Sunday Morning News

College Basketball Players Killed in Plane Crash

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A memorial service comes later this day after tragedy strikes the Oklahoma State University basketball program. The team was returning home from a game in Colorado when one of three chartered planes crashed outside Denver. All 10 people aboard that plane perished, including players Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson. Also killed, a team trainer, other staff members, and the team's radio broadcasters, as well as the two pilots.

Aviation investigators are at the crash site east of Denver in Byers, Colorado. The team was returning home to Stillwater after dropping a game to the University of Colorado. OSU head coach Eddie Sutton and other players and staffers were aboard the two other planes. They returned safely to campus.

The twin-engine turboprop burst into flames when it crashed into a field. Emergency crews say wreckage was scattered for a quarter mile.

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LARRY PEARSON, EYEWITNESS: You could hear the RPMs of the engine go down, and then it'd come up. And then at the end, you -- it powered up like it was going all it could go. And then it crashed.

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O'BRIEN: Investigators will be looking for the plane's flight data recorders, they immediately weren't located yesterday.

Joining us on the line is the person you just heard from on tape, Larry Pearson, who was an eyewitness to that crash.

Larry, just take us through exactly what you saw and heard.

PEARSON: We heard the plane -- it sounded like the engines were cutting out, and it was real shrill sound, and it was getting real close. And then all of a sudden there was a big ball of fire. Never did see the actual -- see the plane.

O'BRIEN: Could -- Mr. Pearson, if you could just -- when you say the engines sounded like they were cutting out, was it intermittent, or did they completely stop, or was it -- did it sound like they were revving and still running them nevertheless?

PEARSON: They were revving and still running. They never did completely stop.

O'BRIEN: All right. And what did you see after that?

PEARSON: Just a big ball of fire.

O'BRIEN: All right. And did you get the sense that that plane was in flames while still in the air, or did the fire come subsequent to the impact?

PEARSON: It came at the impact.

O'BRIEN: All right. And just -- you know, give us a sense of how long that flight might have lasted. And I know it was immediately after takeoff. Do you have any sense of that?

PEARSON: No, I don't have any idea.

O'BRIEN: All right. That's Larry Pearson on the line with us from the Colorado area, Byers, Colorado, where that crash occurred.

And once again, federal investigators on the way to that scene, beginning that process of the investigation. CNN crews on the way as well. As soon as we hear from them and can get a live report from that area, we'll bring it to you.

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