Basement Explosion Rocks Small Baptist Church In Pennsylvania
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: At the half hour, here a look at what's happening right now. While thousands protest the investigation, officials today announced several arrests in connection with the Madrid train bombings. Three Morrocans and 2 Indians are being held. Investigators say a telephone calling card and a cell phone link the suspects to Thursday's attacks. The bombings killed 200 commuters and injured more than 1500 others. Mourners at a funeral for stampede victims in northeastern Syria turned violent today. Hundreds of people started rioting, shouting anti-government slogans, and setting fires. Witnesses say police fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd. And crews in Maryland continue searching for three passengers still missing after their water taxi capsized one week ago. Investigators say the pontoon boat flipped in Baltimore's Inner Harbor during a sudden storm. Two people pulled from the water died soon after the accident. Well, today, workers are trying to lift the submerged roof of the water taxi. Investigators say its location will help narrow the search for the missing passengers. A historic church in Pittsburgh is praying to rebuild after a devastating and deadly fire. Two firefighters were killed and more than two dozen others hurt in the blaze at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Reporter Meghan Jones with affiliate WTAE is live from the scene with the latest there -- Meghan?</s>MEGHAN JONES, WTAE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I actually witnessed the collapse. I was standing about where I am right now whenever the bell tower came down. And if you can see behind me, it took with it the wooden gables and also a lot of the bricks from the side of the building. Now whenever that loud crash occurred on the sidewalk, all you could hear were people running and screaming, trying to get to the injured firefighters.</s>MEGHAN JONES, WTAE NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the moment the walls came down, it was immediately apparent that people had been hurt.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of a sudden, the side of the building just came -- started coming down. We started yelling for the firefighters to get out the way and they started looking up and the bricks just fell down on them.</s>JONES: Paramedics and firefighters scrambled to help those injured, as more pieces came down. Paramedics carried injured firefighters away from the building, fearing more of the building would fall.</s>J.T. THOMAS, WITNESS: It was devastating and people reacting to it, because quite a few people were here on the premises, you know, watching it.</s>JONES: So many people, many of them church members, saw their church on fire, then witnessed the horrible crash. Then came news that two firefighters were missing inside the building, presumably buried under the rubble. Rescue crews asked parishioners for help in finding out how to get them out.</s>ROGER TRAVIS, CHURCH MEMBER: What it is, it's part of a vestibule entrance, where there is a stairwell that goes downstairs to the basement where we used to have Sunday school. In all probability, the steps are gone. So if the steps are gone, then they're going to have to lift them up out of there.</s>JONES: Both of the firefighters were found on the basement floor in the vestibule area of the church. Now fire officials say at the time they were fighting the fire, they had no idea the bell tower was not stable. And, in fact, the fire is still burning. And they will have to work into the evening here to put that out. Live in Pittsburgh, I'm Meghan Jones. Now back to you.</s>LIN: Thanks, Meghan. We're turning to presidential politics next, hitting the airwaves. We're going to find out how the latest negative ads will affect the race for the White House.