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Video Monitoring Services of America SHOW: Channel Two News At Five; WCBS; New York July 18, 1996 5:00Ppm; NETWORK: CBS MEDIUM: Television LENGTH: 999 words BODY: Anchor;John Johnson and Michele Marsh 00.00 Disaster. TWA flight 800 en route from JFK to Paris exploded in the sky last night and fell into the Atlantic Oceannear Long Island. V;aerial view of the site now. Sharks are supposed to be a concern in this area and the air is getting hazy. The Suffolk County medical examiner says some of the victims drowned. A note was also recieved by ABC warning of a disaster. A ground to air missile has not been ruled out as the cause of the crash. 01.00 01.00 Causes. The FBI is considering 2 possible causes of the crash. An explosion in the engines or a bomb. Although a report was issued that the black boxes were found, that has not been confirmed. 02.00 02.00 Victims. Bodies pulled from the water show signs of a blast. V;montage of footage from today's search scene. A rescuers found heavy duty cases which were bent and charred. The FBI was very interested and he guesses the cases were near the explosion. I;various summer revelers saw the explosion and the aftermath. 06.00 06.00 Local passengers. I;neighbor of someone on board Tom McMahon. His friend Judge Mike Pesci's fiance and future mother-in-law were on the flight. He is at home in Brooklyn. 07.45 07.45 Coast Guard. I;Gary Reeves from the Coast Guard says 130 bodies or so have been pulled from the water. V;site at air time. The Coast Guard has 10 cutters on the scene, 8 small boats, and 2 Dolphin helicopters and 2 long range helicopters and one C130 plane. Sharks aren't a problem because rescue personnel are all still in boats. Hypothermia would be a bigger problem to any survivors at this point. 10.10 10.10 Helicopter report. Michael O'Looney is in a helicopter checking the weather. 13.00 13.00 Similarities to Locherbie. It was a very safe 747 with a stellar maintenance record and it descended in a fireball which is all very similar to the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Locherbie, Scotland. V;file from that disaster. 16.10 16.10 President Clinton. PC;Clinton warned Americans not to make a rash judgement about the cause of the crash. He said the families of the victims are the primary focus right now. 19.00 19.00 Medical examiner report. Dr.Charles Wesley, Suffolk County Medical Examiner, is giving a press conference. Most bodies are covered with chemical burns. Most died from the blunt force of the explosion but there is some evidence of drowning. Some positive identifications have been made. 140 bodies are in so far, most have not been identified yet. 21.00 21.00 Investigation. Marcia Kramer reports. A call came into ABC news warning of something terrible the night before. 2 calls were made to the Jsutice Department and Janet Reno talked about it this morning. The calls were made after the crash. Vice President of WTSB Mike Cavender in Tampa says an anonymous male caller who asked to be recorded. He said he was a member of Jihad and the incident in New York was the first of many to come if you Americans don't stop bothering us. Even the possibility of a ground to air missile is being looked at due to some eyewitness accounts. 24.30 24.30 JFK account. The families are all at the Ramada Hotel talking to Mayor Giuliani. At least one woman, Eilene Rence of Appleton, Wisconsin, missed the flight because her Chicago flight was late. I;Rence talks about missing the plane. She says she can hardley be jubilant considering the casualties. V;the Mayor is giving a briefing as is Police Commissioner Howard Safir. PC;Giuliani says the airline must be forthcoming and responsible. 34.00 34.00 Atlanta. 2 days from now the opening ceremonies will go on for the Olympics. There are alot of jitters down there but security measures are enormous. 35.30 35.30 GR;program notes 36.00 ==== Commercial Break 37.30 Locals lose friends and family. Judge Mike Pesci from Brooklyn lost his fiance and mother-in-law. He felt the information was very slow min coming. Mayor Giuliani had an ex-law partner on the flight. Repeat. 39.30 39.30 JFK account. Mechanics and ground crew types have discussed the crash. They say mechanical failure is not to blame. 41.30 41.30 Medical examiner account. Drowning is the cause of some of the deaths. PC;Charles Wetli, Suffolk County Medical examiner, says 140 bodies are at his facility and many are on the way. The bodies are not mutilated but they are burned beyond recognition. They occured post mortem from the jet fuel in the water. The identification process is time consuming but proceeding efficiently. Because many passengers were so young, the dental processes will have to be detailed. Valuables are intact and on corpses which will also help. 47.30 47.30 Recap. Lou Young recaps the medical examiner situation. He says he thinks the authorities believe this is an act of terrorism. 51.00 51.00 GR;Program Notes 51.30 ==== Commercial Break 52.45 Al D'Amato. I;The Senator says the tragedy may very well have been a deliberate act of terrorism and it's just an example that the US is no longer isolated from terrorism. The possibility of a missile is now very real. None of the passengers had life jackets and none of the recordings between the tower and the crew indicate any advanced warning. There was a call from the Islamic Movement for Change, the same group responsible for the Saudi bombing, which called a Cairo newspaper and said tomorrow the US will be surprised like they've never been surprised before. This group has backing from a number of terrorist countries such as Iran. 57.00 57.00 Black boxes. The NTSB will not confirm that any black box has been found. Why are they so important? Investigators can glean information about all activity on the plane until the crash. V;flight recorder. V;file of the ValuJet crash site. 1.00.00
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