Gulf Air Crash: Debris Field Covers More Than Square Mile
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is on its way to the Middle East. The government of Bahrain has requested help in the investigation of yesterday's crash of a Gulf Air jet. All 143 people on board were killed. Their grieving relatives today begin the gruesome task of identifying them. Our Brent Sadler has just arrived on the scene in Manama, Bahrain, he is joining us now live via video phone -- Brent.</s>BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much, Daryn. Indeed, two elements from the United States taking part in assisting the Bahraini authorities in this air disaster. The crash, less than 24 hours ago, of Gulf Air 072, less than a couple miles short of Bahrain International Airport here, attempting to the land for the third time at the airport and crashing into the sea short of the runway. Crash experts from the National Transportation Safety Board are arriving here in the next few hours alongside the manufacturers of the Airbus 320, which went down, from France. And also many teams of divers from the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based here in Bahrain, have been helping not only in the recovery of bodies, 143 victims from this air crash, those bodies recovered after the first five hours into the air crash disaster, but also helping in picking up the many thousands of pieces of the aircraft, which disintegrated immediately after smashing into these Persian Gulf waters. Now I went out to the crash site a couple of hours ago and saw that the debris field covered about 1 1/2 square miles. A large area of very shallow and clear ocean. It's possible to see various sections, the largest section of the fuselage, for example, the sides of the fuselage, in one case, and the tail fin with the distinctive logo of Gulf Air on that tail fin. Also mixed in amongst the wreckage, various personal effects from victims. The important pieces, the most important pieces of salvage recovered so far are the two recorders: the black box so-called flight data recorder; and within the past three hours or so, the cockpit voice recorder. Those two pieces of equipment going to be obviously fundamental to the air crash inquiry which U.S. official experts will be taking part in. But as yet here, no real indication of what happened to cause the Gulf airliner to go down with all those people on board, killing 135 passengers and eight crew. Most of them, Egyptians and Bahrainis, more than 100 Egyptians on their way here right now to take part in the grim process of identification. Back to you, Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Brent Sadler, bringing out the latest from Bahrain, thank you.