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Greek Parliament to Vote on New Reforms; Guzman's Getaway Tunnel Revealed; Middle East Reacts to Iran Nuclear Deal; Draft Report on Downing of MH17; Scott Kelly on His Year in Space; "El Chapo" Escape Shines Spotlight on Corruption; Groening Convicted for Role at Auschwitz; Teen Survives Plane Crash, Hikes to Safety. Aired 10-11 ET

Aired July 15, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Hi, there, welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow.

Let's start in Greece, where the parliament votes on bailout terms today, terms that its own prime minister says are bad and that the IMF says won't

work. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces a revolt within his own Syriza party, which came into power in January, vowing to fight austerity.

In a troubling sign, his deputy finance minister resigned today, saying she could not support the agreement. The International Monetary Fund says to

return to solvency, Greece would need far more debt relief than what its European creditors agreed to in Brussels this past weekend.

In the meantime, Greeks wait and wonder; their banks, closed since last month, will remain shuttered at least until Thursday.

Our Isa Soares joins me now from Athens with more on this.

Any joy over Greek debt relief seems short-lived.

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. Good morning to you, Robyn. This just adds more fuel to the fire, doesn't it. And I think many

people quite angry over the fact that this IMF report, which was handed out, we've been told, to the Eurogroup before any deal was agreed. And you

remember the IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, was also in that meeting.

So they're all aware of this report; yet they still agreed to it. So many people wondering what kind of deal they have -- they've got, really. They

have to debate on. So today what we're expecting is the debate to start in a few hours. They'll start debating the measures they have to implement as

well as the entire deal, Robyn.

After that, that could go on; the actual vote could go as long as midnight. When you said that we've already had one member of Syriza resign in the

last few days, it brings it up to two. In terms of the revolt, well, expect members of Syriza to abstain or to be a no-show today.

Up to 40, we've been hearing, that could actually say no to these measures. Having said that, Alexis Tsipras met with his -- with Syriza members

yesterday, MPs yesterday, as well as today, trying to garner as much support because what we're hearing is he does not want a broader coalition.

He wants to keep the team as he has --Robyn.

CURNOW: Well, can he survive politically?

SOARES: He can. From those I've been speaking to, the opposition parties, he can. Even if he loses 40 votes or so, Robyn, he would still have enough

votes. And he's 151 votes out of 300. If you remember in the last vote that they had -- as he had the measures and he took it to Eurogroup, he got

251 votes. So he will pass.

The question is will he lose a lot of his own MPs? Many think perhaps that he won't; he will lose a couple. My guess it'll be more than a couple --

we're talking about 40. But he'll have the support of those opposition parties who have said all along this is the only solution for Greece --

Robyn.

CURNOW: Isa Soares in Athens, thanks for that update. Appreciate it.

Now newly released surveillance video shows the moment one of the world's powerful drug lords busted out of a Mexican prison.

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CURNOW (voice-over): This is Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in his cell Saturday night, pacing between the shower and his bed. He sits down to

change his shoes, walks back to the shower. Guzman then ducks behind a short wall and disappears, presumably through the small hole that was found

in his cell.

The hole opens up to a tunnel, more than a kilometer long. It has lights, ventilation and even a modified motorbike on tracks. And as our Polo

Sandoval reports, constructing Guzman's path to the outside took a lot of effort and likely involved a lot of help, too, from the inside.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've heard the numbers and you've also seen the graphics. But in order to truly understand just how elaborate El

Chapo Guzman's escape tunnel truly was you have to step back for a second.

The distance from where I'm standing all the way to where the Altiplano prison facility is off in the distance is about a mile. And that's how

long authorities say the tunnel was.

Distance is one challenge; depth is another. We know that the tunnel was about 35 feet deep. We found this construction site just outside the

prison perimeter. So you can see for yourself what it looks like underground. This is a cross-section here. And you can see just layer

after layer of dirt. This is what they potentially had to cut through during this escape.

Now if you take an even closer look at it, you can actually see that the soil is almost clay-like and even has a lot of rocks in it. So it's very

difficult to cut through according to some of our experts.

So that's leaving so many people here to wonder exactly who was helping Chapo escape.

[10:05:00]

SANDOVAL: We already know the director of the prison has been fired. As for some of the guards, they're being questioned by officials. And that's

truly what's feeling frustrations for the people here in Mexico. It's the idea that it was perhaps law enforcement who played a major role in the

escape of El Chapo.

IOAN GRILLO, AUTHOR: If the government cannot hold a criminal of this level in prison, how can it protect you? How can it protect the regular

citizens from the gunmen on the streets all over the country in Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Santa Juana (ph), Tijuana (ph)? How can

people be protected from those criminals?

SANDOVAL: And now the presidency of Enrique Pena Nieto could be affected. To see the embarrass escape of El Chapo as a potential for his

administration to be seen as weak in the eyes of the people here, the world and most importantly those ruthless drug cartels still sweeping across

parts of Mexico -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Thanks to Polo for that.

Now U.S. authorities also want to get their hands on El Chapo. Authorities say his Sinaloa cartel is responsible for an estimated 25 percent of all

illegal drugs that enter the U.S. from Mexico. According to "Forbes" magazine, the cartel's annual revenues makes the $3 billion. And in 2013,

the city of Chicago branded Guzman as "Public Enemy No. 1," the first time the city used the label since the days of Prohibition-era gangster Al

Capone.

Chicago's crime commission says they may give Guzman the public enemy title again.

Well, Mexico's government is offering nearly $4 million for Guzman's capture. But if his previous escape in 2001 is any indication, it could be

a long time before he's found. Our Brian Todd looks at some of the leads authorities are following in this manhunt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new picture of the menacing drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and new information on a key piece of

intelligence that may not have been heeded. A law enforcement official tells CNN following his capture in 2014, DEA agents developed threads of

information, indicating Guzman's relatives and associates were looking for ways to get him out of prison.

The official says U.S. officials had no specific information on Guzman's escape on Saturday but that they did pass along what they had to Mexican

authorities. Mexico's interior minister denies the assertion.

Now a Mexican official tells CNN about 50 people have been questioned and three top prison officials fired in the investigation into Guzman's escape.

The official says Guzman may head back to the mountain hideaways of Sinaloa State and his hometown of Badiraguato.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In these communities he is seen as a hero. He is almost venerated. He is larger than life.

TODD (voice-over): A U.S. law enforcement official tells CNN Guzman has got an extensive support network in the heavily forested switchbacks of

Sinaloa with advanced teams of lookouts, spies and scouts who help him evade capture. A huge advantage for El Chapo, his Robin Hood reputation.

DUNCAN WOOD, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: He brings real benefits to local communities. He pays for things. Whether it is the quinceanera, the 15-

year-old party, or whether it's putting on a rodeo for the local community or paying for something in the local church, he has done that for many,

many years.

TODD: Is this woman helping him? Emma Coronel, a glamorous former beauty queen who married El Chapo when she was a teenager. He was around 50.

Coronel is a U.S. citizen and gave birth to Guzman's twin daughters near Los Angeles in 2011. Officials say she is related to a notorious Mexican

drug lord named "Nacho" Coronel, who was killed in a shootout with the Mexican army in 2010.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She comes from a very similar background to Chapo Guzman, from these communities in Sinaloa State, in the countryside, who

have grown up around, among drug traffickers. And it's almost like a large tribe of drug traffickers.

TODD: There is no indication from officials that Emma Coronel has been involved in Guzman's criminal activities or in his escape. And it's not

clear if she is being questioned by Mexican authorities at the moment.

One Mexican official tells CNN her phone was one of the leads used in El Chapo's capture last year. As far as tracking her down, a Mexican official

tells CNN she is traceable and she's usually not hiding -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Well, as Brian mentioned, authorities say Guzman may be hiding out in the mountains of Sinaloa, the state in northwest Mexico where he's

originally from. Sinaloa's just between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madre Mountains, about 800 kilometers from the U.S. border.

Analysts say Mexico's drug trade first started in Sinaloa back in the 1940s and Culiacan, the state capital, has been home to some of Mexico's most

infamous drug kingpins. Officials say many rural farmers grow marijuana and opium fields in Sinaloa's mountains.

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CURNOW: And of the state's 2 million-plus residents hail local drug traffickers as heroes, which could make it even more difficult for

authorities to find Guzman if he's indeed back in Sinaloa.

We'll have much more on Guzman's escape later on in the hour, including some perspective on Mexico's powerful drug cartels and how their influence

is seeping into other parts of North America.

And we speak to astronaut Scott Kelly from space in the middle of his record-breaking mission. All that and much more here at the INTERNATIONAL

DESK. Stay with us

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CURNOW: The deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program is inked. But there are still some formalities to conclude before it can be implemented. That

includes securing the approval of a testy U.S. Congress. The accord rolls back sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear

activities.

But it has implications far beyond the borders of Iran. Our Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Beirut for a look at how it could impact the

complex Middle East region.

And, Nick, I think that's what's so key here. This is a treaty that has nothing to do essentially with the Sunni-Shia divide. But it's going to

have a lot of impact on how these conflicts and these divides play out where you are.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, success or not in Vienna of the technical details being discussed between the E.U., U.S.

and Iran, hinged so much potentially on the opinion and abilities of so many individuals here involved in that extraordinarily brutal now and

length Sunni-Shia conflict in both Syria, Iraq and we see also potentially in parts of Yemen as well, a very messy region.

And whether or not those talks in Vienna succeeded was going to play enormously into this ongoing and increasingly multinational war happening

here. Now I think many, perhaps wrongly or reductively, given the sheer volume of military support the U.S. is giving to its Gulf allies here, who

are predominantly Sunni and are against this deal in many ways, a lot of people are seeing this decision as a rapprochement between Washington and

Tehran and in some ways Washington taking Iran's side in this battle, coming down on the side of the Shia to some degree.

Now that is, of course, isn't the case because of the mixed spread of U.S. support around the region. But in the perception of many, it is seemingly

the U.S. saying we can do business with this particular side.

Now that will play enormously into the perception of who maybe has the upper hand here, who may have better strength going forward. It'll take

months for the verification to happen inside Iran that will unleash the potentially billions of dollars of locked funds that Iran needs --

[10:15:00]

WALSH: -- that some fear will get poured into the proxies doing its fighting in Syria and elements here in Lebanon and perhaps Iraq as well.

But certainly that perception, that symbolism hasn't been lost of many here. Remember this is extraordinarily brutal conflict that's been going

on for years and this in the eyes of so many here is a key moment of decision in that conflict -- Robyn.

CURNOW: As there have been celebrations in Iran, there is also the question, I think, regionally, of the impact, if any, this deal or this new

relationship is going to have on the fight against ISIS. I mean, there's already unofficial cooperation between the U.S. and Iran in Iraq.

Does that change things on the ground?

WALSH: In many ways in the fight against ISIS, the U.S. has been on the same battle side as the Iranians now for months, if not nearly a year or

so. Iraq enlisted (ph) Hashid Shaabi, the Iranian-backed popular militia, who are fighting ISIS, assisting the Iraqi army, in fact at times

dominating them in the fight against ISIS there in Syria, the bonds are falling often in support of, it seems, the enemies, too, of the Syrian

regime, even though the U.S. are very clear they're not working Damascus.

And moving forward, the issue clearly is that the Americans have managed to park their other big Middle Eastern concern, is Iran going to get the

nuclear weapon, to one side, perhaps for now, if this deal does practically come through.

And its focus now is the fight against ISIS clearly and I think also the swirling discontent and collapse of many of the Sunni Arab societies, which

some say has been the cause of ISIS coming to the foreground with sometimes popular appeal like we're seeing now.

So a very seismic moment here and one I think which puts the fight against ISIS much more in the crosshairs and perhaps, rightly or wrongly, it gets

many to view Iran and the proxies it supports as being now really -- whilst they've been de facto for a while, actually on the side of the United

States in this war here -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK. Nick Paton Walsh, we'll leave it at that. Thanks so much.

This Friday marks one year since Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot out of the sky over Eastern Ukraine by a missile. And CNN has learned new

details of a draft report from the investigation before anyone else. Our aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh, joins me now from Washington with the

details.

Hi, there, Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Robyn. According to a source who has knowledge of the details of this report, Dutch investigators

say evidence points to pro-Russian rebels as being responsible for downing Malaysia flight MH17.

Now the Dutch safety board is investigating the incident, but a draft copy, as you mentioned, of the investigative report has been circulated to

accredited representatives in the investigation. That includes entities like Boeing, the FAA as well as NTSB.

It pinpoints the exact type of missile used, where it was launched and who was in control of the territory where it came from, again, all signs

pointing to pro-Russian rebels -- Robyn.

CURNOW: And also the reports places blame on Malaysia Airlines.

Why?

MARSH: Well, according to these two sources, the report does indeed blame Malaysia Airlines for how its planes were essentially dispatched that day.

The report says that the airline was not reading other countries' notice to airmen and it continued to fly over the conflict zone while other airlines

avoided it.

Now notice to airmen or it's commonly called NOTAMS, they are essentially written notifications issued to pilots before a flight, warning them of

potential dangers, i.e., possible missile launches over conflict zones.

What usually happens, let's say with U.S. airline carriers, they will make a decision about where to fly, where not to fly, based on these notice to

airmen that different countries issue to their pilots.

Well, Dutch investigators say in this report because Malaysia Airlines didn't review other countries' warnings, it was unaware other airlines were

actually avoiding the conflict zone that day -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK. Rene Marsh, thanks for that.

Next on CNN, a teenager survives a plane crash in the northwestern U.S. wilderness and hiked out of a rugged mountain range despite severe

injuries.

Plus:

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SCOTT KELLY, ASTRONAUT: Well, it's a pretty big science experiment and it's very important to our future to go further and further away from

Earth.

CURNOW (voice-over): My conversation with Scott Kelly. He talks about his role as a guinea pig on the International Space Station and how his twin

brother is involved. That's next.

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CURNOW (voice-over): You're looking at the dwarf planet, Pluto, as close as we've ever seen it. This is one of the latest pictures beamed back from

NASA's New Horizons probe. The spacecraft made a historic flyby past Pluto on Tuesday and got back in contact to signal it's OK.

And of course NASA scientists are ecstatic. This is a major accomplishment in space exploration. It's the furthest mission ever for a space mission

from Earth.

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CURNOW: New Horizons is carrying some meaningful mementos from Earth on its journey: among them, the ashes of the man who discovered Pluto and the

Kuiper belt.

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CURNOW (voice-over): This box, fixed to the probe contains some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, who died in 1997. It's perhaps the most touching

of nine mementos carried on board. State quarters from Maryland, where New Horizons was made, and Florida, where it was launched, are also there.

A piece of Spaceship One is stuck to the lower deck of the probe. That groundbreaking craft completed the first manned commercial space flight in

2004.

And this 1991 29-cent U.S. postage stamp is now nearly 5 billion kilometers away. It was printed with the text, "Pluto not yet explored," a message

now obsolete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: One U.S. astronaut is breaking new ground on board the International Space Station. Scott Kelly is in the middle of a mission to

spend one year in space. And it's not his first time on the space station, but it will be the longest stretch of time that anyone has lived up there.

I spoke with him about why he's doing it and how he's holding up.

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KELLY: You know, when I got here, I was surprised at how familiar the environment was, how the space station didn't seem to have changed a whole

lot. The size and shape and the condition of most of the hardware was pretty similar. So it was a pretty pleasant surprise.

The big difference is I'm just going to be here a lot longer than I was last time.

CURNOW: Well, tell us about that. You're going to be there for a year.

What is it about your trip, your length of stay that is just so important? It's about analyzing how your body reacts, is that correct?

KELLY: Well, we've been flying in space for many years now and our experience based on the space station from a U.S. perspective has been a

little bit over 200 days. The Russians had flown flights of a year or a little more on the Mir space station. But it was many years ago and back

then, we didn't have the same technology, not only the Russians didn't but the United States didn't as well with regards to our ability to collect

data on ourselves about how our bodies are affected for long periods of time in space.

So there are negative effects. But we may need to learn what those are. We need to learn if there are any cliffs out there, if there's any -- a

length of stay that has such a negative effect that it becomes drastically worse at a certain number of days in space. And that's what we're doing.

We're trying to learn what those things are, what the effects of the radiation environment, the microgravity environment is, the effects on our

cognition and our ability to perform.

So it's a pretty big science experiment and it's very important to our future to go further and further away from Earth.

CURNOW: How are you feeling this? What are you expecting to feel after a year in space? And simultaneously, your twin brother on Earth is also

being checked and poked and prodded.

Give us a sense of this massive intergalactic experiment that's taking place.

KELLY: Well, there are the effects on this environment that we notice and then there are the effects that we don't notice and you can only learn what

those are or understand them by collecting data.

[10:25:00]

KELLY: And the ones you notice are effects on your vision. You notice at certain times, especially early on, a fullness in your head. You notice

effects to your digestive system, because that uses gravity. It's important to that.

Physically, you feel, after a while, you feel pretty good. You have the opportunity to exercises fairly often, which is important. But like I

said, there are the effects you don't see. And those are the effects of radiation on you, on a genetic level, the loss of bone mass that we

experience, structural changes in our eyes, for instance, effects on our immune system. And that's one of the reasons why or the main reason why

Misha and I are here for so long, to understand those.

And then you mentioned my brother, the fact that we're both identical twins and NASA has a long history on us and with regards to our medical data, it

was a perfect opportunity for them to collect data on my brother and also on my while I'm here and compare the two of us on more of a genetic level

with respect to any damage that might occur to my DNA and RNA compared to his experience on Earth for a year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: My conversation with Scott Kelly did not stop there. He answered some questions from Twitter and it gets a bit personal.

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KELLY: It's not like you can fill your mouth with water and spit the toothpaste down the drain.

CURNOW (voice-over): So how does an astronaut brush his teeth? That's another burning question's answered in our next hour of the IDESK. That

starts in about 90 minutes' time.

Still ahead, this hour, the Mexican police hunt for El Chapo. We'll have a closer look at the powerful Sinaloa cartel and how its boss is now on the

loose once again.

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CURNOW: Welcome back to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Here are the headlines.

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CURNOW (voice-over): Greece parliament votes later today on bailout terms reached in Brussels last weekend. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says he

opposes the measures but will work to see they're implemented.

Members of his own Syriza party are promising to fight the reforms. The deputy finance minister resigned today.

[10:30:00]

CURNOW (voice-over): Archbishop Desmond Tutu is being treated at a Cape Town hospital for a persistent infection. The 84-year-old Nobel Peace

Prize winner has struggled with his health for years. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1984 for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.

The surveillance video reveals the moment Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from prison. Take a look at this. The Mexican drug kingpin is shown

changing his shoes on his bed, then he goes over to the shower in his cell and disappears behind a short wall. Guzman used a hole in his shower to

access a tunnel under the breach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: This is Guzman's second prison escape and it goes to show just how much power he still has. His Sinaloa cartel is one of the most dominant

crime syndicates in the world. For more on the influence of Guzman and his drug empire, Steven Dudley now joins us from Washington. He's the co-

director of InSight Crime, an initiative aimed at analyzing organized crime in the Americas.

Thank you so much for joining us here on the IDESK.

How significant is El Chapo? I know Chicago is giving him the same sort of status as Al Capone.

Is he iconic when it comes to bad guys?

STEVEN DUDLEY, CO-DIRECTOR, INSIGHT CRIME: Well, he is. He's next to Pablo Escobar in terms of the most notorious, at least those south of the

border and symbolically there's obviously there's nothing bigger right now. And what he represents is this escape hatch, this idea that one day

youngsters can be part of the professional leagues; in this case, the professional organized crime leagues.

And he's been able to live that dream out, if you will, if you can call it a dream, for almost three decades now. So this is the symbolic nature of,

first of all, Chapo and then now he's had his second escape this time in perhaps more spectacular fashion than the first time. It just cannot be

overstated.

CURNOW: Give us an understanding of these tunnels. We look at the intricacy of the tunnel that was built for him to slip away in. People who

watch this say, listen, that's a bit of a no-brainer because guys like him who ran organizations like his are pretty good, are pretty skilled at

tunnels, that there's a massive network of these tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. by which to carry their drugs.

DUDLEY: Yes, it's one of these things. Perhaps it was so obvious that they just discarded it as a possibility. When I say "they," I'm talking

about the Mexican authorities. He is and has been known for years as the tunnel specialist. He has been known to bring sophisticated equipment,

engineers and others, to build tunnels in the U.S.-Mexican border for years.

So that he would use a tunnel to escape should not surprise us, I guess. But maybe it was so obvious they just discarded it as a possibility or the

other possibility, which is the one that most people are talking about, there's so much corruption, it reaches such a high level that he was able

to do it regardless of their understanding of his operational tactics and modus operandi.

CURNOW: Let's also be frank: corruption inside, inside help is one thing. But this is a prison that had high security. Just give us an understanding

of the feat that he and his team seems to have achieved here.

DUDLEY: Well, it's the premier prison, if you will, perhaps even in the hemisphere, 750 cameras, sound sensors, everything from taking a tool from

the tool shed to cooking, all of that stuff is filmed. All of the utensils are connected to sensors. He was wearing a bracelet so he had to get that

off.

They obviously had to get plans, the actual prison plans, to know exactly where his cell was, where his shower was and the only area that was -- or

one of the few areas in the entire prison system that was not being monitored 24/7 by a security camera, you just can't, again, overstate the

complexity of this and the ability to penetrate really high levels of the government and at least, in this case, the prison system because you can't

do this without some complicity at a very high level.

CURNOW: So finally, what does this mean for the U.S. drug trade? I'm looking at the numbers I spoke about earlier. His Sinaloa cartel estimated

to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs entering the U.S.

What does this mean now?

[10:35:00]

CURNOW: Does it change things?

DUDLEY: These are broad estimates and, yes, we can take them or we can leave them. The importance I think, here, again, is symbolic. The Sinaloa

cartel, which is the organization that he has run for decades, is largely a federation. It's broken up into small pieces. He is a member of what you

might call the board of directors. So it doesn't have a huge impact on the day-to-day.

But it does have a huge impact in terms of symbols. This is really the death knell of an administration that has -- talking about the Pena Nieto

administration in Mexico -- that has three years left in its term. So what are they going to do not just to recapture him but to revive the

presidency?

CURNOW: Indeed. A lot of questions. Steven Dudley, thank you so much for giving us some of your analysis on this extraordinary story, this

extraordinary and audacious escape. Thank you.

Now to a conviction of a former Nazi officer known as "The Bookkeeper of Auschwitz." A German court has sentenced 94-year-old Oskar Groening to

four years in prison. Now he was found guilty of being an accessory to the murders of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz death camp. Atika Shubert has

been following this story for us from London.

Hi, there, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Well, this is a trial that is of historic importance, particularly because he was not convicted of being

directly involved in the killing in Auschwitz. Rather he was convicted of being an accessory of keeping the machine of Auschwitz running.

Now he was known as "The Bookkeeper of Auschwitz" because his job as an SS officer there was to oversee the collection and sorting of personal

belongings of prisoners being brought in, so money, jewelry, anything in their suitcases, the clothing that they were wearing, this was all sorted

and often much of, like the money, was sent back to Berlin to fund the war effort.

Of course the vast majority of the prisoners coming through were Jews that were being sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Now in the trial, Oskar

Groening admitted to moral guilt for seeing some of the atrocities but failing to stop it. But he maintained that he was not legally guilty of

participating in any of the killing.

Clearly the court found that he was guilty and many of the survivors that testified at the trial disputed this, saying that he clearly must have

known much sooner what was happening if he was there, seeing the trains come in, sorting through all these personal belongings.

Now a lot of the survivors have spoken out and welcomed the verdict. But one survivor who was there and testified at the trial said even though he

welcomed the verdict, he did not want to see Oskar Groening serve time in prison. He's already 94 and a four-year sentence clearly could be a life

sentence for him.

It's not clear whether he will immediately go to prison. He can appeal, which will delay the prison process. Also it's up to the prosecution

whether or not he actually serves his time in prison or whether that gets suspended.

So there's still a few more legal processes to go through with this. But the verdict has clearly come through.

CURNOW: OK. Atika Shubert, thank you so much for that update.

Still ahead on the IDESK, a 16-year-old girl is the only survivor of a small plane crash in the mountains of Washington State. The incredible

story of how she hiked to safety -- that's next.

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CURNOW: Authorities in Washington State are calling the only survivor of a small plane crash a superhero, the 16-year-old girl hiked to safety --

[10:40:00]

CURNOW: -- from the crash site in the North Cascade Mountains. Search crews are now trying to reach the wreckage and police are stunned the girl

made it out alive.

Our Sara Sidner joins me now from Bellingham, Washington, with more on this incredible survival story.

Hi, there, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It really is incredible. The area where this crash happened is known as the American Alps. It is

very rugged, very difficult terrain. We do know that search crews did think they found the crash site but they haven't been able to get anyone on

the ground. That is what they're going to attempt to do today.

As for the 16-year old who survived, she is back home here and doing well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): Overnight, search crews locating the wreckage of the Washington State plane crash, where 16-year-old Autumn Veatch emerged as

the sole survivor.

The state's Department of Transportation says crews can't yet reach the crash site, located deep in the rugged North Cascades. Family and friends

say it's a miracle that Autumn was released from the hospital on Tuesday, just three days after surviving the crash.

OPERATOR: Hi. This is Michael with the Okanogan County 9-1-1.

What is your name?

AUTUMN VEATCH, CRASH SURVIVOR: Autumn Veatch.

SIDNER (voice-over): On Saturday, Autumn took this selfie just before flying in a small private plane with her stepgrandparents, Leland and

Sharon Bowman.

VEATCH: I was riding from Kalispell, Montana, to Bellingham, Washington, and about -- well, I don't know where, but we crashed and I was the only

one that made it out.

OPERATOR: OK, made it out from the collision --

VEATCH: From the plane.

OPERATOR: -- or survived?

VEATCH: Yes, the only one that survived.

SHERIFF FRANK ROGERS, OKANOGAN COUNTY: She said they came out of the clouds and she said all she saw was trees.

SIDNER (voice-over): Autumn says they crashed into the side of a mountain. The sheriff says she tried to pull her grandparents out of the plane, but

it was on fire.

OPERATOR: Are you injured at all?

VEATCH: Yes. I have a lot of burns on my hands and I'm kind of covered in bruises and scratches and stuff.

SIDNER (voice-over): After waiting for help for nearly a day, Autumn hiked her way out of the treacherous terrain, following a creek downstream until

she reached a trail and then the highway, a driver bringing her to this store.

RICK LEDUC, STORE OWNER: It's amazing that she was able to accomplish what she did.

SIDNER (voice-over): Her father speaking about Autumn's resilience.

AUTUMN'S FATHER: She's had to deal with a lot of loss. She's just an amazing kid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: We know that Autumn has made it home. She is in the apartment just behind me with her father -- Robyn.

CURNOW: As he said, an amazing kid. Thanks so much for that, Sara Sidner, appreciate it.

Well, that does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Don't go anywhere. "WORLD SPORT" is next.

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