Summary

TAPE_NUMBER: EF00/1053 IN_TIME: 18:54:58 // 19:03:19 LENGTH: 01:35 SOURCES: Shots 1-4 = ABC, 5-6, 8-10 = APTN, 7 = AP Stills RESTRICTIONS: FEED: VARIOUS (THE ABOVE TIME-CODE IS TIME-OF-DAY) SCRIPT: English/Nat XFA U-S officials say at least nine people have survived an apparent hijacking of a sea plane from Cuba which ditched into the ocean southwest of Florida. Nine survivors and one dead body were picked up by a merchant ship. There is speculation that the plane may have been attempting to reach the U-S. U-S officials say nine survivors have been rescued from a hijacked Cuban plane that went down about 270 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Key West, Florida on Tuesday. One body has also been recovered. A search and rescue operation was launched at about 1300 G-M-T when Cuban officials alerted their U-S counterparts that the plane was flying north from the island and was lost from their radar. During a Department of Defence briefing on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley got word that the survivors had been found. SOUNDBITE: (English) "There is a merchant ship alongside the wreckage of the aircraft 180 miles south of Key West. There are reports of 10 people recovered, one dead and nine alive. Coast Guard assets are enroute and I don't have anything further at this point." SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesman The Coast Guard said the survivors were being picked up from the Chios Dream by Coast Guard helicopters and were to be flown to Key West for medical treatment. Earlier, U-S military aircraft detected an emergency beacon after the Russian-made Antonov A-N-2 float plane with as many as 18 people aboard was reported down in international waters, according to the White House. There was no immediate explanation for the differences in the numbers of people aboard or of the circumstances leading to the crash. Only scant details had been available to U-S officials. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The aircraft was a Cuban A-N 2 Colt that took off at 0845 this morning from Pinar del Rioo. At nine-o'clock Havana Centre reportedly lost contact with the aircraft and called the Miami Center of the F-A-A (Federal Aviation Administration) and reported a hijacking was in progress." SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesman Jose Zavala, a shift supervisor at Cuba's Institute of Civil Aeronautics in Havana, said the plane was used for agricultural work but declined to provide any other details. A similar aircraft was stolen by its pilot and four other Cubans and flown to Miami on June 19, 1991. That plane landed safely at Miami International Airport, directed in by air traffic controllers who had both radar and radio contact with the pilot after he began his flight to Florida. SHOTLIST: Opa Locka, Florida and Arlington, Virginia, USA - September 19, 2000 Opa Locka, Florida - ABC 1. Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter takes off from airfield 2. Aerial of helicopters preparing to take off 3. Aerial of helicopter refueling 4. Aerial of helicopters Arlington, Virginia - APTN 5. Wide shot of Department of Defence briefing 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesman AP Stills 7. Stills of an Antonov AN-2 Arlington, Virginia - APTN 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon Spokesman 9. Cutaway 10. Wide shot Quigley presser?