[Anderson Cooper, Cnn Anchor:] Good evening, everyone. Was it terrorism? No. Was it terrifying? You bet, and deadly. Tonight, the latest on the explosion that tore a chunk out of Manhattan, sent a geyser of steam and muck hundreds of feet into the air, killed at least one person, and scared the living daylights out of tens of thousands of commuters heading home from work. Also tonight, new details on the fiery crash of an airliner in Brazil, what it says about the similar airports here in America with short runways and tight approaches and not a lot of margin for error. Plus, the Senate showdown over pulling the troops out of Iraq. Lawmakers camped out, talked themselves silly, and accomplished what exactly? What about their Iraqi counterparts planning to take all of next month off while American forces fight and die? We're "Keeping Them Honest." We begin with that explosion. Here's what people saw in Midtown Manhattan at the height of rush hour today; 41st street, near Lexington Avenue, almost directly above Grand Central Terminal, a steam pike broke. A transformer exploded. The ground shook, then tore open.
[Unidentified Male:] I heard this vast explosion. The building shook a little bit. And smart particles of rocks came to our window on the 27th floor. So, then we decided we would get the hell out of there, because there was not a news flow, took the elevator downstairs. There were a lot of people in. I had one of my trainees with me. I just checked the outside. Rocks came at me. And then I dashed out with the rocks falling on me. Certain people panicked a little bit, with crying, shouting, because obviously everybody thinks of 911, a repeat of this. But now sounds like it was a transformer. But it was a very powerful explosion, possibly the most powerful explosion I ever have been so close to, because we were basically 10 yards away from it. As it came, it basically the entire ground rumbled, and you could feel it. It shook and I came downstairs and there were like people screaming and stuff. I was coming over on Park Avenue, passing Park Avenue and about a half-dozen people just laying there covered with mud and debris, and they were not being treated at all. They weren't getting any attention.
[Cooper:] CNN's Mary Snow is on the scene with the latest on what happened, the injuries, and at least one fatality. Mary, what happened?
[Mary Snow, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Anderson, you know, four hours after this happened I just want to set the scene for you you can see, these streets are just still filled with police, fire vehicles. And if you take a look around, you see some of the police officers wearing masks. You also see some workers coming out in protective gear. The latest information we have at this point, as you said, is one person has been has died of heart failure, 26 people have been injured. We know two of them at least seriously, and also three firefighters and a police officer. This is the scene right now where there's asbestos tests are going on because there's a fear that asbestos was released. And there's been an area that has been frozen off after....
[Cooper:] What caused this explosion?
[Snow:] Well, the city really thinks at this point it was a failure of these pipes that run under the city. And, of course, the first thought was that it was terrorism related. We now know, officials are saying, that it was not terrorism related. But they think that maybe cold water got into these steam pipes that run under the city.
[Cooper:] And then the steam pipe and then a transformer blew?
[Snow:] That's what happened. And these pipes are used to, you know, transport steam for things like air conditioners. They were built in 1924, so that's really the concern about the asbestos. But, when that steam pipe burst, that's when the transformer exploded. And it left a crater about 20 feet 25 feet wide in diameter and swallowed a tow truck. And the plume of smoke behind me is the Chrysler Building. It's over 70 feet 70 stories high, and some people said that the plume of steam and smoke was visible at the top of the Chrysler Building at one point.
[Cooper:] Mary snow, appreciate the reporting. As we said at the top, this all happened at rush hour in a part of town where tens of thousands of people live and work. Nick Parish is one of them. He joins us now by phone. Nick, you work just a few blocks from where this happened. What did you hear?
[Nick Parish, Witnessed Explosion:] Initially, I don't remember hearing too much, a little rumble. What we saw was the most frightening. We looked out the second floor window of our office and there were people streaming up the street with that classic looking behind them and extremely frightened look on their faces. So, at that point we left the office and got out of there.
[Cooper:] I know, initially, someone told you there had been some sort of bomb. What was the scene like when you actually went down onto the street?
[Parish:] It was it was just a deep, deep rumble, like someone had popped a hole in the Manhattan air mattress and air was just gushing out.
[Cooper:] We're looking at some of the video that you shot on our I-Report. How were other people reacting? Was it controlled? Was it obviously we saw some people running.
[Parish:] I think, at that point, everyone that had sauntered down to 41st Street, which is where this took place, had realized that this thing wasn't going to blow up again, or there wasn't going to be some sort of secondary explosion. So, they were kind of just looking on and gawking. But people were still very concerned.
[Cooper:] And how long did you stay on the scene for?
[Parish:] About 10 or 15 minutes. The police eventually pushed us back off of Third Avenue and kind of extended a cordon. But, for a little while there, they there wasn't that much of a perimeter around us.
[Cooper:] You also came, I know, across a man who said he was on a bus just when the explosion took place and right in front of the explosion. What did he say?
[Parish:] Yes. This guy was apparently on a bus behind the explosion. He said that all of the windows blew out of this bus. Everyone kind of scrambled to get off this bus. They were pushing each other, leaving all their belongings on the bus. And then the debris started raining down again on the roof of the bus. He used his briefcase it looked like he had a briefcase with him. He used that to sort of put over his head as he escaped from the bus. But his clothes were streaked with dirt. He had mud all over him. And he was pretty shaken up.
[Cooper:] Are you concerned at all, having been close to this, about any health implications?
[Parish:] No, I don't think so. It was a little bit acrid. You know, clearly, if you're working down there, you should be wearing some sort of respirator or mask. But it didn't seem that toxic.
[Cooper:] Nick, we're showing our viewers this picture of the sinkhole now with the truck inside it. It's just a remarkable view of some of the aftermath of this. Nick Parish, appreciate you coming on and talking about what you saw. Thanks, Nick.
[Parish:] You're welcome.
[Cooper:] Now the story of the fiery and deadly plane crash at Brazil's busiest airport, an airport much like a lot of destinations around this country. Tonight, investigators in Sao Paulo have recovered the so-called black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. The Brazilian government has asked the American NTSB for help analyzing them. But, already, this is being called an accident that did not have to happen at an airport that was an accident waiting to happen. More from ITV's Bill Neely.
[Bill Neely, Itn Reporter:] No one stood a chance, yet this was an inferno that so many saw coming. Of all disasters, this one was preventable. All 186 on board died when their plane skidded on landing and crashed into a three-story building. It collapsed. Up to 20 died inside. A few hundred yards away, relatives fought for information. He wants a passenger list. Most didn't need a list. This woman had come to meet her two sons, aged 12 and 17. They were on the plane. Watching it all on another plane on the same runway, a British businessman.
[Unidentified Male:] It went past us as we were waiting. It was just flames licking in the air, like probably 30 or 40 meters high. It was just bang, straight into it. And it was just a big, big, big ball of flame.
[Neely:] But it need never have happened. This runway is short, slippery and notorious. It was resurfaced weeks ago, but without the grooves that help rainwater drain and tires grip. Planes were skidding yesterday. It's Brazil's busiest airport in the very heart of its biggest city. This is 15 seconds from touchdown, high-rise buildings everywhere. And, in bad weather, the chances of catastrophe are high. A decade ago, a plane from the same airline overshot the same runway, crashing into two blocks of flats, killing 100 people. But no lessons were learned. Two hundred died here because a faulty runway was kept open. Brazil is in mourning and in fury tonight. Bill Neely, ITV News.
[Cooper:] Understandably. A bit more about the runway in question. Two smaller planes slid off that runway on Monday. So did a 737 back in March. And recently a Brazilian court tried to bar certain aircraft from using the runway, but was overruled on appeal because the danger, it was argued, did not outweigh the economic ramifications of such a ruling in other words, money over lives. There's another related factor at play, not just in Brazil, but here in America. People like their airport convenient. That means close. The question now, but does close also mean dangerous? CNN's Jason Carroll is "Keeping Them Honest."
[Jason Carroll, Cnn Correspondent:] It was Southwest Airlines' first fatal crash in the company's 35-year history, Chicago's Midway Airport, December 2005. A 737 slides off a snowy runway, plows through a fence, and clips a car. A passenger in that car, a 6-year-old boy, is killed. June 1999: An American Airlines jetliner careens past the end of a runway in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eleven passengers are killed, 86 hurt. August 2005: An Air France jet skids down the runway at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. This time, all 309 passengers and crew survive, including Rul Bramer.
[Unidentified Male:] You know, it all goes so fast, that you really haven't got much time to think. You just want to get off that plane and run away from the disaster as quickly as you can.
[Carroll:] Bramer survived the type of crash that is a persistent problem in aviation: runway overruns. It frequently happens at older airports, with runways too short to easily accommodate larger planes.
[Peter Goelz, Former National Transportation Safety Board Official:] It's absolutely not an overreaction. Air travel now is at the highest levels it's ever been. We're flying more. We're flying to different airports. These are the kinds of safety issues that ought to be addressed now, not after a tragedy has occurred.
[Carroll:] Older urban airports, like New York's La Guardia, Boston's Logan, and Burbank, California, have all had serious problems with overruns.
[Ross Aimer, Aviation Expert:] What they have to do is to set aside certain areas around the airport, the parameter, and make sure that buildings, especially tall buildings, do not encroach upon that space.
[Carroll:] So, what's the solution? "Keeping Them Honest," we asked the Federal Aviation Administration what they have done about the problem. A spokeswoman says the FAA has upgraded its safety standards. Airports built within the past 20 years are required to have 1,000 feet of buffer at the end of runways. But meeting that requirement may be nearly impossible at older airports, where buildings, or like at La Guardia, water gets in the way. In many cases, the FAA requires airports to install crushable concrete blocks at the end of runways.
[Kent Thompson, Engineer:] When an airplane runs off the end of the runway, the wheels crush the material, and, as they do that, they sink in. That produces a drag load that gradually brings the airplane to a safe stop.
[Carroll:] Nineteen U.S. airports, including Midway and Burbank, now have those blocks in place. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
[Cooper:] Well, you may not realize this, but flying is one of the safest ways to travel in America. Here's the "Raw Data." Ninety-two people were killed in plane crashes in 2000. By comparison, more than 14,000 people were killed traveling in a car; 5,870 pedestrians died in accidents. Nearly 3,000 motorcycle riders were killed, and 740 others were killed riding a bicycle. Straight ahead tonight, hear from a top Democrat who say Republicans are talking tough about Iraq, even though they know the surge isn't working. Also, outrage at Iraqi lawmakers planning to take the rest of the summer off. Your country imploding, chaos and terror growing. So, what do you do?
[Unidentified Male:] Road trip.
[Cooper:] Iraqi lawmakers taking the month off. The White House says, hey, it's hot in Baghdad. What kind of excuse is that? We're "Keeping Them Honest." Also tonight, God and politics.
[Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] This is the day the lord has made.
[Cooper:] Democrats and Republicans talking about faith. We will show you what they're saying and, more importantly, what voters are hearing from the candidates tonight on 360.