- Title: USA: BABY FOUND ALIVE IN HOME STRUCK BY BOEING 727.
- Date: 11th July 1982
- Summary: USA: New Orleans; SV PULL BACK TO GV Rescue workers at crash scene 0.07 GV/GV PANS Wrecked building, with rescue workers sifting through rubble (6 shots) 0.31 LV ZOOM INTO GV Fuselage among house debris 0.37 GV/GV ZOOM INTO SV Rescue workers moving with body bags and stretchers as firemen spray wreckage with foam (2 shots) 0.51 GV/GV ZOOM INTO SVs Burnt-out cars along road and parts of wreck on and around houses (3 shots) 1.03
- Embargoed: 26th July 1982 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa, Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Accidents,General
- Reuters ID: LVAC83L09PEV80ZJW3MO6SDK7XGY
- Story Text: KENNER, NEAR NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, USA
In New Orleans, rescue workers have been searching for survivors through the debris of suburban homes devastated when a Pan American jet aircraft crashed into them, killing at least 152 people. The Boeing 727 crashed in the suburb of Kenner two minutes after take-off from New Orleans International Airport. A four-block area was devastated, with at least 14 houses destroyed, and chunks of fuselage scattered on rooftops. The 138 passengers, and the crew of seven died; seven people on the ground also perished. Rescuers found 16-month-old Melissa Trahan alive in the burning wreckage of her home. Her mother and sister died; her father was away at work. Sheriff's deputy Gerald Hibbs described how he discovered the baby after hearing a faint cry. Dr. Gustavo Colon said Melissa, thought suffering second degree burns on her feet and fingers of her left hand, was in satisfactory condition. Lieutenant Mike Demma said a number of bodies had been found close together, as if passengers had been clawing for a way out. Early speculations that the crash was caused by lightning were discounted. As relatives of victims telephoned the airport and the Kenner City Hall for information, residents such as Mrs. Pauline Carter mourned their own and their neighbours' dead, in the third serious civil aviation accident in the United States this year.
<strong>Source: REUTERS NEW YORK/NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY INCORPORATED</strong>
TRANSCRIPTS: HIBBS SPEAKING AT SEQ. 7: "A mattress and a carpet, (indistinct) at first I thought it was an illusion. I looked again, and I said give me a hand, I have something moving under here. And then, (indistinct) we found the bag, and there was a girl, on her stomach, trying to push up, trying to get up. I said: 'She's alive. It's a baby.' I said: 'Get me a doctor.'"
DR. GUSTAVO COLON AT SEQ. 8: "She's taking it pretty well, I think for a child who was found three hours under there after the accident, under the rubble. She's, I'm sure she's quite scared, and she's a little bit apprehensive, but otherwise she's doing well."
MIKE DEMMA AT SEQ. 11: "The majority of those bodies that were found between eight o'clock this morning and ten o'clock, the majority were close. close, a proximity of a 20-foot circle. Looked like they were on top of each other. It appeared they may have on top of each other. It appeared they may have been looking for a way to get out."
MRS PAULINE CARTER AT SEQ. 16: "That little girl across the street, she's had three babies, oh, it's sad."
InitialsJS/BB
EDITORS' NOTE: COMMENTARY BY JACK REYNOLDS AND ROBIN LLOYD OF NBC NEWS IS AVAILABLE.
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