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CNN Live Saturday
Two Trapped Miners Fond Dead in West Virginia; Evo Morales Sworn in as President of Bolivia; Search Continues for Kidnapped Journalist in Iraq; Fishing Industry Hit Hard in New Orleans
Aired January 21, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're following a developing story this hour. The search for two miners trapped by an underground fire in West Virginia. Plus, winter in Russia. Temperatures are 22 degrees below zero. And there's no end in sight to this deep freeze.
And then a real-life drama on the high seas. What was supposed to be the race of a lifetime turned into a race against death.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All of that and more after this of the today's headlines.
Insurgents launched a string of attacks across Iraq in the last 24 hours including one that killed two U.S. marines west of Baghdad. The marines were in engaged in combat operations when they were killed by a suicide car bomb.
Hefty sanction against Los Angeles. A federal judge ordered the city to pay the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. more than $1 million in legal costs. The ruling Friday came after the judge found that evidence about his death had been concealed during the family's civil lawsuit.
A wayward whale the focus of much drama in London today. The race it save the animal that got lost in the Thames River ended in tragedy. Rescuers were ferrying it aboard a barge back to the ocean but the whale's health deteriorated and it died. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Up first this hour, no contact in West Virginia. There's an eerie quiet inside of a mine where two men have been trapped since Thursday. It's not what rescue workers, rather, had been hoping for. But they are making some progress. Advancing inside the mine. CNN's Chris Huntington is in Melville. Chris?
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, good afternoon. It's been nearly 48 hours since Don Bragg, 33 years old, and Ellery Elvis Hatfield, 47 years old, went missing after that fire that erupted Thursday afternoon. A fire, we're told that was caused by a conveyor belt. Typical of all mines. Big conveyor mines bring the coal out. A lot of friction in those things and it caught on fire.
The fire has become the ongoing problem hampering somewhat the rescue efforts. The fire's described to be about the size of six football fields. If you can believe that. Underground. Some of the coal has ignited. And the word from the mine official, get back and forth being able to contain it. The latest word is that the believe they have it under control and the air quality is improving substantially in the mine and that's helping rescue teams.
There are now about 35 rescuers underground in the mine. About 10 are monitoring the fire. The other 25 or so are actively searching. Now, the last briefing we got, gave a very detailed description of where they're concentrating their search efforts and we're go to show you a clip from that. And what you are going to see is a close-up on a map. Keep in mind here the vast differences we're talking about underground. On this map one inch equals 400 feet. These rescuers are searching one shaft area. One corridor in the mine in the mine that itself is about a mile long. Here's how it was described a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're coming at it from both ends. We've got the teams up here that have started down in and we've had a team that came in from the lower side. One rescue team that has made it all the way up to the lower end of the panel and started up inside of the panel. So we're hitting number 10 panel from both directions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTINGTON: Now keep in mind, these are two sets of rescue teams operating at opposite ends of a series of corridors and shaftways about a mile in length. So an awful lot of territory to cover. And again, they are encountering various pockets of smoke and debris that are hampering those efforts. So for the two miners still missing, Don Bragg as I mentioned 33 years old. Fifteen years in the mining business, five years in this mine in particular the Aracoma mine. Ellery, known as Elvis Hatfield, 47 years old. He had 12 years of mining experience and again, five years in this mine in particular. The rescuers are still very much characterizing this as a search and rescue operation. They're still hopeful. One of the benefits of being a big mine is that there are quite likely pockets of safe breathable air where these guys could have retreated to and that's indeed what everybody is hoping for.
Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: And in fact, Chris, officials had mentioned earlier, they were happy it take note that there was a lowering of the carbon monoxide being present in that area. How significant is that?
HUNTINGTON: That's very significant, Fredricka, because the carbon monoxide levels as recently as about 12 hours ago had still been at essentially fatal levels. That meant the rescuers had to work with breathing apparatus on them. The levels now, and I won't get into the specific numbers. But levels are just about down to what is considered ambient safe levels in a mine. And that means it could be close to the time when the rescuers can, at least in some of those corridors, work without breathing air. Which means they can spend more time down there and probably move a lot more rapidly. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Huntington, thank you very much so much from Melville, West Virginia.
Well, news of this second West Virginia mine accident comes as the Bush administration examines conditions underground. The federal agency in charge of mine safety is taking a new look at proposals that were set aside when President Bush took office. Among them, better oxygen packs for miners and extra ones stored underground and also under review, whether special rescue chambers could serve as safe havens for trapped miners until help arrives.
Well, now to Iraq. And new efforts to free Jill Carroll. Kidnappers snatched the U.S. journalist from the streets of Baghdad earlier this month. They're keeping quiet today. The terrorists are, as a U.S. Muslim group appeals for her release. CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is now four days since the tape of Jill Carroll was aired on the al Jazeera television network. More than two weeks since she was kidnapped after trying to get an interview with the senior Sunni politician. Today, new word on Jill Carroll's fate but we are told there has been plenty of activity in Baghdad with talks between various groups going on. Religious and political. Also more calls for Jill Carroll to be released.
The latest from the Council on American Islamic Relations, a delegation specifically flying here to Baghdad. A spokesman saying releasing Carroll would show to the world that Muslims are a caring people. Now the Iraqi Justice Ministry is reiterating its position that the release of six Iraqi women held by the U.S. on suspicion. Insurgent-related activity should go ahead. Now the U.S. says, it is going through normal procedures related to processing those women's cases.
But nothing's going to be done as a result of the kidnapper's demands that all Iraqi prisoners held by the U.S. be freed. Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The abduction of Jill Carroll is a stark reminder of the dangers journalists face in Iraq. Here's a quick look at the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: At least 60 journalists have been killed while working in Iraq since the war began in 2003. That's more than any other conflict since 1981. According to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The number of journalists killed in the Vietnam War was only slightly more.
The Freedom Forum says 66 journalists were killed in that conflict between 1955 and 1975. In Iraq, most of the journalists were killed as a result of insurgent activity. Though the Committee to Protect Journalists says 13 died as a result of U.S. fire. The deaths occurred in the crossfire of war, suicide bombings, or targeted killing, or just through being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Kidnapping is also a major danger for journalists in Iraq. At least 36 journalists have been abducted and held for some period of time since 2004. The first to have been killed by his kidnappers was Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. He was abducted and killed in August of 2004. At least five other abducted journalists have been killed since then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And another quick note on Iraq. The army has inked a contract with a provider in California to rush additional body armor to troops in the field. The order comes in the wake of a Pentagon finding that dozens of troops who died in iraq might have lived if they had side plating. A spokesman says the army is planning to place orders for close to a quarter million side plating sets, which restricts soldier's mobility but may become required nonetheless.
Don't do it again, that's the message from Pakistan to the United States in the wake of an attack apparently aimed at al Qaeda. Pakistan's president says his country still supports the war on terror, but he says the u.s. Must not repeat air strikes like the one eight days ago near the Afghan Pakistani border. It killed 18 people, possibly including some top al Qaeda operatives. Thousands of Pakistanis have taken to the streets to protest that attack. Pakistan has also lodged a protest with the U.S. over the air strike.
Well, talk about cold weather, it's literally freezing in Russia. Straight ahead, trying to keep warm in Moscow.
And a cameraman becomes part of the story when he pulls a passenger out of a burning car.
And later, two friends stuck out at sea. The story of their amazing rescue straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Washington will be watching closely as Bolivia's new president is sworn into office tomorrow. A pre inauguration ceremony was held for Evo Morales today at an ancient temple, Bolivia's first elected Indian president asked Andean gods for help and guidance.
The former leader of Bolivia's coca leaf farmers has vowed to halt the U.S. sponsored coca eradication program. The leaves are used to make cocaine but Morales says they also have traditional legal uses. He once promised to be Washington's nightmare but in an interview CNN's Lucia Newman, Morales struck a more conciliatory tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVO MORALES, BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT ELECT (through translator): The U.S. ambassador and I spoke, clearly it was a tough meeting. I had the obligation to defend the sovereignty of our people. I have a mandate to do it. And he said it's time to turn a new leaf. And I said no problem. And when he said I want to maintain a dialogue with Evo, with our movement, well I'm the first to say I forgive the White House for all the accusations it made against me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Evo Morales also says he plans to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas industry.
News in our world wrap tonight, officials in Kosovo say President Ibrihim Rugova has died. The 61-year-old leader was diagnosed with lung cancer in September. The scholar turned politician had become a symbol of the struggle by ethnic Albanians for independence from Serbia. UN mediated talks between Serbs and Albanians have now been postponed until next month.
The Vatican's Swiss Guards are celebrating a remarkable anniversary. For 500 years they have protected the pope. There will be a special mass in the chapel tomorrow. The guards will line up in St. Peter's Square where Pope Benedict XVI will bless them.
In Russia, people paid tribute to Vladimir Lenin at the Kremlin. Today is the 82nd anniversary of the death of the communist leader who founded the Soviet Union. Lenin's body is in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square.
Now Russia's deep freeze. The Moscow Weather Service predicted today it may be the start of February before temperatures climb above zero. And that's zero Fahrenheit. Dozens of people have died nationwide. Five more last night in the capital. Everywhere. People are shivering. CNN's Matthew Chance reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the kind of deep cold a few extra blankets won't keep out especially for pensioners like Valentina and her disabled husband. But in their village outside Moscow the low temperatures have ruptured pipes. They are heating house bricks on the stove to make portal radiators. It's the only way for hundreds there to keep warm.
"Thank goodness we have gas," she says. "If we didn't have any gas or water in the pump I couldn't heat up anything." This is life in Russia's deep freeze. Gripped by its worst winter in decades. Temperatures in the capital have dipped below minus 30 degrees centigrade or minus 22 Fahrenheit for fourth consecutive night. As heaters are switched on all day, officials say demand for electricity is at its highest ever. Fueling concerns, Russia's crumbling infrastructure could crash. And even with power, for many Russian, used to cold weather, this is a grueling test. Like for Bakhtiar (ph), who lives his living outdoors.
"I can take," it he says, "but it's really cold. To be honest, I have never felt this cold in my life."
"A lot of people were dismissed from work," says Nikolai. "It's too cold to commute especially if you live far away." But the arctic conditions are far more than just an inconvenience. Especially for Russia's thousands of homeless. In Moscow, shelters are filled with those who might otherwise freeze to death on the streets. Already this winter, more than 120 have died from exposure. Every frigid night claims more.
(on camera): Well, the icy winds have picked up and I can tell you, it is bitterly cold out here. Tonight, my face has already gone very numb and it's starting to hurt. It's physically painful just being out in this weather for a few minutes let alone all day and all night. Russia of course is well accustomed to cold weather. But this is one of the longest sustained periods of such bitter cold since records began.
(voice-over): And forecasters predict low temperatures next week, too. Russia's deep freeze shows little sign of easing. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, clearly typical cold and snowy weather can get you down. Straight ahead, we'll tell you why a certain day of this week is being considered a very down day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, feeling a little down this winter, you wouldn't be alone. These dark cold months can be a tough time for a lot of people and may have a lot to do with the weather in fact. Many suffer from called seasonal effective disorder or SAD. But Christy Feig reports there are ways to cheer up the winter blues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As he has for last 21 years, Neal Owens starts his day with 20 minutes of light therapy. That's because he suffers from seasonal effective disorder or SAD, a less severe form is called "Winter Blues."
NEAL OWENS, SAD PATIENT: It's like you're weighted down. It's almost as if your brain batteries are running out of juice. You're lethargic. You just don't want to do much. You find that it's a chore to get out of bed in the morning.
FEIG: Owens is not alone. Millions of Americans feel the same way this time of year. It's a type of depression that strikes most people during the fall and winter months only. Up to 80 percent of those affected are women and it's called, experts say, by a chemical imbalance in the brain due to a lack of sunlight.
DR. NORMAL ROSENTHAL, AUTHOR, "WINTER BLUES": The light is providing us with certain chemical changes in the brain. And when we take that away, in susceptible people, the changes are not occurring and you then get the whole cascade of symptoms.
FEIG: Those symptoms can be mild, fatigue, low energy, oversleeping, craving for carbohydrates and sweets. Or very debilitating.
ROSENTHAL: In severe cases, people can seasonal effective disorder can be disabled. Unable to work. Unable to keep their commitments to other people. Depressed, even suicidal.
FEIG: Reporter: but there are a number of effective treatments available. Light therapy, early morning exposure to bright light is effective. And doctors say exercising, modifying your diet, psychotherapy, and in some cases antidepressants can help you work through those dark and difficult days. I'm Christy Feig reporting from Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, the most difficult for months for people with winter blues are often January and February. But there's one day in particular that stands out. Researchers tell us that it's January 24th, which is this coming Tuesday, as the most depressing day of the year. Kathleen Hall of the Stress Institute is one those researchers and she's the author of this book as well, "A Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness." and she's with us right now here in Atlanta. Good to see you, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN HALL, AUTHOR, "A LIFE IN BALANCE": Hi, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, a lot of folks feel depressed or kind of blue. But when do you know it is a clinical depression versus something a little more benign, something like this, SAD?
HALL: Absolutely. You'll find that seasonal affective disorder will emerge about November, December. And it will usually subside. It's spring. When it gets lighter.
WHITFIELD: How does it pop up? As simple I don't want to get out of bed?
HALL: There you go. You can think about the things you love to do, eat. Are you putting on weight? How about sleep? Are you sleeping too long? Is your sleep interrupted? Sex? How is your sexual behavior?
Also, I say a good thing is ask your friends or listen to your co- workers. They are really good indicators because depression is insidious. Lots of times we don't know we're sinking into it but our friends and our co-workers will help us out. I call it the buddy system.
WHITFIELD: Well, when it's as simple as not wanting to get out of bed, a lot of folks would associate that with, it is snuggly and warm in the sheets. I just don't want to get out because I am comfortable with where I am. So how do you know it's not as simple as that as opposed to people thinking, it is something much more serious?
HALL: Well, if you think it is serious and self-deprecating feeling, suicide and really not showing up for work and it could have some serious consequences in your relationship, and your family, you suggest you go either to your physician or go to a psychologist for an evaluation.
WHITFIELD: And some of the treatments aren't necessarily as extreme as getting real medicinal, prescriptions, et cetera. It can be a little bit more, I guess docile, right? What are some of the avenues besides the light treatment that we saw?
HALL: Exactly. The American Psychiatric Association recommends stress management practices which is what I do. So I have a program that I call SELF care, that's an acronym, SCLF, call S for stress, serenity. So all you have to do is something as simple as listen to music for two minutes. It increases your serotonin. If you start singing you get an immune boost 240 percent.
WHITFIELD: E is exercise.
HALL: E for exercise. In your office. Bring some weights. Sit there and pick up your weight and it increases your bone density.
WHITFIELD: L.
HALL: L is love. Make sure you schedule. Email a friend, Monday, Wednesday Friday and have friends with lunch twice a week.
WHITFIELD: That's nice. And F?
HALL: F is Food. Make sure you eat omega-3 fatty acids, which is fish. If you don't like fish, take a gram of fish oil. Or you can eat B6s which is anything from mangoes, bananas, tuna sandwich.
WHITFIELD: Now, are there other things that make or I guess all of these thing that converge that makes January 24th, this upcoming Tuesday, stand out. It's not just the weather outside or it's gloomy. There are other things that come into play as well.
HALL: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Whether it is bills from the holidays ...
HALL: One is weather. We do have less light. It changes our melatonin our body. Second is our debt. We've got our Christmas bills. Eighty percent of Americans overspend during Christmas. So between January the 10th and 15th, we have got our bills in a reality check. New Year's resolution is interesting enough. The first week of January you're excited. Second week you are bargaining, like I was going to quit coming to. And then the third week, we really feel like a failure.
WHITFIELD: Oh.
HALL: It's very interesting. Those things all converged. Plus my theory is, I have seen enough clients in patients for two decades. There's so much overstimulation of the senses during December, food family, friend, excitement, music.
WHITFIELD: That's a lot of pressure.
HALL: Yeah, December turns quiet. What am I doing? Disorientation.
WHITFIELD: Kathleen Hall, the book is "Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness." Thanks so much.
HALL: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And of course we are all now looking toward Tuesday. Kind of energized knowing how to take that day which could potentially be a very sad day for a lot of us. All right, Kathleen, thanks so much.
HALL: Take care.
WHITFIELD: Well, is it safe to eat fish from Louisiana? Environmental quality officials say, yes it is. Ahead a check on the Gulf Coast fishing industry.
And later, imagine being torn from your parents and held by Saddam Hussein's henchmen. That story of this young lady straight ahead.
Also, why she and her family support the U.S. involvement in Iraq. CNN LIVE SATURDAY continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening in the news. Mine officials in West Virginia report progress in containing underground fire that has hampered efforts to find two trapped miners. The miners were named today as Don Bragg and Ellery "Elvis" Hatfield. Hope of survival hinges on whether they found an air pocket underground.
New York City commuters have cause to fear another transit strike. By the smallest of margin, transit workers rejected the tentative contract that ended the strike that halted buses and trains last month. With more than 20,000 workers casting ballots,the agreement failed by a near seven votes.
The whale the world was pulling for died this afternoon despite London's best efforts to save it. The ailing mammal that wandered up the Thames was being taken by barge to open sea when it suffered a series of fatal convulsions. The body is to undergo some tests now.
Tackling fresh concerns about rebuilding Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco is among those attending dozens of gatherings in cities across The South discussing recovery efforts.
The FEMA sponsored forums are designed to let Katrina evacuees have a say in rebuilding plans. Their biggest concern today? The desire for stronger levees. Evacuees are also worried about finding affordable housing. Louisiana expects to receive between eight and 11 billion dollars from the federal government for rebuilding.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is on the defensive. He admits making a mistake in a controversial King Day speech in which he suggested that the Katrina disaster was retribution from God.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I'm african-American, OK? Just to kind of put that out there. It's part of our culture to talk about chocolate cities. You know, D.C. was the first chocolate city that ever came on the map. Newark, Detroit, New Orleans.
So for me the vernacular of saying chocolate city was not a big deal. I have used that in speeches for three and half years now and I have even used it on Capitol Hill. I didn't really think it was a big deal. Where I crossed the line was bringing God into the whole, you know, discussion. And that's where I kind of zoned out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, Nagin says when he walks through New Orleans, it's still depressing, even after months of recovery efforts and he adds that despite of what you see on T.V., it doesn't adequately define the scope of the rebuilding challenges the city still faces.
Hurricane Katrina not only destroyed much of New Orleans, it also nearly destroyed its fishing industry. Did you know that 25 percent of the nation's seafood is from Louisiana? CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano went out on Lake Pontchartrain for a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to follow you all to the spot.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Chris Piehler and his crew most mornings since Hurricane Katrina. Heading out onto Lake Pontchartrain. They will find fish --
CHRIS PIEHLER, DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: Spotted sea turtle.
MARCIANO: -- and test them for toxins and bacteria. But they don't expect to find much.
Piehler's team from the Department of Environmental Quality has tested 487 fish samples and more than 600 water samples and has not found any chemical contaminants.
PIEHLER: We didn't see anything of any concern. Metals, pesticides, PCBs or otherwise.
MARCIANO: That might surprise some people, after seeing vivid pictures like this. Dirty water being pumped out of New Orleans and back into Lake Pontchartrain.
Piehler says the dirty water quickly disbursed in the lake.
You're telling me that the fish caught in Lake Pontchartrain, the fish caught in the Gulf of Mexico is safe?
PIEHLER: Absolutely.
MARCIANO: Environmentalists agree. Sounds like good news, right? Well, not so fast. The seafood may be safe. PIEHLER: Beautiful fish.
MARCIANO: But he fishermen have another problem. Many still don't have boats.
PIEHLER: Piles of bricks.
MARCIANO: Pete Gerica has been fishing Bayou Savage most of his life. He calls the day Katrina hit, the day hell visited Louisiana.
PETE GERICA : Sheets and sheets and sheets of rain, but you couldn't even look this way because it was so hard a rain. If you looked this way, it would sting your eyes and stuff.
MARCIANO: Gerica , his daughter and his mother rode out the storm in a tree. The tree is still standing, but not much else.
GERICA : My bigger boat was this one here that's on the side here. It's got a big hole in the bottom, it's split in half on the bottom. You know, it's all in pieces now.
MARCIANO: Louisiana fishermen like Gerica are stranded all over the state and fighting huge obstacles. Gerica gives us a tour.
GERICA : There's stuff sunk in the middle of the pass there, so you can't get in and out.
MARCIANO: Many of the canals are clogged with sunken boats and other debris, all ready to snare fishing boats or their fragile nets. And for the few who do catch something, there's yet another hurdle.
(ON CAMERA): Scenes like this. Demolished fishing boats line the bayous of Louisiana. But even if your vote was lucky enough to survive Katrina, it doesn't mean you're in business. There's no place left to sell your fish. This used to be a huge dock where fishermen would come and unload their catch. The dock's gone, as is the processing plant. The fishing industry here in Louisiana is crippled.
There's no easy way to get fish from boats to restaurants and supermarkets.
GERICA : In the back here was a two-story building, which was the crab shed, where we sold our crabs. It's gone.
MARCIANO: If you even had a big catch of crab, you got nowhere to bring it to?
GERICA : Well, I'd have to take and call somebody in town and have them truck them to someplace else. And so you're going to get less money.
MARCIANO: Right.
GERICA : Bottom line, you're going to get less money.
MARCIANO: The cost of doing business has gone way up. GERICA : It's gone way up.
HARLON PEARCE, HARLON'S LOUISIANA FISH: As the tides come and go.
MARCIANO: Harlon Pearce is a seafood processor. He warns that if the docks aren't rebuilt soon, the nation's seafood supply could dry up.
PEARCE: 81 percent of the shrimp caught in this country come from Louisiana; 40 percent of the crabs caught in this country come from Louisiana. This country is heavily dependent on what Louisiana does. But without Louisiana, this country's seafood is going to suffer. It's going to hurt.
MARCIANO: For fishermen like Gerica , quitting is not an option.
GERICA : We all got saltwater in our veins. You can't take us away from the water. We'd be miserable.
MARCIANO: It could be the only thing keeping fishermen from being miserable, is knowing that saltwater is clean.
Rob Marciano, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFILED: Poor pluto. After all these years, some in the know are now saying it may not be a plantet. We investigate straight ahead.
CNN LIVE SATURDAY will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Saddam Hussein is accused of unspeakable cruelty in Iraq. Among the many stories of lives ended, ruined or interrupted because of the dictator comes this one. A family torn apart. A child abducted and a reunion against all odds. Here's CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: She was just two years old when she was kidnapped by saddam hussein's henchmen.
GELAWISH MERANI, FORMER KURDISH REFUGEE: You have no freedom. Of just, you know, living with nothing.
MALVEAUX: Thrown into a prison camp with her grandparents and other Kurdish refugees.
MERANI: Of course it was really hard living with no parents. No brother. No sister. Not ever seen them.
MALVEAUX: In 1973, Gelawish's father, Mikail Dosky was a Kurdish army general who was targeted by Saddam's regime. Saddam's forces burned down the family house and warned Dosky if he ever tried to rescue his daughter, he would be killed.
MIKAIL DOSKY, GELAWISH'S FATHER: It was very, very sad because the children is part of your heart.
MALVEAUX: Dosky fled to the United States with the remaining family, but early on was able to sneak a message to his young daughter.
MERANI: I spoke to my parents, maybe a couple times, on the phone. But I memorized their phone number here in Alexandria.
MALVEAUX: Sixteen years passed and just when Gelawish thought she would never talk to his young daughter.
MERANI: I spoke to my parents maybe a couple times on the phone. But I memorized their phone number here in Alexandria.
MALVEAUX: Sixteen years passed and just when Gelawish thought she would never escape, her life took a dramatic turn -- 1991, the beginning of the Persian Gulf War. The U.S. bombed Baghdad forcing Gelawish and other Kurds to flee to Turkey. At a refugee camp there, she met an American soldier who would deliver the message she had memorized since she was three years old.
MERANI: ... and I wrote the phone number of my parents in Alexandria down and I went to a translator and I told him, can you tell him to call this phone number and tell him that I am at the Turkish refugee camp and I'm alive.
MALVEAUX: Two weeks later, Gelawish's father got the message and showed up at the camp to reunite after 16 years.
MERANI: So I, you know, ran to him. We hugged and cried and just a big relief. Just happiness. Just, you know, kind of complete.
MALVEAUX: When the 18-year-old Gelawish arrived in Washington, D.C., she was pinned with an American flag and greeted by her mother and siblings she'd never known. Gelawish's story was so compelling it caught the eye of the president, then George H.W. Bush. Gelawish and her father returned to the White House at the invitation of Mr. Bush's son.
MALVEAUX (on camera): So you have now two presidents under your belt and.
MERANI: Oh yes.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Part of a group invited to show support for this president's toppling of Saddam Hussein. Gelawish rejects what some skeptics have suggested, that they are merely props for a White House photo-op.
MERANI: It's not a stage. These stories happened. These things happened and Saddam did all of this. If it wasn't for President Bush, his father, I would never be reunited. I would be lost like so many other kids that never got to see their parents.
MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Wow. Yes that is pretty compelling.
A few minutes away, Carol Lin steps in, passing the baton over. What's on tap?
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're -- we might be expecting some breaking news in the next couple of hours, so asking everybody to stay posted on whether there is any developments in the miner's rescue but also a couple if compelling stories. One, how long does it take for you to clean off your desk, do you think?
WHITFIELD: Have you seen my desk? It hasn't been cleaned. That's the problem.
LIN: Take a guess, an hour, two hours. You know, for most of us you go through the bills.
WHITFIELD: It's been weeks. It looks bad.
LIN: Imagine being so obsessively compulsive that it could take you, say, two hours, five hours to go through your sock drawer. There are people out there like this. So Elizabeth Cohen has a terrific look at the new obsessive compulsion in our society.
And then at 6:00, if you don't want to take all of those sort of chemical-driven drugs for flu prevention or even when you're sick, we have some natural remedies, some things you can do and eat that can ward off the flu, at least according to this expert.
WHITFIELD: Always like to hear the homeopathic solutions or suggestions, some would say.
LIN: That's at 6:00, you bet.
WHITFIELD: All right, look forward to that. Thanks a lot, Carol.
LIN: Thanks.
WHITFIELD: Well, we want to take note of an interesting passing this week. Joe Smith was the writer of obituaries for the "Washington Post." Our Gary Nurenberg now with the look at Joe Smith's very patterned life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Smith was dying when he made this tape.
JOE SMITH, WASHINGTON POST: It's going to happen to me, it's going to happen to all of us. NURENBERG: But he wasn't dead yet.
J. SMITH: What I did was write obituaries about famous people who were not dead yet, so that we would be ready. For example, the pope.
PETER SMITH, JOE SMITH'S BROTHER: He was drawn to the contradictions. And John Paul, he's a complicated person. He liked complicated people.
NURENBERG: Smith wrote pope John Paul II was, quote, "a defender of the faith who insisted that the church confront the sins of its past to prepare for the third millennium."
J.Y. Smith became the obituary editor at the "Washington Post" in 1977 and helped revolutionize obits. Readers got the facts, comfortable or not.
ADAM BERNSTEIN, WASHINGTON POST: He felt very strongly about presenting the news as it was.
NURENBERG: Adam Bernstein wrote Joe Smith's obituary this week, the facts, comfortable or not, about Smith's earlier fight with alcoholism.
BERNSTEIN: It wasn't just a former editor who died, it was an editor who struggled.
P. SMITH: He would have loved it. He would have loved the candor.
ALANA BARANICK, CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: That's my favorite. Rule number one, make sure they're dead.
NURENBERG: Alana Baranick has published a guide for obituary writers.
BARANICK: The obituary should be celebrating the life and not dwelling on the death.
CAROLYN GILBERT, INTL. ASSN. OF OBITUARISTS: People in general don't really realize how important the obituary is.
NURENBERG: Caroline Gilbert founded the International Association of Obituarists.
GILBERT: It's the ultimate short story, so it requires every aspect of good writing that would be for an epic novel.
NURENBERG: Adam Bernstein, who lives next to a cemetery, knows getting the facts is hard.
BERNSTEIN: I start from a perspective that nobody's honest with me about their relatives. And I work from there.
NURENBERG: One man's family told Baranick he was a former Ohio Supreme Court justice. The real story came from a friend.
BARANICK: He said, well, you see, about 13 years ago, he met this young lady and he wanted to impress her. And then he ended up marrying the woman and the woman said, well, he was an Ohio Supreme Court justice. She didn't doubt it.
NURENBERG: What should her obituary say?
BARANICK : She wrote stories about thousands of people she wished she had known.
NURENBERG: Joe Smith would probably have liked that line too.
Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A St. Louis man is alive thanks to some quick- thinking good Samaritans. Corey Abernathy's car burst into flames yesterday after he lost control of the vehicle and it slammed into a building. Photographer Bobby Hughes with CNN affiliate KTVI happened to be at the right place at the right time. He helped pull Abernathy to safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY HUGHES, KTVI PHOTOGRAPHER: I've been shooting news so long that camera's part of my body now. So I didn't even realize that, you know, that it was rolling. And my first thought was to get the guy away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Abernathy remains hospitalized. A passenger who was in the car also survived.
And now out of Melville, West Virginia, we expect an update on what is being called a rescue operation in the search for two miners who were separated from another 10 a couple days ago.
Our Chris Huntington is in Melville, West Virginia, and what's the expectation, Chris?
WHITFIELD: Fredricka, the expectation right now is not for good news. We are expecting a press conference any minute now. I can tell you that there are knowledgeable sources, but unofficial sources, who are talking about the kind of news that, frankly, we don't want to have to report.
But, again, no official word with regard to Don Bragg, 33 years old and Ellery, known as "Elvis" Hatfield, 47. These are the two miners who have been missing in the Aracoma Mine since Thursday afternoon at 5:30, almost 48 hours. We're now going to that press conference live. UNIDENTIFIED: ... briefing us throughout this effort, as well as Jessie Cole with the District Miners Safety & Health Administration offices in Mount Hope, West Virginia. And at this time, I want to let you know what our format's going to be. There won't be a question and answer period.
Simply Doug and Jessie will provide you with the latest briefing and provide you with the information that we have as we end the day. After they conclude, again, we will not have questions and answers. We will have about a 10-minute period and then have comments, again, without a question-and-answer period from West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, United States Senator Jay Rockefeller, and United States Congressman Nick Joe Rahall.
And with that, I will turn it over to Doug Conway (ph). Doug.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike will tell you we found the two miners that we were looking for for the past 40-some hours. Unfortunately we don't have a positive outcome. From our efforts. But we did find the two miners near the fire area that was on the beltline.
And what appears to us is that when they were separated from the other crew members, who were on the man trip, the other 10 went on out and it appears right now that the two miners were trying to make a valiant effort. They were together. Trying to get outside. And they encountered pretty high temperatures in high sealed levels from the fire level.
We weren't able to get in this area due to the heat and the firefighting that was taking place for some time. As we'd discussed earlier, we were able to cool the fire down. And as we were able to do that, we were able to move in closer and examine the areas around the fire area. And that's -- that's when we found the two miners that we're looking for. Jes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were found immediately in by the fire area. Ther would have been heavy smoke and high CO. So it was very, very short for the periods of time that they were in there. And the mine rescue teams made a valiant effort to locate these folks.
It was not until that area cooled off that we could travel and still had to travel under apparatus in that area. And that's when we found them after we had fire pretty much extinguished until it had cooled down. And they were both located close together when we found them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I want to reiterate on behalf of a grateful state and a grateful nation who's watched the events unfold over the past 40 plus hours, how much we truly appreciate the efforts of the brave men who risked their lives to try to reach these trapped miners.
Again, our hearts go out to the families as we are now in a full support mode, providing support to these families who need us at this time and will continue to need us in the coming days, weeks, and months. Again, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin will be briefing us as well as United States Senator Jay Rockefeller. The United States Congressmen Nick Joe Rayhall. That will be occurring a little after 5:00 p.m. A little after the top of the hour.
Again, that will not be a question-and-answer session. Simply brief statements from Senator Rockefeller and Congressman Ray Hall. Again, thank you all for your patience and your cooperation throughout this effort. We appreciate the way that the media handled all of the requests that we had made for you to respect the privacy of the families, and we would ask you to continue to respect the privacy of the families as they leave here this evening and go and begin the long grieving process with the support of all of West Virginia and all of the nation behind them at this time. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, once again, sad news for a second time in three weeks out of West Virginia. The news being that the two miners that they had been searching for for more than 40 hours now outside of Melville, West Virginia, have been found. They apparently were located in an area where rescue crews were unable to get to immediately because of the heat.
But once the conditions cooled, they were able to locate these two miners. The3-year-old Don Israel Bragg as well as 47-year-old Ellery "Elvis" Hatfield. Our Chris Huntington is there and has been following the developments for a long while now.
Chris, we've been hearing from the mining officials with the state. Earlier we heard from the West Virginia governor as well as. All of them holding out hope. They had explained that this was a very challenging operation because of the ongoing fire.
While they had contained it, they were having a difficult time being able to get to the search area. We're going to try and reestablish some communication with Chris when we're able it get him. But these were the challenges that lied ahead for the rescue teams.
They had separate teams, one team that would try to contain this fire from the initial explosion and then once they were able to contain that, they had another team that was able to go into this mining area to try to drop down any kind of communication to find these miners and now we see from the demonstration, from Jesse Cole of the Mine Safety and Health Administration that they were able to finally locate these two.
It appeared that they had been together at the location where they were located. And we also learned from the governor earlier that these two knew each other well enough, too. And they both joined this particular mine together. Started it five years ago.
Our Chris Huntington is now with us there outside of Melville, West Virginia. And certainly, the family members and the whole mining community had been holding out hope that perhaps it would be a much more positive outcome, but certainly the odds were simply against them.
CHRIS HUNTINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, there was about half an hour ago, the first rumblings that we got on the ground here that this news was apparently going to come out.
We heard it directly from one of the other miners who had managed to escape. But again because of the nature of this story, because of what we learned in Sago, we wanted to be very careful.
The tragic scene that we witnessed again about half an hour ago was family members or very close friends, can't tell you exactly who it was coming out of the church in tears. And when you realize that these two guys are fathers, husbands, and you think about who they are in their communities and the lives that they led and touched and you see all of the people who are going to have to go on without them, it really hits you.
And for anybody out there who's got kids, when you see a couple of kids in tears clutching their mother's coattails, it makes you think what this stuff is all about. We've seen now for three weeks straight in this state of West Virginia, these communities come together and have to confront these horrific situations. Situations that have dragged on for days until there is final news.
The news here, frankly all along was -- well, it was back and forth. People were very concerned, as you mentioned, about this fire. The fire of the size of six football fields on the ground. Wondered how in the world those guys could have safely gotten away from it.
Then there was hope, it was a huge mine. Maybe they could have found a safe pocket somewhere. So that was the tone back and forth over the last 48 hours or so.
But in talking with, in particular this miner, whose name we will not mention right now because he really doesn't want to be known. In talking about what he knows about what he saw down there, he said that it was just, the smoke was so thick and so black, he said you couldn't see your miner's light, these are the lights they have on their foreheads.
And he said when they got separated from the other two they couldn't understand how these guys could have survived that. In fact, Fredricka, what this gentlemen told us is when the 10 guys got to a safe passage and realized they were missing the other two, a couple of other guys went back thought passage way they safely emerged from to look for them. Obviously unsuccessfully.
So Fredricka, to recap, the most unfortunate news coming out of Melville, out of the Aracoma Mine, that Don Bragg, 33 years old, and Ellery "Elvis" Hatfield, 47 years old, both fathers, both husbands, long time miners, both five years in this particular mine were found dead not far from the fire. A fire that the rescue operators are still fighting right now. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris, thank you very much. And both them had between 12 and 15 years miningg experience overall. And that includes of course the five years experience that you were taliking about at that particular mine where they both started together.
Now Bruce Dial is a mining expert and is on the line with us right now. And Bruce, perhaps you could help us understand the kind of efforts that were underway to try to locate these two miners when you have got a fire that is still burning, even though they had contained it by today, they talked about how that had complicated their effort to try to begin the search to have their teams actually try to pinpoint where these miners were. Can you explain why that is?
BRUCE DIAL, MINING EXPERT: Yes. The teams were having to fight the fire so they could -- so they would be able to find the men because of the smoke and the heat. To get in there to fight a fire in a confined space like that is a herculaen effort.
All of the heat and the steam and the gases are coming right back on top of them as they put out the fire. So it's very difficult. But they have to do that before they can locate the men.
WHITFIELD: And also talked about, when I say they, I'm talking about the mining safety officials, earlier they talked about the roof collapsed and how the fire explosion caused a roof collapse and that was further compounding things.
DIAL: Yes, the fire itself with the coal in the mine burning, causes a weakness in the walls.
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