very difficult and with the emotion that comes with that, also comes a crystalline commitment to understand everything that's going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And nine hours now after that crash this morning, investigator, still on the scene, still trying to piece together exactly what happened. At the Blue Grass Airport is our own David Mattingly, who's just arriving there.

At the same time David, you've had a chance to talk with a number of officials already about how they're proceeding on this investigation. What are you learning?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, I spoke with to one of the (INAUDIBLE) chiefs at the fire and rescue department that responded to this crash earlier this morning. He had just gotten back from the crash site and he was telling me in his experience they've never had to deal with this sudden loss of life of so many people. So, they're all quite take aback by this.

He said when they got to the scene, that they were able to do, very quickly, a search of the immediate area to determine if anyone had actually been thrown free of the wreckage. He said that was not the case, they were able to determine that pretty quickly, and they knew, he said, fairly early on, that this was not going to be a rescue mission that they were there to recover the victims of this plane crash.

I spoke also to the coroner's office. They're in the process of trying to set up a temporary morgue, and, again, to perform autopsies, and identify all of the victims of this disaster here at the Lexington Airport.

WHITFIELD: And, David, from your conversations with the coroner's office, confirming essentially what we heard from our affiliate reporter just moments ago that it appears as though all of the victims were unable to leave that aircraft because of the fiery explosion that quickly took place?

MATTINGLY: That is correct. As the fire department chief did tell me that they did search quickly when they got there to see if anyone had been thrown clear of the aircraft and were quickly able to determine that everyone was still inside the wreckage.

WHITFIELD: And are you seeing a number of investigators still arriving there at the airport and heading out to that crash site?

MATTINGLY: At the moment it looks absolutely like business as usual at the airport, that's coming off of the plane, going through baggage claim. Everything seems to be operating as it normally would. Very early this morning, when the -- the victims' families began arriving at the airport, the standard procedure is to find a location for them to go where they would be away from the public, away from the news media, and I've been told, but I haven't confirmed this, that it's at a hotel nearby the airport, and that happened some hours ago this morning.

WHITFIELD: And I imagine, David, since we heard from the Comair president urging all family members to take note that Comair's going to do everything that it can to accommodate those family members traveling from various parts of the country, that after that appeal, it's likely that the airport will get busy again with a number of grieving family members coming through there to be close to their lost loved ones. MATTINGLY: Yes and this is part of a procedure that just about all airlines have adopted in cases of tragedy like this. Something they've been working on the last two years, improving how they handle dealing with the grieving families, how to transport them, how they accommodate them and how they protect their privacy. And we have seen some of that going on with this incident as well.

WHITFIELD: David Mattingly, thank you so much from Blue Grass Airport there in Lexington.

Flight 5191 was Atlanta-bound, and our Randi Kaye is in Atlanta at the airport there where many of the family members of those onboard this Comair flight were already waiting for this plane to arrive at 7:18 this morning only to hear some very sad news.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Fred, that plane was due to arrive here at 7: 18 this morning, so about eight hours ago. And as you would expect, family members would have been here, but now we are just confirming through spokespeople here at the airport in Atlanta, that there are no more family members here. Whether or not they were here earlier we do not know. But we understand that there are no family members present related to the crash of Flight 5191 at this hour.

Normally in a situation like this, the family members would gather in the executive suites, the executive offices here, also there's a chapel here at the airport, but in this case we are told that is not happening. If they had been here, they would have been met by the Red Cross who is here, ready to serve them also by care workers. Those were set up here by both Comair and Delta airlines to help these families cope with what has happened.

It does appear, though that Comair is certainly working to make family as priority. We heard from the airlines president Don Bornhorst just a short time ago talking about families saying earlier the victims will be treated with respect, when asked if he visited the crash scene, he said I'm not going to the crash scene before I visit with the families. This was the second time that we've heard from him today. Earlier in the day he held another press conference where he was very emotional, speaking, again, about the families and the gruesome task that lay ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORNHORST: Our top priority at this time are as follows -- one, care for the families and the loved ones onboard Flight 5191. That is first and foremost. We are in full support of the ensuing investigations. That will involve the FAA and the NTSB. And finally, we're going to support the operation and the others customers within the commerce system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Here in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport we spoke with the airport spokesperson, that is Sterling Payne, and she told us that this crash has not had any impact on the operations here. Many passengers, she believes, were likely connecting in Atlanta, Fred. This is an airplane that I take often and I'm sure many people who travel often do take. It's a 50 seater, a commuter jet, often using Atlanta to connect to a larger plane when people have to get somewhere else, so many of the passengers appeared to have been connecting here, she's telling us. Also that only one passenger that she's been able to identify was actually waiting for Flight 5191 to arrive here in Atlanta so that passenger could board and go on with that flight.

We want to give awe phone number for family members, if they're still in need of questions and some answers, we want to give you that number where they can call for information. That number is 1-800-801- 0088. Once again that is 1-800-801-0088. As more questions seem to arise, whether it's about the runways or whether it's about where they can find the remains of their loved one, Fred, they're going to need that phone number. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Randi Kaye at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Thank you so much for that update.

Coming up, we'll get some insight on today's crash from a former airline pilot who has flown a variety of airplanes in his career.

And later today, we'll have live coverage of the news conference on the crash scheduled to get underway at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

Still lots of questions about what went wrong with this Comair Flight 5191. Straight ahead -- I'll talk way veteran airline pilot about what may have played a role in this morning's tragedy.

Also, an emotional scene in the Middle East as a pair of hostage journalists speak after their release.

And some Americans are ordered to get out of the way of Hurricane Ernesto.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Sources tell CNN that Comair commuter plane that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky early this morning may have taken off from the wrong runway. Fifty people were onboard Flight 5191 enroute to Atlanta. Only one person survived and is being hospitalized now. We'll talk way former Airbus pilot about the accident in just one minute.

Tourist, packing up and leaving the Florida Keys as Hurricane Ernesto pushing through the Caribbean. An evacuation order has been issued earlier this afternoon. The storm is expected to hit Western Florida Thursday. A live update from the weather center in about 15 minutes here at the CNN Hurricane Headquarters location.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: CNN, your Hurricane Headquarters.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: All right. Let's go to that Hurricane Headquarters location right now with Jacqui Jeras.

And Jacqui, Ernesto, making its way through the Caribbean. Where is it seriously threatening right now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well Haiti, the Dominican Republic, has the most immediate concern right now. And the threat there is really some very heavy rain, in fact, in the order of six to 12 inches and the terrain there, very rugged. So, very concerned about flash flooding as well as mudslides and landslides as result of it.

It's very near the southern tip here of Haiti where the center of rotation is. We've had a lot of changes with Ernesto here throughout the day today. Do, if you haven't been watching CNN, haven't paid attention since yesterday, you really want to stay tuned with this, because things have certainly changed quite a bit and the forecast track is different than yesterday, too.

Now Ernesto really strengthened rapidly early this morning and reached hurricane status. Maximum sustained wind are 75-miles-per- hour right now. However, that said, hurricane hunters are flying through the system as we speak, and they haven't been able to verify those hurricane-strength winds right now. It doesn't mean they won't be able to in the next even 15 minutes, say. But right now there is a chance that this could be downgraded back to a tropical storm once the 5:00 advisory comes in. We'll wait and see what happens.

But as you look just here on satellite imagery, you can really see the organization is a little bit different than it was before. It has weakened, we don't see nearly as much purples here, we have less convection associated with it on the south side. You can see everything really kind of packing up on the east side of the storm system.

Lots of watches and warnings are in place as we speak, hurricane watches for the Cayman Islands as well as Jamaica with hurricane warnings for much of Eastern Cuba and the Southern coast of Haiti. Hurricane conditions expected in the next 24 hour hours less. We do think it will arrive across Cuba's coast by tomorrow morning, and we'll watch that then move across parts of Cuba, where it's going to go after that.

I want to point out one thing mainly here, Fredricka, look at this cone of uncertainty. We're talking about the most likely scenario of this making landfall on Thursday on the west coast of Florida. However, that cone covers the entire Florida peninsula as well as the Panhandle. We've seen a lot of changes with Ernesto just in the last 24 hour, so we may very well see more of those, so stay tuned. Of course, we'll bring you that 5:00 updated advisory, when that happens, and any other changes we'll see as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much Jacqui. We'll check again with you since Ernesto is still a top story. The other top story we're following, more about the crash of a Comair commuter plane that killed 49 of 50 people onboard. The lone survivor is being hospitalized right now and is the copilot. The jet crashed this morning just after taking off from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. With me here in Atlanta is John Wiley, a former Airbus pilot.

As investigators, John, try to figure out what went wrong, they're also going to examine some of the conditions of 6:05, which was the last communication reportedly between pilot and the control tower.

JOHN WILEY, FMR. AIRBUS PILOT: Uh-huh.

WHITFIELD: It may have been raining, it was dark at that hour. What is the capacity of this flight, of this type of plane, to perhaps, you know, clear the windshield? What is the pilot up against?

WILEY: There are a lot of factors that we're looking at. We're going to quickly be able to piece the puzzle together of the whats. The big questions are going to be the whys. We know that the crew was well qualified and experienced. We know there were no problems as far as the aircraft itself, no malfunctions. We know that the crew was fully functioning, we do know that it was also dark and it was raining. We know that there has been maintenance done on the runways here recently. So, when we approach this from man, machine, and environment, a well-qualified crew, we have a functioning airplane, next we move to the physical layout of the airport. So there will be questions about the airplane getting to the active runway, which we said was...

WHITFIELD: So we know of these two runways, 22 and 26.

WILEY: There's an intersection runway. Yes. So we want to look at markings that are on the runway, because this guy's taxiing at night, maybe in this 40s, or early 50s, whatever. We know that as you age your vision changes, but also the lens becomes a little more opaque.

WHITFIELD: But aren't there generally markings on all of these runways especially if it's dark? I mean, doesn't every pilot need a little bit of help to make sure they're right on the...

WILEY: It does. Everyone has driven down a dark road in the subdivision looking for a house or looking for a number, but we have to remember that taxiing is probably one of most difficult -- it seem likes it would be a simple task, but it's probably one of the most difficult tasks to get everything lined up, and we know, also, too, that the greatest loss of life in commercial aviation stemmed from a taxi accident at Tenerife when two 747s collided.

WHITFIELD: Well, if we're talking about, reportedly what may be the wrong runway, one that's 3,500 feet long as opposed to the longer one which is 7,000, which would be more optimal for a plane of this size, fully loaded with 50 people -- are there not markers along that runway to give a pilot an indicator of how much runway you have left, and if -- if that pilot may have noticed that, might they have had an opportunity to radio and say, wait a minute, you know, I don't have enough room here, we got to abort or something?

WILEY: Yes. We're looking at a lot of missed opportunities as we go down this path. The tower was open, normally the tower operators don't watch an airplane take off, but that was a barrier, their missed opportunity. If the tower controller had seen that this airplane was lining on the wrong runway, they could have told him to abort the takeoff. If the crew had noticed that they were not properly aligned, that would have been barrier to having this accident occur.

WHITFIELD: So, what happens in that last communication or what type of last communication would there be between pilot and air traffic controller? Would there be, OK, let's make sure you're in the right place? I mean, what's the dialogue like?

WILEY: The tower just clears you to take off and again, the professionalism, the level of the professionalism; they're expecting you it go on (INAUDIBLE).

Now one of the things we've not talked about which is a factor, time pressure. We know when people are rushed that they make mistakes. This airplane is coming to Atlanta, we don't know if they had a wheels up time. That being you either get in line, and get airborne at this time or they cancel your takeoff clearance and you wind up with a ground delay.

WHITFIELD: OK.

WILEY: So we have a lot of factors here that are going to have to go into this why? We know that people don't make mistakes on purpose, especially mistakes that are going to lead to lethal consequence. So, we're going to have to start now looking at all the whys as how this unfolded.

WHITFIELD: All right, so John, we're talk about time pressure and some of the other things that a pilot and crew are up against, because you and I are going to talk again in the 4:00 Eastern hour.

WILEY: OK.

WHITFIELD: John Wiley, thanks so much.

WILEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, a tenth kidnapping is resolved. Two journalists react to their release in the Middle East.

Also ahead, the very latest on the progress and the threats of Hurricane Ernesto.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Now in the news, 49 people dead. The only survivor a crewmember, who is being hospitalized. Sources say the doomed Comair flight may have been on the wrong runway during takeoff from Kentucky in Lexington. That runway is half the length of the one that plane should be on.

Another major story we're following, visitors being ordered to leave the Florida Keys because of hurricane Ernesto. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season appears headed near Haiti today, Cuba tomorrow. The category one storm is on track to hit western Florida by Thursday. A live update from the CNN Hurricane Headquarters, straight ahead.

Free and out of harm's way, two Fox journalists are back in Israel after a horrifying kidnapping ordeal in Gaza. Correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig were held captive nearly two weeks. And now, after 13 days in captivity, they are free. CNN's Chris Lawrence was at the border crossing when the newly freed journalists entering Israel. Chris joins us live from Jerusalem with details.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, both men are now safely back here in Jerusalem tonight. Although at one point, Steve Centanni said they were forced at gunpoint to make a videotaped statement in which they said that they were converting to Islam. I saw both of the men earlier today at that crossing. The border between Israel and Gaza, and as they came out of there, and really had their true first taste of freedom back on the Israeli side of the border, Steve Centanni Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni looked exhausted, tired. Olaf Wiig looked relieved to be back with his wife and both men had understandably a hard time describing all the feelings they had after being released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE CENTANNI, FREED JOURNALIST: I would just echo what was said so eloquently. First, thank you to everybody. It's nice to see all these friendly faces here. I'm not used to being on this side of the news story, and not -- instead of one covering the news. So this is a bit unusual, but I'm happy to see so many friendly faces, and happy to be here, and thank you very much for this large network of wonderful friends at Fox News and New Zealand and British and American governments who have come to help, and the Palestinian officials who are here today to welcome us back, thank you very much.

I just hope this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover this story, because the Palestinian people are very beautiful, kind-hearted loving people who the world needs to know more about. And so do not be discouraged. Come and tell the story. It's a wonderful story. And I'm just happy to be here, and thanks again for all of your support.

OLAF WIIG, FREED JOURNALIST: I just want to add something very briefly, really. I was -- my biggest concern, really, is that as a result of what happened to us, foreign journalists will be discouraged from coming here to tell the story, and that would about great tragedy for the people of Palestine, and especially for the people of Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LAWRENCE: The day started earlier today when both men were released by their captors. A group calls itself the Holy Jihad Brigades; they were taken to the Beach Hotel in Gaza. Escorted by Palestinian security forces. They spent some time there reuniting with colleagues at Fox News and some of their co-workers, and then they met with the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanea, he at that point or earlier in the day confirmed that it was not the al Qaeda terrorist group that was responsible for this kidnapping. But another point, he never forcefully promised to go after, locate, find and arrest the group that was responsible for the kidnapping. They were vague promises made, and we'll have it keep our eye on that to see where that investigation goes from here.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Chris, while we saw that cameras were in position to actually get the you know, reunions between the journalists and their colleagues what kind of notice did everyone else, including you, get that this release was taking place?

LAWRENCE: I think you can go by what some of the people, some of our colleagues at Fox News were saying was that they were hopeful that they would be released you had the prime minister yesterday saying that he expected it to occur in the coming hours. You know, sort of indicating sometime the next day. The exact hour that they were released, I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting it right then and there.

WHITFIELD: But great relief and great images to see. Great outcome for everyone to enjoy there. Thanks so much, Chris Lawrence.

And coming up, we'll check in with the National Hurricane Center on the latest forecast for hurricane Ernesto. The other big story taking place here in the states.

Plus this developing story we continue to keep an eye on. The latest from Lexington on this morning's deadly crash of a Comair commuter jet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look now at our top story. A tragic scene in Lexington, Kentucky after a packed commuter plane slams into the ground and catches fire. Here is what we know right now. Sources tell CNN there's evidence the plane may have taken off from the wrong runway. One that was half-length of a runway that airline should be taking off of. Only one person, the copilot, survived the crash, 49 other people were killed.

As they begin their search for clues, investigators have already located the plane's two flight recorders. At the scene of the crash, authorities are now focusing on also removing the bodies from the wreckage. Tom Kenny with our affiliate WTVQ is with me now from Lexington, and as we focus on the runway and questions about this runway, why, Tom, was this runway off limits, generally, on you know -- on nighttime type of hours? What was going on at that runway? TOM KENNY, WTVQ: This runway is 3,400 feet long. Which is not long by runway standards and it is referred to as a general aviation runway. And one of the reasons why it is not used is because it -- during the night, anyway, is because it is not lit. There are no lights. It is used only usually for smaller aircraft and during daylight hours only. This flight left just after 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning. It was still dark in Lexington, Kentucky. The sunrise wasn't until just after 7:00, an hour later.

The main runway is 7,000 feet long. It is lit, and we told by airport official, that's the runway this plane should have taken. We still don't know for sure which runway was used. Investigators have not commented so far. The head of Comair has not commented so far. But the physical evidence would suggest to you the shorter non-lit runway was used, because the crash happened just about a mile beyond that run way. But when that was brought up in an earlier briefing today, the executive director of the airport here did say, don't jump to any conclusions. That's not fair. Perhaps even irresponsible to speculate at this point, because the plane may have used the correct runway and made an immediate bank turn and still ended up crashing in that same area. So they said wait until the NTSB and the FAA get in, do their investigation before you start speculating about a cause, but that's what everyone is talking about, because any time there is a plane crash with loss of life, the obvious questions are, how did it happen? And why?

We hope to get some preliminary answers from the NTSB at a news conference here around 5:00 or 6:00 Eastern Time, and we'll have that information for you then.

WHITFIELD: Tom Kenny, thanks so much, of affiliate WTVQ. And when that press conference takes place with the NTSB we hope to carry that live for you as well.

Well shortly after this morning's crash the White House issued a statement and says, "The President was deeply saddened by the news of the plane crash in Kentucky today. His sympathies are with the many families of the victims of this tragedy."

The other major story we continue to follow for you at this hour, Florida keeping a weary eye on hurricane Ernesto as it gathers strength in the Caribbean. Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is tracking the season's first hurricane from the CNN Weather Center. What's it doing right now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Weakening a bit. Fredricka, believe it or not, it intensified rapidly this morning and became the first of the hurricane of the Atlantic season. And now you can see its kind of breaking up a little bit. There is not as much organization to the system. But still a pretty healthy, at least tropical storm. The hurricane hunters are flying in to it and will be determining whether or not this is still a hurricane or if it is down to a tropical storm. But even if it does get downgraded, I want you to keep in mind; this is still a very significant threat to the U.S. coast, Florida in particular, and both coasts. In fact, the entire state needs to be on alert for a potential landfall and in say, two or three days from this time. I do want to show you where we're expecting it to go. The official forecast track continuing on a northwesterly motion, moving towards Cuba. We think we should see landfall on Cuba's coast probably by tomorrow morning. Moving across much of the island, possibly farther north, possibly farther south and a little bit of interaction with this should weaken it a touch and prevent it from getting much stronger there.

Once it gets back into the open waters we could see it intensify once again and we are expecting some type of a turn. This forecast is really tricky here. Just because of the orientation of the storm, with the Florida coastline. We're expected to move somewhat parallel with the coast and then take a turn on in. If you remember, hurricane Charlie did a similar thing. Moved up towards the coast, parallel with it and then took that sharp right-hand hook. We don't want any body here to be caught off guard.

Now some orders have already been put in place for the Florida Keys, just the Keys at this time. As of 1:00 evacuations of visitors has been ordered, by 6:00 clock tomorrow morning, people with special medical needs need to leave and then at 10:00, all people who live in mobile homes need to be evacuated. We expect tropical storm force winds it arriving by Tuesday morning. If you're told to get out of the Keys, you've got at least until Monday night we think, to do so.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jacqui thank you so much.

And this just in. It is the what if factor that has many people in Florida rather concerned about hurricane Ernesto. So much so that the Governor Jeb Bush has now ordered a state of emergency for Florida, because of the very threat from hurricane Ernesto, what we know based on what Jacqui was just reporting to us, the evacuation orders are right now impacting mostly visitors in the Florida Keys. Overall, the governor is ordering a state of emergency for Florida because of this same threat brought on my hurricane Ernesto.

Meantime, we're also expecting a live briefing on hurricane Ernesto from Max Mayfield at the National Hurricane Center in Florida. That's coming up later on today in the 5:00 Eastern hour.

Well the weather may be playing a significant role in the delay of the shuttle "Atlantis." We'll get a live report from the Kennedy Space Center coming up.

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WHITFIELD: A coroner is trying to expedite autopsies on the remains of 49 people killed in today's plane crash in Lexington, Kentucky. The only survivor of the crash of Comair Flight 5191is being hospitalized. Sources say the commuter jet may have been on the wrong runway during takeoff. One that is half the length of the runway this plane would have need. Florida Governor Jeb Bush has just ordered a state of emergency ahead of hurricane Ernesto. Tourists are being ordered to leave the Florida Keys. Forecasters now say Ernesto is not expected to reach major hurricane status before hitting western Florida on Thursday. It's a category 1 hurricane right now and is expected to strengthen today and tonight.

Two Fox journalists are back in Israel after a horrifying kidnapping ordeal in Gaza. Correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig were held captive for nearly two weeks, they say they were blindfolded, tied in painful positions and forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint.

No liftoff for "Atlantis," at least not before Tuesday. Our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg joins us live from the Kennedy Space Center it explain the delay. And Daniel first, the delay was as a result of some lightning strikes yesterday. It was supposed to take off today, and now tomorrow's scheduled flight is delayed. Why?

DANIEL SIEBERG, TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right. The original launch schedule was for about 40 minutes from now, but Mother Nature had something to say about that. On Friday afternoon, about 2:00 p.m., violent lightning storms here at Kennedy Space Center and they believe the largest lightening strike to hit the launch pad here about 100,000 amps went through the protective lighting system that they have on launch pad 39b there. They have been going through the data to see if there is anything is wrong. It basically cleared the orbiter the shuttle itself and the external fuel tank. We have a model here that will help explain what we're talking about.

But they're still needing to look at are these solid rocket boosters. The two white pieces on the sides, which were powered down when the lightning struck here, but they have not been able to determine if they are safe to go. About two minutes in to launch, the solid rocket boosters are intended to release, of course, and we need to know if that's still possible with what's happened from this lightning strike. The system is designed to take the energy away from the orbiter itself, but they need to know that happened with all of the bits and pieces including the solid rocket booster.

So of course in addition to dealing with that, they have to deal with hurricane Ernesto, so they have been following the track of Ernesto as it possibly comes towards Kennedy Space Center here in Florida. They have to think about whether they're going to batten down the hatches here. Just a short time ago as a NASA briefing, one of the associate administrators for NASA Bill Gerstenmaier talked about the brewing perfect storm of all these elements.

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BILL GERSTENMAIER, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: We have really two competing objectives, one we want to get the vehicle ready to go fly. The other objective is we want to get the vehicle ready to roll back to the VAB and they are not compatible.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIEBERG: They would hope to not have to roll back this time- consuming process, so they are hoping to avoid having to deal with that type of thing. We hope to know something within the next, I would say, four to eight hours or so. They're going to have to make a decision on whether to go on Tuesday or whether they'll have to delay it much further and have this roll back happen.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Daniel Sieberg, thank you so much.

And coming up we continue to look into the crash of Comair Flight 5191. We'll update you right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Let's update you now on our top story in Lexington, Kentucky, a tragic scene after a packed commuter plane slams into the ground and catches fire. Here is what we know right now, sources tell CNN there is evidence the plane may have taken off from the wrong runway. One that's too short for that aircraft. Only one person, the copilot, survived the crash, 49 other people lost their lives, as they begin to search for clues, investigators have already located the plane's two flight recorders.

Ahead in the next hour, I'll speak with a member of Delta Airlines care team responding to those people feeling the pain from today's Comair crash tragedy.

At 5:00 p.m. Eastern we will have live coverage of an NTSB news conference on the crash. Stay with CNN for the very latest breaking news coverage. We'll be right back, right after this.

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