Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

U.S. Helicopter Crashed on Mountain in Nepal; Train Engineer Agrees to NTSB Interview; Engineer's Friends Speak Out; Amtrak Funding Fight; Blues Icon B.B. King Dies; ISIS Releases New Audio Recording; Stock Futures Higher. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 15, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:23] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, a U.S. military helicopter missing after Nepal's earthquake has now been found. We are live with the very latest.

Dramatically gaining speed as it approaches the curve, a 106 miles per hour, mounting questions this morning into the deadly Amtrak derailment.

New this morning, the death of a blues legend, BB King dead at the age of 89. The legacy he leaves behind, a look at that next.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Breaking news this morning, a U.S. Marine helicopter missing earlier this week has been found sadly crashed in the mountains of Nepal.

A top ranking officer with the Nepal army telling CNN the chopper has been located on the steep slope of the mountain east of Kathmandu. At least three bodies have been located. Six U.S. Marines were on that chopper.

They were helping with earthquake relief efforts when radio contact with the chopper was lost. I want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley live from Kathmandu. Will, American military officials are now confirming what the Nepalese Army has been telling you.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): They are. They are confirming that indeed this is the wreckage of that Marine helicopter that disappeared on Tuesday, the day that that major 7.3 earthquake rocked Nepal, the second strong earthquake in just over two weeks.

We were reporting 30 minutes ago, Christine, from the tarmac of the command center which has been the staging area for the search. Just within the past few minutes, authorities rushed over to us and said we needed to move right away.

We have now been escorted off the air base. We didn't get an official reason for that. However, I can tell you what we have seen happened here throughout the past several days is that all bodies that they've recovered in the mountains and in the earthquake zone have been brought into the area where we were. We did not shoot video of them, of course, but we saw stretchers carrying bodies from the earthquake zone. We do know that there were three bodies, burned bodies that were recovered from the crash site.

We have heard that they were being collected and taken back to the area. We don't know exactly if or when that will happen. We are now outside the air base. We no longer have a sight line. I can tell you the mood in there is so sad right now.

All of the searchers who have been working for the last several days hoped the helicopter had perhaps made a hard landing and the crew survived and they were just waiting to be rescued in an area where they could not get communications out.

The helicopter hit the side of the mountain at 11,200 feet elevation. There is wreckage and at least three bodies. We are waiting to learn what happened to the other five, six U.S. Marines and two Nepali soldiers -- Christine.

ROMANS: They have moved you away from the landing zone. We were talking to you a half hour ago and they were bringing rescued victims of the earthquake off the helicopters. They are trying to do two things here. They are trying to find this helicopter.

Now retrieve whatever they can of this helicopter at the same time, you have 8,000 people who died in the two earthquakes and it is just scenes of utter devastation all around.

RIPLEY: Absolutely. When we flew over the area, including the general area where this helicopter has been located about 21 miles east of where I am right now, it was heartbreaking to look out and see people's homes gone.

These are people most of whom built their homes by hand. There's no insurance here. The families will have to literally start over. Inside a lot of the damaged buildings, thousands of people we were flying over and it hits you the gravity and magnitude of the tragedy.

These Marines were out in the areas and braving very difficult flying conditions to deliver supplies, food, water and medicine and picking up the injured to bring them back here for medical care.

It is a dangerous and heroic mission that they were on when they lost contact. Now we can add at least three names to the list of more than 8,400 people who have been lost in Nepal since the last two weeks.

ROMANS: Will, are there any hope for survivors in that helicopter crash or officials saying it was a pretty devastating impact?

RIPLEY: We are hearing that the wreckage doesn't look good. The three bodies recovered were burned and not a good sign. Again, until we know for sure, there will be hope perhaps somebody was able to survive and they will scour the area until they know exactly what happened, all eight of the people who were on board.

[05:35:05] ROMANS: All right, Will Ripley for us on the phone this morning from Kathmandu. He was on the tarmac. They moved him away. That is the one place they are taking off from to try to bring things back from that area. We will check in with him again for new information in a bit.

There is new information this morning on the crash of Amtrak 188. The engineer driving the train has agreed to be interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The 32-year-old Brandon Bostian was at controls when the Washington to New York train derailed in Philadelphia killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

NTSB officials hope Bostian can answer some of the many remaining questions among them, why the train actually accelerated from 70 to over 100 miles per hour in the moments before the crash.

We are also learning this morning that Amtrak was just months away from installing a safety system that might have prevented the deadly accident. CNN's Brian Todd is in Philadelphia for us this morning with the latest.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. We have some new details on the investigation of the train derailment this morning from the NTSB. They say that the engineer of the train Brandon Bostian has agreed to be interviewed by NTSB officials.

They say that interview will occur sometime in the next few days. Also some new data from the train that NTSB officials are giving us, they have analyzed the forward facing camera, which was apparently in the locomotive of the train, which captured some images of the train up until a few moments before the derailment.

That camera also captured a display of the train's speed and what NTSB officials have told us is that it shows a gradual buildup of speed until just before the end of the recording. That end of the recording, of course, came just a couple of seconds before the train derailed.

It also showed that 16 seconds before the end of the recording, the train's speed exceeded 100 miles an hour. They have done checks to the signals and controls and track from before the accident. They checked the mechanical inspection records up until the departure of the trip.

And NTSB officials say they found no anomalies in those records. They also did a track inspection. They say a geometry vehicle drove over the section of the track before the day before this trip and found no anomalies.

They also checked some of the signals around this junction of the track. Not all of them, but they have checked some of the signals and so far, they have found no anomalies -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Brian, thank you for that. Friends and former colleagues of Engineer Brandon Bostian are speaking out in his defense. Xavier Bishop worked with Bostian as his flagman. He doesn't work for Amtrak anymore.

Bishop describes Bostian during that time as extremely conscientious. He tells CNN's Drew Griffin, he never saw Bostian take a drink, use a cell phone or drive a train when he wasn't ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

XAVIER BISHOP, FORMER CO-WORKER OF BRANDON BOSTIAN: Great engineer, I mean, he was on point. If there was something he didn't know, he knew who to call to get information. He didn't come off as I know it all or he knew everything.

He knew what he needed to know and if he wasn't sure about it or wasn't 100 percent sure, he would call and make sure he got the proper information. He wasn't going to do anything or assume something would happen. He was always thorough.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: You mention, we all know this speed. We know the trip and we know the route. You know that that curve is coming up. You know you are leaving Philly and you have to go slow for a little while. What I can't understand then is how can this guy who you traveled with on the tracks many times have gone into the situation so hot?

BISHOP: Again, that's the million dollar question. To be honest with you, I'm going based on the person that I know. I'm not going to sit there and say that we can't make mistakes. We don't make mistakes. We're human. We all make mistakes, but, you know, for something like this, I don't know. It just not enough pieces that is puzzle for me like something just doesn't seem right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Amtrak facing already the first in what is likely to be a series of lawsuits. Amtrak's dispatcher, Bruce Philips, an Amtrak dispatcher was riding as a passenger when he was violently hurled inside the compartment before being slammed to the floor.

That's what his attorneys say. Philips is hospitalized with a concussion, brain traumas, and spinal injuries. His attorney is accusing Amtrak of gross negligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MYERS, ATTORNEY FOR BRUCE PHILIPS: Anytime that a train is operating twice the speed of the restricted speed in that area, this just isn't negligence, this is way beyond what any train can be doing at any time. This is horrendous especially you have to remember the train is going into a curve. So you're speeding up going into a curve instead of slowing down going into a curve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There are likely to be many lawsuits, no question, but the total payout for lawsuits against Amtrak in anyone accident is capped by law at $200 million, capped by law to protect American taxpayers, who ultimately are the ones who have to pay the bill.

[05:40:02] A political battle enraging over infrastructure spending, yesterday, President Obama said the U.S. needs to invest more infrastructure and not just when a bridge collapses or a train derails.

But House Speaker John Boehner tore into a reporter who asked him about Democrats linking Amtrak's funding to that crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Are you really going to ask such a stupid question? Listen, you know, they started this yesterday. It's all about funding. Well, obviously it's not about funding. The train was going twice the speed limit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to reduce grants to Amtrak by 15 percent.

Sad news breaking overnight from Las Vegas, the thrill is gone. Legendary blues artist, BB King, who inspired a generation of musicians, has died.

(VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Singer songwriter, one of the world's great guitar players and vocalists. King won 15 Grammy awards including one for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted in both the rock and roll and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. His attorney says King died in his sleep in his home in Las Vegas. B.B. King was 89 and up until recently, he has been performing a hundred live shows a year, unbelievable.

All right, a new message from the leader of ISIS calling for new attacks. We have those details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:08]

ROMANS: ISIS releasing new audio trying to show the world its leader is very much alive and very much in charge. CNN's Arabic speakers have listened to this recording. They say the voice on this recording does indeed sound like Abu Bakr Al-Bagdadi.

I want to go to Beirut now. I want to bring in CNN senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, there had been so much speculation, maybe unfounded, but a lot of speculation and chatter that this guy had been injured by shrapnel in a drone strike.

He was being tended to 24/7 by a team of Iraqi doctors and maybe his grip on power was slipping. This looks like an attempt to show he is still alive and still in charge.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Importantly, though, those reports never really found much traction with U.S. officials when asked about them or western officials you asked. No smoking gun there.

What is interesting, not like the last one he put out, have a particularly concrete specific date verifiable reference. The previous one referenced extra advisers being sent by the White House to Iraq.

You could tell it had to be made in the past week. This one refers to the Saudi Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen. It is very large on rhetoric. It's large on calling recruits to fight for ISIS where they are in the homeland or come to Iraq and Syria and fight with them.

It is lengthy. A lot of rhetorical flourishes within it, but no particularly juicy content that lets you to understand exactly when it must have been made and that is key because there has been a lot of speculation that Baghadi was wounded.

Unverified and then suggestions by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense claiming they'd actually taken out his successor in an air strike in the past 72 hours or so.

Despite that growing narrative of the degradation of the ISIS leadership, the message they put out doesn't do particularly well in confirming that he is physically in good condition or necessarily giving it to reference to show when it was necessarily made.

So a complex message they put out and I think one that doesn't answer the questions. That is actually what is more interesting than the content -- Christine.

ROMANS: Interesting. All right, Nick Paton Walsh for us in Beirut this morning. Thanks, Nick, for breaking that down for us.

Blues legend B.B. King has died overnight. We are taking a look at the legacy he leaves behind and the sad news from Las Vegas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:51:18]

ROMANS: Music fans around the world waking to sad news this morning, blues legend B.B. King has died at the age of 89 in his sleep at home in Las Vegas. CNN's Stephanie Elam has a look back at his 60-year career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard to imagine the blues without B.B. King. The legendary blues man released over 50 albums with hit songs such as "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Let The Good Times Roll."

Born Riley B. King in Mississippi, he worked as a tractor driver in the cotton fields before embarking on his musical career. He began recording in the 1940s and became known as Blues Boy King and then more simply B.B. King.

In 1956, at the height of his popularity, he played an astonishing 342 one-night stands. He continued a rigorous touring schedule into his 80s. King's persistence and passion for the blues paid off winning 15 Grammys.

B.B. KING: It feels very, very good to go on stage whether you win a Grammy or not.

ELAM: Throughout the years, King worked with various artists like rockers U2 on the song "When Love Comes To Town" and with Eric Clapton on the album "Riding with the King."

KING: You get a chance to learn a lot of great things from people that have so much going for them today.

ELAM: In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. He was rarely seen without his faithful Gibson guitar, Lucille. The gifted guitarist became the first blues musician to be honored with the Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

President George W. Bush also honored King in 2006 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his musical contributions. King's health was sometimes a concern since he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in his early 60s.

In 2012, President Obama hosted a concert celebrating blues music. B.B. King was one of the featured performers.

ELAM: With a career spanning over 50 years, B.B. King let the good times roll.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:25]

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning, a good end to the week so far. European and Asian stocks are mostly higher so are U.S. stock futures. Yesterday, the S&P 500, a record, climbed 1.1 percent to close at record high. Dow and Nasdaq both within striking distance of highs as well. Stocks had been in a holding pattern for months. They got reasons to move higher.

What's the first stock most people buy when they open an account? Apple, that's according to TD Ameritrade. After Apple, stock picks vary by generation. Millennials are likely to invest in tech companies. Facebook is the second most popular and also Tesla and Alibaba. Investors over 35, pick GE, AT&T, Intel, and Johnson & Johnson are in the top ten.

It's 58 minutes past the hour, a U.S. military helicopter missing in earthquake ravished Nepal has been found. Those sad new developments, "NEW DAY" picks it up right now.