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Morning News

Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Search for Survivors Continues Although Chances Slim; San Francisco Family, Friends Grieve

Aired February 1, 2000 - 9:00 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start this morning off the coast of southern California, where Coast Guard crews are looking for survivors in the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. Some bodies have been found, and searchers in fishing boats have recovered debris and personal belongings, but so far no survivors have been found. The plane had 88 people on board. It left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, around 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, yesterday. It headed for San Francisco. The pilot requested an emergency landing in Los Angeles after reporting a mechanical problem. The jet lost contact with controllers at 4:36 p.m., and a witness says it plunged nose-first into the water about 11 miles off of Point Mugu, California.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the U.S. Coast Guard has set up a command center at Port Hueneme, California, and CNN's Greg LaMotte is there early this morning and joins us for the latest there.

Greg, good morning.

GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, a plane that falls three miles out of the sky and reportedly hits the water nose first is not likely to produce any survivors. At that speed and distance, it would be the equivalent of hitting a cement wall. Making matters worse, the water temperature is in the 50s, and given the fact that the crash occurred some 13 1/2 hours ago hypothermia would have become an issue in just a matter of hours. On top of that, most of the search has been conducted in the darkness. Even so, the Coast Guard is using every available vessel trying to find any possible survivor.

We get more on that side of the story from CNN's Jim Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than a half-dozen U.S. Coast Guard cutters, three helicopters, U.S. Navy ships, and fixed-wing aircraft joined the search about 10 miles off Point Mugu, California. Several dozen private fishing boats also joined the effort, using grappling hooks and nets to pull debris out of the water.

The debris field spread for about six miles across the water surface. Water temperature was in the low 50s, meaning anyone in this condition could not survive and water for more than a few hours. Searchers were hampered by swells ranging 10 to 12 feet but knew that time was of the essence in trying to find anyone still alive.

Off the coast of southern California, Jim Hill, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAMOTTE: Alaska Flight 261 was en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and then onto Seattle. About 40 miles past Los Angeles, the pilot radioed that he was having problems with his stabilizer trim. Moments later, the plane went off of the radar after having been cleared for an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport. A U.S. park ranger said he saw the plain go in the water nose first.

A stabilizer trim looks like a small wing mounted on the back of the tail of the airplane. It allows the pilot to raise or lower the nose of the plane.

A press briefing will be held here at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, about an hour from now. We expect to hear from the U.S. Coast Guard. We also hope to hear from the National Transportation Safety Board and possibly the FAA.

Greg LaMotte, CNN, live, Port Hueneme, California.

HEMMER: All right, Greg, thank you. Greg LaMotte, there, in Los Angeles, we will be back in touch shortly.

Now to Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For friends and relatives of the victims, it's been a long night of waiting and wondering. The plane was headed for San Francisco when it suddenly plunged into the Pacific.

For more now, CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us now live from San Francisco's international airport.

RUSTY DORNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, it's just shortly after 6:00 a.m. The Alaska Airline ticket counter has just opened here for business. But last night, 32 passengers were scheduled to get off here in San Francisco. The direct flight to Mexico is a very popular route this time of year for many people here during the rainy season, of course, but not all of those people were scheduled as this was their final destination. There were a couple of people who were also schedule to go on to Eugene. Airport officials said only about 12 to 15 people did come, family and friends, to meet the passengers that were scheduled to get off the plane.

Now, of course the airport and the airlines, when a crisis like this happens, are always ready to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MCCARRON, SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT SPOKESMAN: Alaska Airlines has their own crisis-intervention team. They got the people who were waiting for that flight, separated them, put them into a private lounge and then told them of the incident. And the airport then made a larger room available for them where we also brought in people on our own recall system, clergymen and women from every faith, as well as crisis counselors, mental health professionals to help them deal with this shocking incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now, apparently there are about 30 of this -- the crisis intervention team. They are still here, and they are on call in case anyone would happen to come to the airport, any family or friend that was involved in the crash would come here. We've also learned that one of the people on the passenger list was a local radio celebrity, personality Cynthia Oti, who was on KSFO radio; she was a business reporter. And of course some of the passenger list are being released.

So, here at San Francisco International they are no longer taking in passenger -- family and friends for counseling, although they are available if anyone comes here.

Reporting live in San Francisco, I'm Rusty Dornin.

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