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Authorities Investigate Deadly Tiger Attack; 13-Year-old Girl Survives Plane Crash
Aired December 26, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I -- I personally have gone by that -- you know, by her former exhibits on a number of occasions.
I have never seen her down in that lower moat area. I only saw her up above. She usually was laying around, sunning herself. Did not see her pacing. She seemed to be very well adjusted into that exhibit. None of my staff was around yesterday when this happened. So, I really don't have a firsthand account of what actually transpired.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK. All right. That is the press conference there happening in San Francisco. You see all the reporters chasing the police chief there and also the director of the San Francisco Zoo.
The new information we have gotten from this is that they have now deemed this a crime scene. They're looking at a criminal investigation. And they said it's -- it's just precautionary that they do this, to see if there was any human involvement to this tiger, this Siberian tiger, getting out. Tatiana is her name, and was also involved in a mauling of a zoo worker last year.
One of the question, why wasn't she put down? And they said during the press conference she wasn't put down because after that attack and during the attack, she was acting normally. That's what a tiger would normally do, protect their food.
And all of the information we have been telling you before about this attack still the same, except they're updating the media on exactly what they know and what they have put into place and what they did after the attack in order to subdue this tiger and also to get the people to safety.
OK. We're going to continue to follow that.
And also we're going to move on and talk about these new pictures coming out of Panama. This is a crash scene. It is our other top story here on CNN. This is pictures of the little girl, 13-year-old girl, who was rescued from a plane crash in Panama in a volcanic area. That plane went down on Sunday night.
And then they found the plane and the folks on the plane, the survivor, on Christmas, and gave the word to the 13-year-old's parents that they had found her.
The mother of the Francesca Lewis -- she's the 13-year-old -- has traveled to Panama to be with her daughter. Valerie Lewis is her name. She spoke with us just a very short time ago right here in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERY LEWIS, MOTHER OF PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Yes, that's right. It's very tragic that the others didn't survive.
LEMON: Yes. How is she doing? How is Francesca doing?
V. LEWIS: She's doing all right. She's having tests done at the hospital right now. And, so far, things seem good.
LEMON: Yes.
V. LEWIS: Kind of miraculous.
LEMON: Yes, why do you say that?
V. LEWIS: Well, we don't know the whole story, but she definitely was -- either fell or was ejected from the aircraft. We don't know.
LEMON: Yes.
V. LEWIS: So, the fact that she so far doesn't seem to have any major damage is -- seems incredible.
LEMON: Yes, it does. And you said she's doing OK. Is talking to you, right?
V. LEWIS: She has talked to us, yes.
LEMON: She has spoken to you.
Tell us about her and what kind of -- what is she saying? Does she remember anything about the crash or not?
V. LEWIS: We haven't really talked about that much yet.
And she found herself -- well, when they found her, she was under the wing, and she thought she had been sleeping and that she would wake up and see a -- she thought she was in her home and that there was why -- was there an airplane wing in her home?
So, she was delirious. I don't know if she was in and out of this sleep state or if that was sort of a preservation mode, because she was in extreme weather conditions. It was very cold, raining very hard, pretty much constantly for two-and-a-half days. So, I think her body was in survival mode.
LEMON: I wanted to ask you, because, as I read in this report, they said that she was up and walking around... (CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Is that correct; do we know?
V. LEWIS: You know, we're not sure about that. We haven't heard anything about that.
But we have not yet gotten to talk to the people who actually found her. And we want to do that, so that we can hear exactly what -- what they found and how they found her. But I believe she was lying down. And then they carefully moved her onto a gurney.
And they had to carry her three-and-a-half-hours to a helicopter.
LEMON: Oh, goodness.
V. LEWIS: Through extremely rugged terrain, in torrential rain.
LEMON: So, tell us, between Sunday and the time they found Francesca, what was that time like for you?
V. LEWIS: It was a nightmare. It was a living nightmare.
And we -- as soon as we got the call, we tried to get on the first plane we could. And we flew all night, and then arrived in Boquete in the late afternoon the next day, and then just spent all our time with the rescue group, which was very large. And many, local people participated. There were hundreds of people on foot climbing in the most rugged terrain looking for her, looking for them.
And we tried to be as involved as we could with helping to talk to people and find out who needed what in just directions and supplies. And family members of Michael Klein live in the area and they were extremely involved also.
LEMON: And I imagine that people are wondering how are you getting through this. Are you just living on adrenaline right now?
V. LEWIS: Yes, I guess so. We're just -- we're so relieved to have her with us.
LEMON: Anything you want to say to the family of those who didn't make it, Ms. Lewis?
V. LEWIS: Well, my heart goes out to everyone. We all have been through tremendous trauma together.
LEMON: Yes.
Tell us a little bit about Francesca, if you will. What kind of girl is she?
V. LEWIS: Pardon?
LEMON: Tell us a little bit about Francesca. V. LEWIS: Oh, she's just a regular 13-year-old, healthy girl with -- having a good time at school, playing sports, doing things with her friends.
LEMON: Yes, and then now has survived something that seems horrific and unbelievable.
V. LEWIS: Yes.
LEMON: So, our very best to you this holiday season. We're very happy that she's OK, and, again, as well, bittersweet for everyone who's paying attention to this.
Any last words?
V. LEWIS: I just want to thank all of the people that -- that cared so much about trying to help us. So many people tried to help, and at great effort and sacrifice and through the Christmas holiday. I mean, the most important family holiday, people were giving up that to go and trudge through the mud. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, we really appreciate everything that was done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was Valery Lewis, mother of 13-year-old Francesca Lewis, who was the lone survivor of that plane crash.
Cameras also caught up with her father, Kirk Lewis, while he was in Panama. You are going to hear from him right here in the CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.
A tiger goes on the hunt. Zoo-goers become its prey. And, right now, part of the San Francisco Zoo is a crime scene. Investigators are trying to figure out how a 300-pound Siberian tiger got out of its enclosure, killing one visitor and mauling two others. It happened on Christmas Day.
Now, we heard minutes ago from police, who say they searched the zoo thoroughly to make sure there are no other victims. None was found. Police shot and killed the tiger last night after it again tried to attack one of the injured men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER FONG, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CHIEF: Police and fire units responded. Police units responded to the area by the terrace cafe, where they saw a tiger seated next to a person who was on the ground.
The tiger turned back and began to attack that person again. Officers yelled at the tiger, yelled at the animal to stop. They did not fire immediately, for fear that they would not be able to contain their fire at the animal. When the yelling was occurring, the animal turned, and now turned towards the officers. And it is at that time that they fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: And police say they're still investigating whether the tiger managed to escape its enclosure itself or whether there was some human involvement there.
Imagine this: teeth, claws and hundreds of muscle all coming at you. Animal Planet host Dave Salmoni knows what that is like. He has been up close and personal with tigers,even playing and roughhousing with him. And we talked with him earlier here in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE SALMONI, LARGE PREDATOR EXPERT: Every single one of those tigers has the capability of doing what this tiger did. Now, that said, it's more likely that this tiger keys on people, isn't afraid of people, which most tigers are. So, this tiger probably would have been what we call in the zoo business as a worst-case scenario. What happens if this type of tiger gets out?
Because 99 percent of the time, as the Zoo Association said, when a tiger does escape, they're not going to hurt anybody, because they're usually pretty scared.
LEMON: Yes.
SALMONI: It's a foreign place. People are scary.
In this case, this tiger has shown a history of not being scared of people and actually being aggressive towards people. Now, that could be due to fear. It can be due to social structure, or it could be that these people showed themselves as prey by moving away.
I can tell you from personal experience there's nothing more focused and scarier than a tiger coming to kill you. You can't change that tiger's mind when it decides.
Now, luckily, I saw it coming every time the tigers tried to take me, and I have been trained on how to deal with that. Any human being that is faced with a tiger coming to kill him, unless you have gotten my type of training, you're really in a serious bit of trouble. You're not going to stop that cat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, animals escaping and attacking, it does not happen often, but, when it does, it can be absolutely terrifying.
Here are a few examples from recent years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): February 24, a 140-pound jaguar mauls a zookeeper to death at the Denver Zoo. Zoo officials say the keeper broke zoo rules by opening a jaguar's cage door. The cat was shot and killed when it approached emergency workers.
March 3, 2005, two chimps broke out of their cages at an animal sanctuary near Bakersfield, California. They attack and injure a man and his wife, badly maiming the man, before the sanctuary owner's son- in-law shot and killed them.
July 13, 2004, a 600-pound tiger escapes from the property of a retired actor who once played Tarzan. The tiger is shot dead by a state wildlife officer.
March 18, 2004, A 340-pound guerrilla escapes its pen at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage, before being shot dead by police. The gorilla picked up a toddler with it teeth and injured three other people.
October 3, 2003, an attack that grabbed headlines worldwide: A tiger severely mauls Roy Horn during Siegfried & Roy's show in Las Vegas. Horn was bitten in the neck and dragged offstage, badly injured.
September 28, a 300-pound gorilla named Little Joe escapes its enclosure at the Boston Zoo, injuring a 2-year-old girl and a zoo workers before being tranquilized. The gorilla managed to dodge his handlers and the cops for more than two hours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, the San Francisco Zoo is closed today. Officials hope to reopen tomorrow, but the lion and tiger house will be off limits to the public.
If you would like to know more about the type of tiger that attacked and track its deadly path at the zoo, well, check out CNN.com. You can also read about other recent animal attacks. That's all at CNN.com.
More NEWSROOM in just a moment.
But, first, we want to tell you about this. what makes an exhibit with big cats safe for you and your family when you're visiting the zoo? Well, we will speak to one of the people charged with that responsibility at the Miami Zoo.
We will do that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, we have been telling you all afternoon about this story in the CNN NEWSROOM. Even the mother of the survivor calls it miraculous. A 13-year-old girl found alive when everybody else aboard a plane crash had died.
We spoke to the mother just moments ago. And now we want to hear from the father, Kirk Lewis. He's the father of 13-year-old Francesca Lewis, again the lone survivor in a plane that went down in Panama in a volcanic area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KIRK LEWIS, FATHER OF PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Hey, sweetie. We're going to see you real soon. They're bringing you down. And mom and Rosie's (ph) here, too. OK. OK. Bye, sweetheart. Bye-bye. See you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, that's the dad of 13-year-old Francesca Lewis.
The cameras caught up with him as they were bringing his daughter down off the mountain. The mother spoke to us from the hospital. She says she has spoken to her daughter, hasn't spoken to her about the crash, but she says this is bittersweet for them, because the other three people on board the plane, her daughter's friend, her daughter's friend's father, and also the pilot of that plane died when it crashed on Sunday in Panama.
The little girl was found on Christmas Day. She said it has been a living nightmare for them. That's the mother right there in the black and white top, the black and white shirt, getting out of the ambulance. That little girl is OK and they think she is going to be fine.
We're going to continue to update you on that.
We want to get back now to our other top story here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Part of the San Francisco Zoo is a crime scene right now after a tiger got out of its enclosure on Christmas Day, mauling three visitors and killing one person. Now, police shot and killed the 300- pound cat. They're now investigating whether it escaped on its own on had some human help.
And joining us is Ron Magill. He is the chief spokesman for the Miami Metrozoo.
Ron, what do you think went wrong in San Francisco, if you can answer that?
RON MAGILL, MIAMI METROZOO: Gosh, Don, I really don't know. I wasn't there. I'm not terribly familiar with the exhibit. Obviously, something did go wrong.
And zoos around the country are really waiting the outcome of this investigation to see what the outcome is, to see whether in fact the tiger escaped, what was the reason for the escape, if there was any help in the escape. There's so much speculation right now that we really can't comment on it. We have got to wait until the end of that investigation.
LEMON: OK. Here's the thing everyone is trying. And I had Dave Salmoni, who works for one of the animal shows. I think it's Animal Planet, if I'm correct here.
And he was talking about a tiger is so long, and it can get up really high. And then maybe about 10 feet high, it's now out of the question. And then once it's up that high, it can jump and it gets to the top of the wall and it can lift itself up over that wall.
Is that feasible? It seems, to the ordinary person or to the person who is not an expert, like, this is a stretch.
MAGILL: Well, I got to be honest with you. Again, I don't know what the exhibit looks like. I don't know the parameters.
To say a tiger from a flat, solid ground could get up to a 20- foot level, I don't think it's impossible. This is the most powerful cat on the face of this planet. I just got back from India, and I was tracking tigers in the wild. And I watched them hunt and I watched them jumped and I watched them their power.
So, I would not think that going up 20 feet is something totally impossible for a cat to reach. But you have got to keep in mind that people -- these exhibits -- the San Francisco Zoo is an accredited zoo. It's an outstanding zoo.
For them to be accredited, they had to surpass every local, state and federal regulation in all of their exhibit barriers. So, they have done an outstanding job in doing that. That's why this investigation is so important, because has this tiger in fact redefined the limitations of tigers as we know it? Because for years we have never had a tiger do something like that.
LEMON: Right.
MAGILL: So, that's why this investigation is so important.
LEMON: And maybe they have gotten used to being in captivity and they are starting to learn things and just evolving more about being in captivity.
I have to tell you -- are you standing there in your facility in Miami? Is that where the tigers are?
MAGILL: I'm standing in the facility in Miami, and the tigers are behind me, but there's a 30-foot moat behind me.
LEMON: Yes. I don't know if the photographer can hear, but can you pan around, so we can look at that facility there as Ron Magill talks to us?
Talk to us about the moat as well. We're hearing that...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: ... may have been 10 to 15 feet, the moat, at the San Francisco Zoo.
What about your moat here? Normal?
MAGILL: Our moat is approximately 30 feet wide. It's about 30 feet wide. It's water at the bottom. So, there's no solid bottom that they can jump from. And the outside of our wall is an inverted concrete, concave wall. So, even if they go in the water and swim to the wall, there's no way they can climb up the wall, because it's inverted, smooth concrete going the other way around.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I'm sure, Ron, most people thought that there was no way that this tiger could have gotten out in the San Francisco Zoo over a wall and through a moat. And I'm glad you're showing me that.
And stay with us. Stay with that wide shot, because people at home, I'm sure, are wondering, if this can happen at the San Francisco Zoo, why can't it happen at the Miami Zoo or any other zoo in the country?
MAGILL: And I got to tell you, Don, that's why this investigation is so important.
Keep this in mind. More people go to zoos in this country than all professional sporting events combined. And, for all those years, this is the first time ever a visitor has been killed by an animal. So, think about the -- put this in perspective.
This is an extraordinarily rare event, and this investigation, I think, is very important to find out exactly what happened here. Zoos are safe, Don. They're very safe. Millions and millions of people go to them each year without something like this happening.
LEMON: OK. Let me ask you again about this particular tiger, Tatiana, a year ago, mauled a zoo employee.
Why wasn't anything done about it then? What I have heard from zoo officials, what they said at a press conference, is that that was normal behavior for a tiger.
MAGILL: Absolutely. And that's a key thing to remember.
Whenever one of us who is working with the animals in the zoo field gets hurts by an animal, it's our fault, because we're taught here that any time there's any opportunity for any of these animals to hurt us, it will hurt us. We have to work under those presumptions.
And, sometimes, we get slacked off because animals, like people, have different personalities. Some might be more aggressive than another . But there's an old adage that says, you can take an animal out of the wild; you cannot take the wild out of the animal.
And just when you start becoming a little bit lackadaisical about its behavior, that's when you're going to get hurt. And that is what happens. What that tiger did was natural. That was a problem that was a procedural problem on the staff's part. That had to be changed. Nothing was the tiger's fault at all.
LEMON: Yes. Ron Magill at the Miami Metrozoo.
And I can hear children in the background there. And I'm sure there are folks at the zoo now. And I'm sure you have been getting questions about whether or not families are safe there.
MAGILL: Absolutely.
LEMON: We want to thank for you joining us take today and wish you continued happy holidays, sir.
MAGILL: Same to you. Thank you, Don.
If you would like to know more about the type of tiger that attacked and track its deadly path at the zoo, check out CNN.com. You can also read about other recent animal attacks. That's at cnn.com.
Well, they call it their Christmas miracle. A Colorado couple welcomes three new babies after losing three other children, all in tragedies.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Twenty-five past the hour, coming up on 26 past the hour, actually. Here are three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Right now, investigators are combing the grounds of the closed San Francisco Zoo, trying to figure out how the tiger got out of its enclosure on Christmas Day. The 300-pound tiger killed one man and injured two others before police gunned it down. The two injured men are now recovering.
Just into the CNN NEWSROOM, we're hearing the Colombian government has agreed to a plan aimed at freeing three hostages held for years now by leftist rebels. The plan was put together by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
Retailers are hoping for a post-Christmas boom after a bust of a holiday shopping season. That's because Americans are set to cash in 60 billion, with a B, dollars worth of gift cards.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
LEMON: Terror at the San Francisco Zoo -- we will tell you how police had to gun down a tiger after it attacked three visitors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. I have something to report here. It is just coming across the wires -- the Associated Press -- and we're working on it. It appears that a number of bodies have been found in Carnation, Washington which is just East of Seattle. This is new video. We just have video just in now.
You can see authorities on there on the scene. This is courtesy of our affiliate KOMO. Again, it's in Carnation, Washington.
And I'm reading here -- at least three people were found dead at a house in Carnation. That's east of Seattle. That's according to the county sheriff's office. And one of the sergeants there says the bodies were discovered about 8:00 a.m. local time by someone who knows the family at the home and they called 9-1-1. Again, at least three bodies -- a rural area. And, according to the Associated Press, it appears that it is two adults and a child so far. And they believe that there may be more victims in this. They don't have an exact word -- they don't know exactly how this happened. But they believe that this is a homicide. Releasing few details here. There were multiple victims. They don't know how the people died or their ages or if there were any weapons found in the home. Again, the deaths, they believe, are homicides.
And, if you'll bear with me, I'm going to read through this, because it is just coming across the wires here. They don't believe it was carbon monoxide or what have you. They -- again, they say that this was a homicide.
So very few details here. But our worldwide resources are going to continue to work on this story for you. But we are told at least -- at least three bodies found -- and they believe it could be more -- one child two adults in a home in Carnation, Washington.
These pictures -- these aerial shots courtesy of our affiliate. Thank you, KOMO, for this. We'll continue to work with KOMO and also everyone else out there to try to get misinformation on this developing story.
In the meantime, we're going to move on and talk about a tiger going on the hunt. Zoo-goers become its prey. And right now, part of the San Francisco Zoo, well, it is the crime scene. Investigators are trying to figure out how a 300-pound Siberian tiger got out of its enclosure, killing one visitor and mauling two others. That happened on Christmas Day.
Now, we heard minutes ago from police, who say they have searched the zoo thoroughly to make sure there are no other victims. None was found and police shot and killed the tiger last night after it again tried to attack one of the injured men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF HEATHER FONG, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE: Please and fire units responded. Police units responded to the area by the Terrace Cafe, where they saw a tiger seated next to a person who was on the ground. The tiger turned back and began to attack that person again. Officers yelled at the tiger -- yelled at the animal to stop. They did not fire immediately for fear that they would not be able to contain their fire at the animal.
When the yelling was occurring, the animal turned and now turned toward the officers. And it is at that time that they fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, police say they're still investigating whether the tiger managed to escape its enclosure itself or whether there was human involvement in this.
The parents of an American teen who's a lone survivor of a plane crash in Panama are now in Panama themselves. These pictures of Francesca Lewis' rescue came in to CNN just a short time ago. Lewis is now in the hospital, three days after the crash.
Her father spoke with her by phone today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRK LEWIS, FATHER OF CRASH SURVIVOR: Hey sweetie. We're going to see you real soon. They're -- they're bringing you down. And mom and Rosie's here, too. OK. OK. Good-bye, sweetheart. Bye-bye. See you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A very emotional phone call there from the father.
Three people were killed in the crash in remote Western Panama. An American businessman and his daughter, as well as the plane's pilot, died in that.
I guess you can sea brrrr. Wow! Look at these pictures. That brrrr -- if that's a word -- certainly describes the scene. It is a pier at the St. Joseph Lighthouse in Michigan gripped by an icy blast. Show, fog and bitter cold are spreading misery across much of the state. Bad weather is also blamed for travel delays at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Southern California is getting a bit of a break from the fierce winds that blew in over Christmas, but it won't last long. Yesterday, the winds uprooted trees and blew down power lines, leaving more than 4,000 people in the dark. Fallen trees crushed vehicles and damaged roofs. The National Weather Service says winds higher than 60 miles an hour will return tonight and last through tomorrow.
Nasty weather is hitting several parts of the country on this big travel day.
And we check in now with Chad Myers in the CNN Severe Travel Weather Center -- if you want to call it that.
Absolutely, we can today, right?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. All the way from New York now, down I-95 to D.C. into Richmond, all wet. And it is now a very slow go -- stop and go at some points here along that very, very busy interstate.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: A lot of planes going a lot of places. A lot of people trying to get there in those planes today.
LEMON: Seven -- 7,000 planes, Chad?
MYERS: Yes.
LEMON: I'm not afraid of flying, but I have a healthy respect for it
And that's not -- that kind of unnerves me, to see all those planes.
MYERS: Yes, the good news
is the planes aren't this big.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: OK. There you -- OK. That makes sense.
MYERS: Got that?
LEMON: OK. Now I get it.
Thank you very much for that, Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
LEMON: They call it their Christmas miracle. A Colorado couple welcomes three new babies after losing three other children in tragedies.
We'll have more on the developing story happening in Washington State. Several bodies found in a home outside Seattle.
The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. We told you just moments ago about a developing story happening in Carnation, Washington, which is just outside of Seattle. And we're getting some more information in here. I'm just getting it -- when I last reported to you -- I guess about five minutes ago -- there were three bodies found. Well, according now to the Associated Press and to our affiliates out there, at least four people have been found at a house in Carnation, which is east of Seattle. And that's according to the King County Sheriff's Department. They said the bodies were discovered in the home there on 346th Avenue they believe to be two adults and a child. And investigators found a fourth body at the home after responding to this case.
Now, here's what we -- what I told you earlier. Apparently, a relative discovered the bodies and then called 9-1-1. And then police came in and they are searching again, as well, to see if there are more victims in this.
According to the Sheriff's Department, just a short time ago they said they didn't believe it was carbon monoxide poisoning because they found guns in the home. They actually believe, at this point, that it is a homicide.
So an update on this developing story happening in Carnation, Washington. At least four bodies found in this home, one of them a child. And they believe that there may be more bodies in this home.
We're going to continue to follow and bring you the very latest right here, just as soon as we get it.
Police, soldiers and villagers spent the day searching an icy river in Western Nepal for more victims of a footbridge collapse. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but authorities estimate some 500 Hindu festival goers -- men, women and children -- were on the bridge when it fell into a river yesterday. Sixteen bodies have been recovered. Another 28 people are still missing. Thirty-two people were flown to hospitals, with dozens more treated for minor injuries at the scene.
In Indonesia, at least 67 people are feared dead in landslides on the island of Java. Hundreds of people with little more than picks and shovels have been digging through the mud for survivors. A rescue official says many of the victims were buried in mud at a dinner party after they had just cleaned a mud-covered house. Heavy rains have tapered off, but many parts of the island are still flooded there. The landslides come on the third anniversary of a cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami that killed almost a quarter million people in 12 countries. Survivors attended prayer services across the region today, including in Thailand, where many of the 5,000 killed were Western tourists. A drill was also held today using a recently installed tsunami alert system.
A Colorado couple are the proud new parents of triplets -- though proud doesn't begin to cover their range of emotions. It's a new beginning for a family that's known heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak.
We get the story from reporter Jane Slater of CNN affiliate KMGH.
JANE SLATER, KMGH REPORTER (voice-over): Somewhere along the way, the spirit of Christmas was lost.
CHRIS SPIEGEL, FATHER: Actually, we kind of avoided Christmas music or even commercials that were, you know, had anything to do with Christmas.
SLATER: And who could blame Chris Spiegel and his wife Susan?
SUSAN SPIEGEL, MOTHER: My first child that died, he died of SIDS. He was two months and 25 days old.
SLATER: After that, there was Skylar, their oldest.
S. SPIEGEL: He was 16 years old and died on his way to homecoming in a car accident up in Vail.
SLATER: And if that wasn't enough, the unthinkable.
S. SPIEGEL: CJ -- he died in Grand Junction. He was hit by a car three years ago. He was seven.
SLATER: It's enough to make anyone give up on Christmas, parenting, life.
C. SPIEGEL: Every morning, you didn't really know. I'd get up to go to work or go wherever, and I really didn't know why I was doing it.
SLATER: The only thing this pair says they knew what to do was parent. So they tried it again, this time using a surrogate. And a funny thing happened.
S. SPIEGEL: When they told us we were having three, I just knew it was the boys that gave us this blessing.
SLATER: That's right, three -- two boys and a little girl -- all born early -- and on all days, Christmas Eve.
C. SPIEGEL: This morning they turned Christmas music on in here for us. And Susan goes, I don't even mind listening to Christmas music now.
S. SPIEGEL: With these blessings, I hope that it's over. I hope that our bad luck has changed and we're going to have this miracle for the rest of our lives.
SLATER: And in her boys' absence, the memory of the three live on. Each newborn has their brothers' first names as their middle names.
In Englewood, Jane Slater, 7 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: What's unusual about this Christmas card?
Heaven knows where it came from -- heaven does know where it came from. We'll tell you about a lifelong joker who got the last laugh.
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LEMON: It's time now to see what's clicking with all you CNN.comers.
Some of our most watched videos today, a Christmas Day tragedy in Texas. A 7-year-old girl riding her brand new bike is hit by a truck and killed.
A very lucky California boy is recuperating at home over the holidays after being impaled on a piece of farm equipment.
And cursed then blessed three times over -- a couple we just told you about a few minutes ago who lost their three children in separate incidents give birth by surrogate to triplets.
All these stories and much, much more. Check it out at CNN.com.
Well, the cold war is long over, but scientists are still hot on the trail of counter-nuclear technologies. At Argonne National Lab outside Chicago, they have made significant and serendipitous strides.
CNN's homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, got an inside look.
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JEANNE MESERVE, HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks like someone making a mess, but, in fact, it is someone cleaning up.
MIKE KAMINSKI, ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY: And it's got kind of like a slime consistency.
MESERVE: This gloppy mixture is a "super-gel" engineered to draw radioactive contamination out of concrete, tile and brick.
The inspiration?
Baby diapers.
KAMINSKI: And I was up a lot with my son in the middle of the night changing diapers. And it occurred to me that we could possibly use the same material to soak the water out of the wall.
MESERVE: And along with the water, radioactive contaminants -- which the gel unsticks from within the pores of building materials. Vacuum it off, dry it out and then dispose of the radioactive residue.
The equipment?
A pump usually used for applying tar to house foundations and a Wet Vac with a squeegee.
KAMINSKI: We didn't know when -- if and when there would be an incident where we would need such a technology. So our goal was to try to use as much off the shelf technology as possible.
MESERVE: Elsewhere at Argonne National Lab, research on detecting illicit nuclear activity. In the lab, this millimeter wave technology instantly identifies liquid nitrogen. In the field, it can I.D. chemicals coming out of smokestacks like the nitric acid that is a bpd of nuclear fuel processing. It can potentially operate from miles away, perhaps allowing nuclear weapons inspections to be conducted covertly from an aircraft. Some of the technology being developed at Argonne may seem a bit pie in the sky.
MARY ANNE YATES, ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY: You can never tell what's going to make a difference. It's best to let people have great ideas and then, as world evolves and society evolves, the opportunity to use those ideas becomes evident.
MESERVE: The national labs were started to develop nuclear weapons. Now, ironically, they are working to protect us from the very technology they helped create.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Catch part two of Jeanne Meserve's inside look at Argonne Lab today in "THE SITUATION ROOM." That starts at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
More NEWSROOM in a moment, including a message from beyond.
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LEMON: Well, Chet Fitch sent out Christmas cards this year. That wouldn't be unusual, except for one thing. The 88-year-old Oregon man died in October. Even more unusual, the return address was heaven. And a handwritten message...
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DEBBIE HANSEN-BERNARD, CARD RECIPIENT: Jessie and I have been dancing up a storm here in that big dance hall in the sky -- all good squares. I asked the big guy if I could sneak back and send some cards to my dance friends, family and a few others. At first he said no. But at my insistence, he finally said OK.
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LEMON: Well, this is not as you -- as it might seem -- a long lost episode of "The Twilight Zone". It turns out Chet was something of a joker, as you can probably tell. He had been writing the cards -- there he is right there -- for years and left orders with his barber to mail them after his death. Along with his posthumous holiday greeting, Chet had one final zinger for his friends. He wrote: "I'll probably be seeing you sometime sooner -- some sooner than you think."
And we -- rest in peace. That was very nice and a very funny thing to do.
The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
Ali Velshi is standing by with a final look at the trading day on this day after Christmas.
This is Boxing Day, hey -- Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, hey?
A great Boxing Day, I hope, for some people, because the sales before Christmas weren't so great.
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