CBS Evening News open - 1999-05-09
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] News Channel 5.
[0:01] >> A Mother's Day tragedy. A charter bus
[0:03] accident in New Orleans kills more than
[0:05] 20 passengers. The US embassy in Beijing
[0:08] under attack in a wave of protests of
[0:10] the Belgrade bombing. Chinese officials
[0:12] are demanding answers after a tour of
[0:14] their bombed out embassy. And Oklahoma
[0:16] worshippers finding comfort without a
[0:18] church after last week's tornadoes.
[0:22] This is the CBS Evening News
[0:26] with John Roberts.
[0:29] And good evening. John Roberts is on
[0:31] assignment in Belgrade tonight. I'm Russ
[0:32] Mitchell. A sad end to a Mother's Day
[0:34] outing today in New Orleans. More than
[0:36] 20 are dead after their bus headed for a
[0:39] day of fun veered off a highway and
[0:41] crashed. Tonight, police are still
[0:43] looking for solid answers. Jeffrey
[0:45] Kaufman has the story.
[0:47] It was a gambling excursion to the
[0:49] Mississippi coast on what should have
[0:50] been the happiest of days, a Mother's
[0:52] Day group that included eight members of
[0:54] one family. 46 on board. It was early in
[0:58] the ride when the bus skitted across
[0:59] three lanes of traffic, plunging into a
[1:01] 20ft gully. At least 21 people were
[1:04] killed.
[1:05] >> It was horrible. It was horrible. And
[1:07] the front of the bus was all crashed in.
[1:10] People were hanging out and crying for
[1:11] help. So my husband started breaking
[1:14] windows trying to get people out. New
[1:16] Orleans has never seen a highway
[1:17] accident this bad.
[1:19] >> There were many, many good Samaritans on
[1:22] the road who, when they saw what
[1:25] happened, didn't hesitate.
[1:29] They jumped out of their vehicles and
[1:31] they went to work in an effort to try to
[1:33] save lives.
[1:35] >> The injured were taken to four area
[1:37] hospitals. The local trauma unit went on
[1:39] full alert.
[1:39] >> We're not sure how many that we're
[1:41] treating here are going to make it. So,
[1:43] we we've got some very very badly
[1:45] injured people, and the fact that
[1:47] they're elderly uh doesn't help at all.
[1:50] >> Among the survivors is the driver, who
[1:52] told hospital staff his last memory was
[1:54] swerving to avoid a car that cut him
[1:56] off. The impact of the crash was so
[1:58] powerful that it took rescuers 4 hours
[2:00] to remove all the bodies. Jeffrey
[2:02] Kaufman, CBS News, New York.
[2:05] >> In China, the US embassy remains under
[2:07] attack by angry demonstrators following
[2:09] NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in
[2:11] Belgrade. The situation has become
[2:13] dangerous enough for the US State
[2:15] Department to issue an advisory
[2:17] cautioning Americans against travel to
[2:19] China. Barry Peterson reports.
[2:23] >> It was one of the most violent attacks
[2:25] on a foreign embassy in more than three
[2:27] decades. Thousands of protesters, some
[2:30] hurling rocks, demonstrating outside the
[2:32] US embassy and nearby counselor section.
[2:35] A few even trying to get onto the
[2:37] embassy grounds. Ambassador James Sasser
[2:39] reached inside the embassy said he was
[2:41] concerned about the direction the
[2:43] protest may be taking.
[2:45] >> We haven't been able to leave and
[2:47] frankly we don't see any end uh to this
[2:50] in sight in the short term. Uh it could
[2:53] go on for a number of days.
[2:57] >> There were angry signs and ugly chants.
[3:00] Kill Americans and get out American
[3:02] pigs. Others brought pictures of the
[3:04] Chinese diplomats killed in Belgrade.
[3:08] All Chinese should express our feelings,
[3:10] said this protester. We Chinese cannot
[3:12] be pushed around. We would rather die
[3:15] standing then live lying down. Police
[3:17] finally moved in with force to protect
[3:19] the embassy. But in this tightly
[3:21] controlled society, a protest like this
[3:23] can