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Morning News

Singapore Airlines Flight 006 Disaster May Have Killed Up to 80

Aired November 1, 2000 - 11:01 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 do want to got to Taipei and the latest on the last bodies; a flight-data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have all been recovered from the wreckage of Singapore Airlines Flight 006. That 747 crashed in Taiwan while it was taking off for Los Angeles. As many as 80 people died in that crash. Investigators are now looking at whether the weather and, possibly, an object on the runway were factors in the accident.

CNN's Lisa Barron is on the phone with us; she is in Taipei.

Lisa, what's the latest, please.

LISA BARRON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we're here at the domestic terminal of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport where a grim scene is underway. Relatives are starting to come to identify bodies of the victims of Flight 006.

Inside there are rows of bodies, with body bags next to coffins. They're adorned with flowers, with photographs of some of the personal belongings that were rescued, along with some of the victims. Local religious groups, priests and nuns have also appeared. They are holding vigils, singing and saying prayers for the victims. So far we're seeing mostly the relatives of victims from Taiwan, Indonesia, India, Singapore relatives just arrived this evening. And we will see the relatives of the American victims arriving tomorrow from Los Angeles on a flight provided by Singapore Airlines.

The injured who are here are scattered around six hospitals near Chiang Kai-shek Airport. The investigation meanwhile, obviously, is underway in full force with the focus on why the crash happened in the first place. These are some issues which are now emerging and being discussed.

There were, apparently, some construction cranes on one of the runways which may have been damaged. It's unclear whether the aircraft was actually on the runway, whether one of the cranes possibly pushed the aircraft to the wrong runway. Other issues include the handling by Singapore Airlines of the tragedy. Initially they were reporting zero fatalities, while footage was showing the plane up in flames. And finally, obviously, there's the issue of the weather; Typhoon Xangsane was a Category 2 hurricane at the time, with winds of 40 to 73 miles per hour shortly after the crash. And survivors are telling stories of how many on the plane suggested that they should not be taking off in those weather conditions -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Lisa, you have a number of countries involved here; you have Singapore Airlines, a plane taking off from Taiwan headed to the U.S. -- how are they coordinating the investigation efforts, do you know?

BARRON: Well, Taiwan has officially launched an investigation. Singapore Airlines, the CEOs of Singapore Airlines are coming in -- will be discussing how to further participate in the investigation. Meanwhile, it's understanding that civil aviation experts from Singapore will be coming. Civil aviation experts from the United States will also be coming. Again, it was United States parts -- Boeing.

Essentially, right now, they're initiating the procedure of how to coordinate the investigation, with a lot of different representatives of the different countries flying into Taipei within the next 24 hours to heat up the investigation -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And still a lot to learn. Lisa Barron in Taipei, thank you very much -- Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get an idea, now, on what crash investigators will be looking for.

CNN's aviation expert Carl Rochelle joins us from Washington.

Carl, they have a large selection of assets, really, to work from already: You have survivors from the crew itself and then the flight data recorder; so I would think that, fairly quickly, they should have an understanding.

CARL ROCHELLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They should learn something very quickly -- but they also have the crew; they have the captain and the first officer who survived the crash. And the captain was the one who put the period on the point that they had run into something. We were told by a survivor yesterday that he felt a bump, as if the plane had hit something.

That is very important information now. The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered. They are reading out the cockpit voice -- I'm sorry, reading out the flight data recorder; and one of the things it's going to tell them is, it does give azimuth, or heading, of the aircraft and it can tell if there was a deviation from the heading, if the wind or whatever blew it off, if the crew somehow got off on the wrong runway.

That information should come up from the flight data recorder. Now, I will tell you that the investigation should operate under the authorities of Taiwan. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board does have a team, an eight-member team over there, and that team does include a group of specialists in reading out the recorders, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. They do have a wealth of information, but right now they are looking for what it is that the airplane hit, if it hit something, on the way up, Marty.

SAVIDGE: All right, Carl Rochelle, thanks very much for the latest on the investigation.

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