Koresh Had the Means to Save Scores of People, Official Says

HOUSTON —  Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh could have saved the scores of people who died with him in the fire that consumed his Texas compound if he had let them flee through a tunnel to an open pit, an arson investigator said Friday.

The cult members inside the central Texas compound near Waco would have had adequate air supplies and could have walked upright through the underground tunnel, said Paul Gray, a member of the national arson response team sent to the compound.

“I do believe that a person could have survived the fire” inside the tunnel, Gray said. “I could speculate that there was ample room in the open pit area for everybody to have gotten into.”

Gray said it was doubtful that anyone escaped because they would have been captured at barricades set up by federal agents.

More than 70 people died in the April 19 fire that federal officials claim was started by cult members. It ended the 51-day standoff with hundreds of law enforcement officials.

Koresh’s remains have not been identified among the corpses found so far, a state official said in Waco, responding to a news report that investigators could have found his remains.

CBS-TV and radio quoted sources as saying investigators had found what could be the body of Koresh because of its placement near objects that belonged to the cult leader.