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American Morning
Sharon Gravely Ill; Tragedy at Sago Mine; Civilians Targeted
Aired January 05, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Soledad O'Brien.
A driving force in the Middle East in a fight for his life this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is gravely ill after suffering another stroke. We're live in Jerusalem on this developing story.
Plus, another story breaking overnight in Iraq. For the second day in a row, dozens of Iraqi civilians are targeted, then killed. We've got a live report just ahead.
Good morning -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
Miles O'Brien reporting live from the Sago Mine Number One. A dramatic apology here yesterday from the president of the mine. State and federal investigations under way, was the mining company in any way to blame for the deaths of 12 miners?
And the sole survivor, Randy McCloy, 27 years old, is in critical condition still this morning, but doing much better on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. We're going to get right back to Miles at the Sago Mine in just a few moments.
First, though, our developing story out of Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in grave condition. He's had a massive stroke. If he does not survive, if he is debilitated, Middle East politics could easily be thrown into turmoil. Sharon also was on the verge of a re-election victory.
Let's get right to Guy Raz. He's live for us in Jerusalem this morning.
Guy, good morning.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The vigil outside this Jerusalem hospital continues now some 14 hours after the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was admitted here overnight after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the hours tick on, doctors say the prognosis doesn't look good. Israel's legendary survivor, Ariel Sharon, may finally have met his match.
Early Thursday, the prime minister underwent a second surgery to drain blood from his brain at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Neurologists say the likelihood he'll emerge the same is low. His chances of dying are high.
But though deeply infirm, the 77-year-old man clings to life, his doctors say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister Sharon is in a severe condition. He is stable. All his signs, blood pressure and pulse, are within normal limits, but his condition is severe.
RAZ: Elsewhere in Jerusalem, the machinery of government continues to function, at least that's the impression Mr. Sharon's leaderless Cabinet wants to give. The man in charge now, Ehud Olmert, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister and Sharon's close confidant.
This is a difficult situation, Olmert conceded, but the country will withstand the upheaval.
No one is publicly talking about life without Sharon yet, but everyone is thinking about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And, Soledad, everyone is watching this hospital ward behind me, waiting, some praying that really the last living historic leader in this region pulls through -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, not only in Jerusalem, around the nation here, and certainly around the world. What happens, Guy, if he dies? What's the plan?
RAZ: Well it would be unprecedented, of course, in Israeli history for this kind of situation to take place. But essentially the deputy prime minister will assume the position of prime minister, essentially a caretaker prime minister, for 100 days, after which time, according to the Israeli basic law, the Israeli public must go to the polls to elect a new government -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Guy Raz for us reporting from Jerusalem.
Guy, thanks a lot for that update.
And of course we're going to continue to follow Sharon's condition throughout the morning and the rest of the day.
Let's get right back to Miles. He's in Sago, West Virginia. Some developments to tell you about in this mining tragedy that we have been following for days.
Miles, good morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad. Yes, those state and federal investigations are under way. And there's more reason to believe this morning that possibly lightning might have triggered that explosion which three days ago initially caused those 13 miners to be trapped. Very strong bolts of lightning recorded immediately around the area where I'm standing, right on top of the Sago Mine Number One.
The emotions still running very high here after that dramatic night where, for a period of time, people here thought 12 of the 13 miners were alive, only to have those hopes so tragically dashed all because of a miscommunication.
As we have been analyzing how it all happened, basically you have to understand this, communication from underground to the surface is not a simple thing. It's like a game of operator, a series of relays by LAN lines all the way up to the surface.
Somehow from the point at which they discovered the miners to the surface, the message got confused, confused in a tragic way, that the 12 were in fact alive. That was put on a public address system, heard by several workers nearby. Cell phones came out. Phones were made to that Baptist church, where all the families had gathered to console each other, and off went this rumor which spread like wildfire.
Here is the rub, though, the company knew about 40 minutes after that bad public address announcement that it was not true, that in fact there were probably 12 of them dead, although they weren't certain of that point at that point. But nevertheless, they did not allow that enthusiasm to be dampened. They didn't tell people just hang on one minute, we're trying to get our facts straight.
And that set the stage for the president of this mine company to offer a dramatic apology yesterday to the people of this community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN HATFIELD, CEO, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: We sincerely regret the manner in which the events unfolded early this morning. The occurrences at the Sago Mine over the past couple of days are truly a great tragedy. It is unfortunate. And we are saddened by the fact that the communication problems we experienced last night only added to the terrible tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Once again, the Sago Baptist Church last night, about a half a mile from where I stand here at the mine, was the center of emotion, the center of the community. The night before it was triumph, followed by anger and recriminations. Last night it was a somber mood as people lit candles, sang hymns and began the process of grieving for those lost miners.
CNN's Adaora Udoji has more on how this community is reacting on the day after.
Adaora, good morning. ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
It's actually eerily quiet here at the Baptist church just up the street from where you are at the mine. This Baptist church that became the center, the 24 hour center, for this very small and rural community. It was a center of hope and grieving, as you said, and also outrage. Last night it was prayers when they held a vigil in honor of the 12 miners who perished.
The deaths now, Miles, are all too real and so is the anger. Anger at the mining company for leading the families to believe, at least for a short time, that their loved ones were still alive. Many are furious, including Anne Merideth who lost her father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNE MERIDETH, LOST FATHER IN MINE: Start right now. They need to know what's going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did they say to you in there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Hey, come on.
MERIDETH: Mixed communications is what they are blaming it on. Mixed communication. Can you guys figure that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back across the line, now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they tell you what -- did they tell you...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's happening?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No explanation?
MERIDETH: We're sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: None?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None.
MERIDETH: Mixed communication. We're sorry. But we will tell you the name of the survivor. My dad was not one of them. I was told first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had everybody up there believing they were all alive except for one.
MERIDETH: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) UDOJI: And, Miles, as you ride up the road towards the mine, you see all sorts of signs outside of businesses sending their prayers to the miners' families. And also Governor Joe Manchin has ordered that all state flags be lowered to half-staff, at least until the last miner is buried -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Adaora Udoji is at the Sago Baptist Church this morning.
As I stopped to get some coffee at a convenience store, all the people there had black ribbons, wearing them on their nametags. A lot of black ribbons in evidence as well all throughout this area.
Now the sole survivor, 27-year-old Randy McCloy, described by his friends as a person in great physical condition, more likely to have a glass of milk than a soda pop. That might have saved his life. This morning he is in critical yet stable condition in Morgantown. That's about an hour-and-a-half drive from where we stand right now. He has damage to several of his organs, according to his doctors, basically because of dehydration and being immobile for such a long period of time.
He is sedated. He remains on a ventilator, a breathing apparatus. Part of the reason for that was he had a partially collapsed lung. That lung has apparently inflated and he is doing better. He has responded to requests from his doctor to squeeze his hand, has looked at his wife and exchanged facial expressions. He can't talk because he's on that ventilator.
But here's the good news, Soledad, all early indications are no brain damage, truly an amazing story of survival -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I know, and really, really good news to report.
We're going to be talking, by the way, to his mom in our 7:30 half-hour. Looking forward to hearing what she has to say. She must be very, very grateful, obviously, for his survival.
Miles, thanks. We'll get back to you in just a little bit.
We want to turn to Iraq now, news to report from there, unfortunately, it is not good news. Insurgents stepping up their attacks on Iraqi civilians. The past two days alone, about a hundred people have been killed. And this was the scene this morning, at least 40 people dead in a suicide attack in Karbala.
Michael Holmes is live for us in Baghdad this morning.
Michael, good morning. Can you give us some details on this attack?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you, Soledad. Yes, this spike in violence that has occurred after what was really a fairly peaceful election continues.
Now Karbala, you may remember, is one of the holiest cities, perhaps the holiest city, along with Najaf, in all of Iraq. This suicide bomber detonated his explosives along a pedestrian walkway, a mall that runs between the Imam Hussien and the Imam Abbas holy shrines. Two of the holiest places in Shi'a Islam in all of Iraq.
As you said, latest reports, at least 40 people have been killed in that attack and dozens of others wounded. We spoke to hospital officials who said there were literally overwhelmed by this. Thursday is an important day for the faithful here. Many people would have been in that area heading along to pray and to pay their respects.
The area still closed off. Police still investigating. Karbala is about 50 miles or so south of Baghdad. And you may remember it was a fairly peaceful place for the last year or so. But about a year and a half ago, 2004, March (ph), a hundred people were killed in an attack there.
Now that wasn't the only place where there was violence, Soledad. Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a place you might be familiar with as somewhere where there is routine violence, if you like. It was another suicide bomber detonated himself as up to a thousand potential police recruits were lining up for a screening process. At this stage no confirmed numbers on casualties, but there are, we're told, casualties -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We'll get more information on that, too.
Michael Holmes for us this morning. Thanks, Michael, for the update.
Time to take a check of forecast at 11 minutes past the hour.
Guess who's back -- Chad Myers.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Chad Myers, I like saying that. Hey, welcome back, man. We missed you.
MYERS: You know I was playing a little Mr. Mom and my wife wanted her job back, so.
S. O'BRIEN: How is that baby?
MYERS: He's 13 months old. He can say hat, cat, dog. He knows what hot is. It's kind of an experience, really, you know.
S. O'BRIEN: He's not doing calculus yet? My babies are doing something.
MYERS: He can do ditsy Q (ph), but he can't -- he skipped right over calculus.
S. O'BRIEN: We missed you. It's nice to have you back.
MYERS: Thank you. It's great to be back. Great to have you here with us as well. Great to be back with a full crew. (WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, and it feels like it has been, doesn't it?
MYERS: Yes, for me.
S. O'BRIEN: Right, Chad, thanks a lot.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we're following this developing story out of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffering a massive stroke. He's in intensive care right now. How serious is the situation? We're going to follow up on that ahead -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead, emotions ran high, once again, at the Sago Baptist Church as they lit candles, sang hymns and began grieving for those lost miners. We'll talk to the miner who organized that rally and ask him what it's going to be like to go back underground again.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. You're taking a look at some live pictures from Jerusalem this morning. This is the Hadassah Medical Center. Inside, Ariel Sharon is in intensive care. He is recovering, struggling, really, for his life. His situation is said to be dire after he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. More on this story this morning, much more, and other stories, too, making news as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Let's get right to Kelly Wallace. She's got that.
Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And we're picking up right with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. His health crisis has thrown the country into political uncertainty. The 77-year-old Israeli leader underwent nine hours of brain surgery following a massive stroke. His illness could leave a vacuum in the leadership post for the political party he formed late last year. Elections are set for March. We will have another live report from Jerusalem and get reaction to Sharon's illness from the White House later on here on AMERICAN MORNING.
The only survivor of that coal mining accident in West Virginia has medical problems involving his organs. Twenty-six-year-old Randy McCloy Jr. is in critical but stable condition. The doctors treating him say -- doctor treating him, excuse me, say not -- says not having enough oxygen in his body led to these problems. Meantime, a candlelight vigil was held at Sago Baptist Church last night for the 12 miners killed in the accident. In just about an hour, Miles will speak with a member of the medical team treating McCloy.
In Iraq, a staggering death toll after a suicide bombing overnight near two Shi'a shrines in Karbala. At least 40 people were killed in the attack, dozens more wounded. It happened just about four hours ago in a pedestrian mall and shopping area between the shrines. Karbala is about 50 miles south of Baghdad. And this bombing coming on the heels of another deadly day on Wednesday when at least 44 people were killed in separate attacks.
Iraq will be the focus of talks at the White House this morning, but the cast of characters will read like a who's who list of past administrations. President Bush has invited former secretaries of state and defense to discuss his plan for victory in Iraq and the challenges that remain. This, one day after he got a briefing from top commanders at the Pentagon.
Some of today's guests will include Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, and Colin Powell, the president's first Secretary of State. The White House says this is all part of a broader effort for outreach on Iraq.
And former "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel is coming back to television, but instead of ABC, you'll find him on the Discovery Channel. The 65-year-old Koppel plans to make documentaries. He's also snagged his top producer and eight other former "Nightline" staffers to join him. His first program is due out next fall.
And it's time for me to say, Chad Myers, we missed you. Welcome back -- Chad.
MYERS: Kelly. Kelly.
WALLACE: Yes.
MYERS: Very good. It was nice to be gone though I will have to admit.
WALLACE: I bet.
MYERS: It's nice to be back, but it was nicer to be gone.
WALLACE: I know, but you were working hard just at different hours of the day, right?
MYERS: I was. I was.
WALLACE: Exactly.
MYERS: I was working 12 hours, actually from like 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
WALLACE: Exactly. MYERS: Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad. We'll check in with you later.
Business news now, three automakers, the big three, probably very happy to say goodbye to 2005.
Carrie Lee has got that.
Good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a good year for them, Soledad, not a good December either, the last month of the year. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, the U.S. unit of DaimlerChrysler, all saw December sales fall, GM and Ford especially.
So take a look at the numbers here. Now Chrysler for 2005 did actually see sales up 5 percent, but GM and Ford saw a sales decline for the entire year as well. And what's really disturbing here is we know recently SUV and pickup sales have done well. They have been the bright spot within these auto reports. Well at least for December, even SUV and light truck sales did see declines. And this is continuing as Toyota and Honda continue to gain ground. Toyota saw its market share up almost 18 percent for 2005.
Now a couple of bright spots within the General Motors report. First of all, the Chevrolet brand did edge past Ford's Ford unit to become the U.S. best selling brand for the first time since 1986. So a little bit of a bright spot there. Also in China, GM may have unseated Volkswagen as the best selling brand there. So a couple of bright spots.
But still the bigger picture here, U.S. automakers just have to start to try to gain ground against the Japanese rivals...
S. O'BRIEN: Kind of not doing it. Kind of a bitter pill when you see their declines and Toyota up so much and so significantly. It's very tough.
LEE: Exactly, and a lot of questions about the survivability of General Motors and Ford.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: We know Ford is going to announce its big restructuring in January and we're going to see a lot of job cuts.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, no question.
All right, Carrie Lee, thank you for the update.
LEE: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back out to Miles at the Sago Mine this morning.
Hey -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Hey, Soledad.
A couple of investigations underway this morning, state and federal, into what happened here, what caused that explosion. And also why there was such horrible miscommunication in the wake of all of this. Yesterday we heard from the president of the mine company with a dramatic apology. We'll have details on what went so horribly wrong in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, live from the Sago Mine Number One in West Virginia. A couple of investigations underway this morning, federal and state, and they'll be looking into the root cause of that accident a couple of days ago, three days ago now, when those miners were trapped because of an explosion.
Among the things they're going to be looking at is a really bad electrical storm in the area at the time, thunderstorm with severe lightning strikes. Some very strong lightning strikes right near the center of the mine at the time of that explosion. Could there be a link there?
Also, they will be looking into the mine's safety record. The number of violations in recent years had gone up, but in recent months it had been under new ownership. And there is some reason to believe that the new ownership had in fact made some corrections.
Also, the subject and the focus of those investigations, that horrible case of miscommunication, that miserable three hours when people here were led to believe that their loved ones were alive when in fact they weren't. A lot of this has to do with miscommunication. But then when the bad information got out, it wasn't corrected in a timely way.
Let's see what the president of the mine has to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATFIELD: We made what we believed to be the best decisions based on the information available while working under extreme stress and physical exhaustion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Mine company President Ben Hatfield at a loss to explain what went so horribly wrong, why families had to wait three hours to learn 12 mines were in fact dead, not alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MERIDETH: This is not even right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Hatfield says it started when information was relayed by rescue teams from underground to the surface. By the time the information got to a speaker in the command center, it was clearly wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATFIELD: And you have a desperate group of people that have been on their feet for anywhere from 30 to 40 hours trying to save lives, and they were looking desperately for good information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The false information quickly spread by cell phone to relatives at the Sago Baptist Church, despite what the mining officials say were explicit instructions to keep it under wraps.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENE KITTS, SR. VP., INTL. COAL GROUP: My management went to everyone, every office, every place and said this is something that we cannot release until we are certain of facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The first contradictory and accurate report arrived 45 minutes later at the command post, but the company waited two hours before confirming the death toll and delivering the grim news to the stunned families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATFIELD: In the process of being cautious, we allowed the jubilation to go on longer than it should have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Federal mine safety officials are now investigating not only the cause of the mine disaster but also the tragic miscommunication.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATFIELD: In hindsight, all I could do -- have done differently is personally have gone to the church and say there is conflicting information. Please, let's just hold where we are and we'll give you more information when we have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Interestingly, this happens in the midst of a coal boom. As a matter of fact, in West Virginia and Kentucky alone mining companies say they need to hire about 4,600 miners. And many of these companies today are concerned it will be difficult to recruit new miners given what has happened here at the Sago Mine Number One.
Coming up, we'll take you back to that Sago Baptist Church. Last night, once again, an outpouring of emotion there. We'll talk to the miner who organized that emotional rally and we'll ask him what it's going to be like for he and the other miners to get back to work.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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