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In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, One Man Holds on to Notion of Humanity as He Sifts Through Wreckage on Grisly Mission; King Tut Getting Full Forensic Checkover

Aired January 11, 2005 - 13:30   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Live now to the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld there with his Russian counterpart. After having some talks, let's listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: The entire civilized world has a stake in these elections. Following the elections in Afghanistan and the elections recently in the Palestinian Authority, the Iraqi vote will mark still another success for democracy and a defeat for the pro dictatorship and extremist elements in that region.

Mr. Minister, welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. And will speak Russian.

RUMSFELD: There folks who need everything I said translated? Are there members of the press who need it? Let's put it that way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a chance I can get those notes...

RUMSFELD: Sure, but you have to do it as well as I did it.

(LAUGHTER)

RUMSFELD: It's not clear to me that I should let you do that, but what if you did it better than I did?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe I can get a job with you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sergey Abanov (ph), who is the Russian defense minister there, meeting with the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. And as they switch into Russian, which is after all, all Russian to me, we are going to press on. We will be monitoring it with folks who have a littl acumen with the language, and we'll and get back to you on that.

Now to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where the mission is well beyond rescue of course. Still one man holds on to the notion of humanity as he sifts through the wreckage on a grisly mission.

CNN's John King accompanies him for a job that offers only heartache, but it is work he is compelled to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the walk of a tired man. Tawqua Yunos is tired of searching, more tired of what he finds.

TAWQUA YUNOS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: Oh, yes.

KING: A mother and her baby...

YUNOS: This is a woman.

KING: ... breastfeeding when the wave hit. This roadside raft both a rescue from the rubble and a ticket to a mass grave.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I have to detach my feelings from all of this. I cannot dwell on it. If I stop and dwell on it, I will not be able to help people.

Here I take one.

KING: Help the living, Tawqua says, because the now badly decomposed corpses spread disease. And help the dead, in his view, like the woman buried in debris behind Aceh's radio station here by at least getting them a burial.

YUNOS: This is, I think this is very difficult, yes? But we try to rescue because I am rescuer.

KING: Tawqua is a 19 year search and rescue veteran. He and his team from the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, in Banda Aceh, 10 days now and planning to stay another month.

Four bodies in this alley, three women and a child. The smiles might seem odd, but part of Tawqua's job is keeping his young team going. His matter of fact nature part of a calculated effort to keep his distance.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is a natural phenomenon. It cannot be avoided. The sun was shining and the weather was nice. Then a earthquake struck in a high scale. A tsunami wave followed. I just don't think about it too much. This is just another disaster.

KING: Of course, it is anything but just another disaster. Tawqua says he initially expected 20,000, maybe 30,000 deaths. The toll just here in Indonesia is 100,000. Tawqua has lost count of how many he has met. One here amid debris in a filthy canal. The stench as numbing as the view. Gloves and masks part of the job. But Tawqua rarely wears his.

Loading the cart means a busy stretch ahead, but a pause for a quick prayer here. Just a job, he says, but this is a young boy. Tawqua has two at home in Sulawesi.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): They know and they see all the victims on TV. They're proud that their father is in Aceh.

KING: "More bodies across the field," this soldier says. Two weeks later, the urgent challenge is to find them, rescue them, in Tawqua's words, before they get tossed away again.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We are humans. Corpses are human. They have to be treated like humans.

KING: Piles of debris everywhere.

YUNOS: Oh, yes.

KING: Approaching one, Tawqua's request is a giveaway -- a garbage bag, not a big plastic sheet. Yet another child who died alone.

Around the corner, another soldier and another excavation. This an upscale home that faces the water and faced death first. "Two more here, and then two at the mayor's house," the soldier says. And carrying plastic, bodies not the only burden they carry out.

Only mid-afternoon, but a draining day. All are tired but they agree to press on. And as they wash away the germs, Tawqua says he'll wait. More searches and what he calls rescues before the day is done.

John King, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Last week, we told you that King Tut is getting the full forensic checkover with a CAT scan, and some other high-tech gear, more than 3,000 years after his death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ZAWI HAWASS, EGYPTIAN ANTIQUTIES EXPERT: When I opened the sarcophagus for the first time, I looked at his face, I felt the magic and the mystery of King Tut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Well we sort of caught the magic of the man who is leading that study, who you just saw in the tape. Dr. Zawi Hawass, who heads up Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, joins us now from Cairo.

Dr. Hawass, we welcome you. You have quite a fan club here growing at CNN. He is joined by Brando Quilici who's making a documentary about the pharaoh's physical. And we welcome you both to program.

Let's begin with you, doctor. First of all, you described it as magic. I'm curious, though if you have some scientific facts yet. Based on this CAT scan information, have you found any clues about King Tut's life and death?

HAWASS: You know, I -- we really did the C.T. scanning, and we have the material with us now. And after three days, the scientists, archaeologists, are going to look at the whole body of the inside of King Tut. From that, I think in about three or four weeks maximum from today, I think in a press conference, from Cairo museum, we're going to announce to the world who murdered King Tut, or maybe he was not murdered.

As a matter of fact, this will be the first time actually that you can have a clue about the (INAUDIBLE) period, at the time at (INAUDIBLE), who believed in one God, and all this -- it's like a play, that we really didn't know anything about it, and therefore, think the C.T. scanning of King Tut is going to reveal lots of information. And if we know that he was murdered, maybe we can know the suspects.

O'BRIEN: Really? You could actually settle once and for all that question as to whether he was murdered, but not only that, you could actually solve the case, 3,000 years afterward?

HAWASS: I think it's -- if we know he was murdered, I think we can find out what exactly has happened to him. Because I do have a theory. And I hope that when I receive the results from the archaeologists in about two or three weeks from now, I think I can tell the world who murdered King Tut, if he was murdered.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that's fascinating stuff.

HAWASS: But you know, when I looked at the mummy, the mummy is actually in a bad condition. It divide into about 13 pieces, because you know, when Carter took the golden mask out of the chest of the mummy, he damaged the whole mummy...

O'BRIEN: Now, you're speaking...

HAWASS: Therefore, the face and the skull...

O'BRIEN: Let's help our viewers for just a moment. You're speaking about the initial expedition in the 1920s. The British expedition that discovered the mummy of King Tut.

HAWASS: Yes, and...

O'BRIEN: Carter was the man...

HAWASS: In 1925.

O'BRIEN: ... who led it. And he was blamed for causing some damage to the mummy. Do you feel that the damage...

HAWASS: Yes, because he had to take the golden mask out of the mummy...

O'BRIEN: Right. And was there so much damage that it might be difficult to solve these questions and answer these questions that you'd like to answer?

HAWASS: No, it is not really difficult. Because the problem -- the skull is in a very good condition. And the legs and the head, sort of very good condition. The only problem, as a matter of fact, the chest, it's kind of isolated blocks. And I feel that studying the skull and looking at the bone, the legs and the hands, we can really solve the problem. I think that moment, when I took this mummy out of the sarcophagus and put it in the machine, and you heard about the machine, what's happened, the machine was stopped for one hour. And people talking in Cairo now about the Curse of King Tut and how the curse is running after me.

O'BRIEN: Once again, doctor, let us -- let me help our viewers one more time here. Because there is this myth, some would call it a myth, some would call it fact -- that there is a curse associated with the King Tut mummy. Based on your -- I know you had a machine that mysteriously stopped and a near-automobile accident, and all kinds of things. Initially back in the '20s, one of the people who entered the tomb early was bitten by a mosquito and that ineffected and he died, and all these things happened over the years. Do you believe in that myth?

HAWASS: But, Miles, thank God that I am still alive.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask Brando, who's sitting beside you, who has been documenting your every step of the way. Do you believe in the curse of King Tut, Brando Quilici?

BRANDO QUILICI, FILMMAKER: Well, Miles, I think that we have to respect the curse. We have to respect what it means. And actually, I have a little story to tell you. I was dying to see if it's true that on the left cheek of King Tut, there is a scab. This would be in the same place where Lord Carnarvon was bitten by the mosquito that was infected and that he died for.

So as Dr. Hawass got King Tut in the CAT scan, me and cameraman, who was trying to catch the sequence for film that will come up in May, and we saw immediately, in fact, that the scab is there. King Tut has on his left cheek this scab that is -- that is not sealed. So that was a very eerie moment and it's in the same place where Lord Carnarvon was bitten in the '20s and he died for that reason.

O'BRIEN: Doctor Hawass, could you try to put your finger on something for all of us? There is this -- here we are, 3,200 or so years later, and there is this tremendous interest in King Tut. In all things related to his life and death. Why do you suppose that is?

DR. ZAWI HAWASS: You know, I think his magic comes from the gold and from the -- the tomb was found actually completely intact on November 4th of 1922. And that discovery -- it's one of its kind. Lord Carter, Lord Carnarvon, the curse, the magic of King Tut. And you have to know that King Tut exhibit is going to be open in Los Angeles in June 15th. And now we can say King Tut is back. '

And in the same time, I think, you know, we'll reveal the mystery of King Tut. I will tell you, I have been working in the pyramids all my life. And I always felt that the magic are at the pyramids, the riddle, are at the pyramids. But when did I look at King Tut's face, I felt the mystery and the magic more than anything and this is because of the gold and the major discovery that happened by Lord Carter in November 4th of 1922. O'BRIEN: All right, Doctor Zawi Hawass, who is heading up the first all-Egyptian team to analyze King Tut's tomb. We appreciate you joining us. Brando Quilici, we look forward to seeing the fruits of your effort, the film...

QUILICI: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Which we'll see eventually on the National Geographic Channel. Keep us posted on that. We wish you both well in your work and by all means, be very careful as you continue your work. Thank you very much.

QUILICI: Thank you so much.

ZAWASS: Thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: All right -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Fascinating.

Well, as we see the amazing video from California of these -- check it out -- swift water rescues, we ask, how do you train to do this dangerous work? Well, it turns out, our own Mike Brooks has the answer. Since he's done the training, he explains it. After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: In Southern California, heavy rains and mudslides have claimed at least a dozen lives. But the casualty count would be much higher if it weren't for skilled teams of rescuers who have been the difference between life and death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her and the baby were, again, taken under and I was trying to yell at her as she was moving downstream, hold the baby up, hold the baby up. And every time I would say that, she would actually listen and she would try to get the baby up. But it was quite hard for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Now inside that bundle, an 8-week-old baby plucked from swirling waters after a rescue raft flipped over. CNN's law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks with more on what it takes to pull off swift water rescues. Mike, you were actually on a swift water team once. And you can really talk about the details, the techniques that were used.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, these guys did a fantastic job. I just want to point out, in this particular rescue, it was the L.A. County Fire Department's team, the swift water rescue team, swift water rescue technicians.

I just got off the phone with Mickey Gallagher (ph), who is actually a battalion chief with the L.A. County Fire Department Lifeguard division. Because you also have lifeguards out there working with the firefighters because of their expertise in water rescue. And what they did in that particular case, we saw the baby being swept down...

NGUYEN: Let's look at that video right now. You see the mother and the baby in the raft. But then the raft flips. And I guess the question to you, Mike, is that a result of the current or was that the result of the roping system that was in place?

BROOKS: Both, you had -- looks like maybe a short trail line that may have just gone ahead and stopped. And as the current flipped the raft, as we're going to see here, you see the trail line goes taut. And you see the woman hanging on to the baby. Now, she was in an exposure suit. And they had the baby in like, a little papoose pack, if you will, holding on to her. So it was tied to her at the time. And that's why she was able to keep the baby in her arms as the raft flipped. We see the raft flipping there.

And this current just swept her right downstream. Now, it was a captain from the fire department who was the downstream safety man, who was actually in a dry suit, that we see go up to the mother, who's there in an exposure suit herself. He's in a dry suit with a personal flotation device and all the safety equipment. And he goes up and takes the baby from the mother and was able to bring her to shore. Now, he was the guy who was downstream. He's the last line of defense, if you will, for this particular rescue.

NGUYEN: OK, when we see this video, in just an moment where you see him with the baby, walking through the water, how risky is that? Because this water seems to be -- there it is, the video right now.

BROOKS: Very, very, tough.

NGUYEN: He could easily lose his footing, couldn't he?

BROOKS: He could. They're lucky that this was as shallow as it was. But you see him still fighting against the current. Now, this team, Betty, was pre-deployed. What the L.A. County Fire Department has done, as part of preparations, they go to areas where they feel that there could be a swift water rescue problem, a rescue problem from the floodwaters. And they had pre-staged into San Dimas for operations such as this and lo and behold, it was...

NGUYEN: So they were already set up.

BROOKS: They were already pre-deployed. And it's part of their -- you know, just looking at things, being proactive and saying, we might have a problem, we've seen problems with this particular stream in San Dimas and they go out there and pre-deploy. Now, and you've got the lifeguards and the fire department working extremely well together in this particular case.

In fact, I was talking to Mickey and he said, hey, we've got to go, we're heading to the slide areas right now.

NGUYEN: Well, let's move over to those mudslides, because, as you mentioned, they're dealing with a lot of just desperate situations there. How much time do they have to actually find someone before it's just too late?

BROOKS: It's difficult to say. But the urban search and rescue teams and in L.A. County, in the city of Los Angeles, Ventura, where they're having these mudslides, are excellent at what they do. They're technical rescue expertise. Hopefully, they're hoping to find people in some of the voids. We've seen the houses being swept down the sides of these hills. And what they're doing, they're now -- there are a number of people still missing, but what they're hoping to do is to find some of these people in void spaces. There you get into confined space rescue. And what they're using, they're using some sound sensors, they're using fiberoptic cameras to go into these void spaces to see if they can actually find people.

NGUYEN: But oxygen is the key.

BROOKS: Oxygen is the key. If they find someone, in this particular case, what they can do is take an oxygen line and put it into void space, and hopefully get that person some extra time while they do rescue them, because it's very, very tenuous going through the mud. You just can't go ahead and sweep the mud off them. You have to go bucket by bucket, by hand, trying to get this. Because when you have so much pressure from the mud around you, you all of a sudden take the pressure away from that person's body, it's going to change the inside chemistry of their body and could send the person into shock. But they hope to find these people alive in these void spaces.

NGUYEN: Well, these rescue crews have their hands full, no doubt.

BROOKS: Yes, they do, and extremely and extremely brave firefighterfs and rescue personnel.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. Mike Brooks, thank you so much.

BROOKS: Thank you, Betty.

NGUYEN: There's more LIVE FROM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: More of all the news of the day coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, including a possible new case of mad cow disease in Canada. We're expecting an official announcement on that in about five minutes time.

And on the lighter side, is it a wonderful coincidence or true love finding a way? A little girl puts a message in a bottle. What happens next will surprise you. So stay tuned. LIVE FROM's hour of power begins after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 11, 2005 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Live now to the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld there with his Russian counterpart. After having some talks, let's listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: The entire civilized world has a stake in these elections. Following the elections in Afghanistan and the elections recently in the Palestinian Authority, the Iraqi vote will mark still another success for democracy and a defeat for the pro dictatorship and extremist elements in that region.

Mr. Minister, welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. And will speak Russian.

RUMSFELD: There folks who need everything I said translated? Are there members of the press who need it? Let's put it that way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a chance I can get those notes...

RUMSFELD: Sure, but you have to do it as well as I did it.

(LAUGHTER)

RUMSFELD: It's not clear to me that I should let you do that, but what if you did it better than I did?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe I can get a job with you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sergey Abanov (ph), who is the Russian defense minister there, meeting with the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. And as they switch into Russian, which is after all, all Russian to me, we are going to press on. We will be monitoring it with folks who have a littl acumen with the language, and we'll and get back to you on that.

Now to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where the mission is well beyond rescue of course. Still one man holds on to the notion of humanity as he sifts through the wreckage on a grisly mission.

CNN's John King accompanies him for a job that offers only heartache, but it is work he is compelled to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the walk of a tired man. Tawqua Yunos is tired of searching, more tired of what he finds.

TAWQUA YUNOS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: Oh, yes.

KING: A mother and her baby...

YUNOS: This is a woman.

KING: ... breastfeeding when the wave hit. This roadside raft both a rescue from the rubble and a ticket to a mass grave.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I have to detach my feelings from all of this. I cannot dwell on it. If I stop and dwell on it, I will not be able to help people.

Here I take one.

KING: Help the living, Tawqua says, because the now badly decomposed corpses spread disease. And help the dead, in his view, like the woman buried in debris behind Aceh's radio station here by at least getting them a burial.

YUNOS: This is, I think this is very difficult, yes? But we try to rescue because I am rescuer.

KING: Tawqua is a 19 year search and rescue veteran. He and his team from the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, in Banda Aceh, 10 days now and planning to stay another month.

Four bodies in this alley, three women and a child. The smiles might seem odd, but part of Tawqua's job is keeping his young team going. His matter of fact nature part of a calculated effort to keep his distance.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is a natural phenomenon. It cannot be avoided. The sun was shining and the weather was nice. Then a earthquake struck in a high scale. A tsunami wave followed. I just don't think about it too much. This is just another disaster.

KING: Of course, it is anything but just another disaster. Tawqua says he initially expected 20,000, maybe 30,000 deaths. The toll just here in Indonesia is 100,000. Tawqua has lost count of how many he has met. One here amid debris in a filthy canal. The stench as numbing as the view. Gloves and masks part of the job. But Tawqua rarely wears his.

Loading the cart means a busy stretch ahead, but a pause for a quick prayer here. Just a job, he says, but this is a young boy. Tawqua has two at home in Sulawesi.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): They know and they see all the victims on TV. They're proud that their father is in Aceh.

KING: "More bodies across the field," this soldier says. Two weeks later, the urgent challenge is to find them, rescue them, in Tawqua's words, before they get tossed away again.

YUNOS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We are humans. Corpses are human. They have to be treated like humans.

KING: Piles of debris everywhere.

YUNOS: Oh, yes.

KING: Approaching one, Tawqua's request is a giveaway -- a garbage bag, not a big plastic sheet. Yet another child who died alone.

Around the corner, another soldier and another excavation. This an upscale home that faces the water and faced death first. "Two more here, and then two at the mayor's house," the soldier says. And carrying plastic, bodies not the only burden they carry out.

Only mid-afternoon, but a draining day. All are tired but they agree to press on. And as they wash away the germs, Tawqua says he'll wait. More searches and what he calls rescues before the day is done.

John King, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Last week, we told you that King Tut is getting the full forensic checkover with a CAT scan, and some other high-tech gear, more than 3,000 years after his death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ZAWI HAWASS, EGYPTIAN ANTIQUTIES EXPERT: When I opened the sarcophagus for the first time, I looked at his face, I felt the magic and the mystery of King Tut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Well we sort of caught the magic of the man who is leading that study, who you just saw in the tape. Dr. Zawi Hawass, who heads up Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, joins us now from Cairo.

Dr. Hawass, we welcome you. You have quite a fan club here growing at CNN. He is joined by Brando Quilici who's making a documentary about the pharaoh's physical. And we welcome you both to program.

Let's begin with you, doctor. First of all, you described it as magic. I'm curious, though if you have some scientific facts yet. Based on this CAT scan information, have you found any clues about King Tut's life and death?

HAWASS: You know, I -- we really did the C.T. scanning, and we have the material with us now. And after three days, the scientists, archaeologists, are going to look at the whole body of the inside of King Tut. From that, I think in about three or four weeks maximum from today, I think in a press conference, from Cairo museum, we're going to announce to the world who murdered King Tut, or maybe he was not murdered.

As a matter of fact, this will be the first time actually that you can have a clue about the (INAUDIBLE) period, at the time at (INAUDIBLE), who believed in one God, and all this -- it's like a play, that we really didn't know anything about it, and therefore, think the C.T. scanning of King Tut is going to reveal lots of information. And if we know that he was murdered, maybe we can know the suspects.

O'BRIEN: Really? You could actually settle once and for all that question as to whether he was murdered, but not only that, you could actually solve the case, 3,000 years afterward?

HAWASS: I think it's -- if we know he was murdered, I think we can find out what exactly has happened to him. Because I do have a theory. And I hope that when I receive the results from the archaeologists in about two or three weeks from now, I think I can tell the world who murdered King Tut, if he was murdered.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that's fascinating stuff.

HAWASS: But you know, when I looked at the mummy, the mummy is actually in a bad condition. It divide into about 13 pieces, because you know, when Carter took the golden mask out of the chest of the mummy, he damaged the whole mummy...

O'BRIEN: Now, you're speaking...

HAWASS: Therefore, the face and the skull...

O'BRIEN: Let's help our viewers for just a moment. You're speaking about the initial expedition in the 1920s. The British expedition that discovered the mummy of King Tut.

HAWASS: Yes, and...

O'BRIEN: Carter was the man...

HAWASS: In 1925.

O'BRIEN: ... who led it. And he was blamed for causing some damage to the mummy. Do you feel that the damage...

HAWASS: Yes, because he had to take the golden mask out of the mummy...

O'BRIEN: Right. And was there so much damage that it might be difficult to solve these questions and answer these questions that you'd like to answer?

HAWASS: No, it is not really difficult. Because the problem -- the skull is in a very good condition. And the legs and the head, sort of very good condition. The only problem, as a matter of fact, the chest, it's kind of isolated blocks. And I feel that studying the skull and looking at the bone, the legs and the hands, we can really solve the problem. I think that moment, when I took this mummy out of the sarcophagus and put it in the machine, and you heard about the machine, what's happened, the machine was stopped for one hour. And people talking in Cairo now about the Curse of King Tut and how the curse is running after me.

O'BRIEN: Once again, doctor, let us -- let me help our viewers one more time here. Because there is this myth, some would call it a myth, some would call it fact -- that there is a curse associated with the King Tut mummy. Based on your -- I know you had a machine that mysteriously stopped and a near-automobile accident, and all kinds of things. Initially back in the '20s, one of the people who entered the tomb early was bitten by a mosquito and that ineffected and he died, and all these things happened over the years. Do you believe in that myth?

HAWASS: But, Miles, thank God that I am still alive.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask Brando, who's sitting beside you, who has been documenting your every step of the way. Do you believe in the curse of King Tut, Brando Quilici?

BRANDO QUILICI, FILMMAKER: Well, Miles, I think that we have to respect the curse. We have to respect what it means. And actually, I have a little story to tell you. I was dying to see if it's true that on the left cheek of King Tut, there is a scab. This would be in the same place where Lord Carnarvon was bitten by the mosquito that was infected and that he died for.

So as Dr. Hawass got King Tut in the CAT scan, me and cameraman, who was trying to catch the sequence for film that will come up in May, and we saw immediately, in fact, that the scab is there. King Tut has on his left cheek this scab that is -- that is not sealed. So that was a very eerie moment and it's in the same place where Lord Carnarvon was bitten in the '20s and he died for that reason.

O'BRIEN: Doctor Hawass, could you try to put your finger on something for all of us? There is this -- here we are, 3,200 or so years later, and there is this tremendous interest in King Tut. In all things related to his life and death. Why do you suppose that is?

DR. ZAWI HAWASS: You know, I think his magic comes from the gold and from the -- the tomb was found actually completely intact on November 4th of 1922. And that discovery -- it's one of its kind. Lord Carter, Lord Carnarvon, the curse, the magic of King Tut. And you have to know that King Tut exhibit is going to be open in Los Angeles in June 15th. And now we can say King Tut is back. '

And in the same time, I think, you know, we'll reveal the mystery of King Tut. I will tell you, I have been working in the pyramids all my life. And I always felt that the magic are at the pyramids, the riddle, are at the pyramids. But when did I look at King Tut's face, I felt the mystery and the magic more than anything and this is because of the gold and the major discovery that happened by Lord Carter in November 4th of 1922. O'BRIEN: All right, Doctor Zawi Hawass, who is heading up the first all-Egyptian team to analyze King Tut's tomb. We appreciate you joining us. Brando Quilici, we look forward to seeing the fruits of your effort, the film...

QUILICI: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Which we'll see eventually on the National Geographic Channel. Keep us posted on that. We wish you both well in your work and by all means, be very careful as you continue your work. Thank you very much.

QUILICI: Thank you so much.

ZAWASS: Thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: All right -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Fascinating.

Well, as we see the amazing video from California of these -- check it out -- swift water rescues, we ask, how do you train to do this dangerous work? Well, it turns out, our own Mike Brooks has the answer. Since he's done the training, he explains it. After this.

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NGUYEN: In Southern California, heavy rains and mudslides have claimed at least a dozen lives. But the casualty count would be much higher if it weren't for skilled teams of rescuers who have been the difference between life and death.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her and the baby were, again, taken under and I was trying to yell at her as she was moving downstream, hold the baby up, hold the baby up. And every time I would say that, she would actually listen and she would try to get the baby up. But it was quite hard for her.

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NGUYEN: Now inside that bundle, an 8-week-old baby plucked from swirling waters after a rescue raft flipped over. CNN's law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks with more on what it takes to pull off swift water rescues. Mike, you were actually on a swift water team once. And you can really talk about the details, the techniques that were used.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, these guys did a fantastic job. I just want to point out, in this particular rescue, it was the L.A. County Fire Department's team, the swift water rescue team, swift water rescue technicians.

I just got off the phone with Mickey Gallagher (ph), who is actually a battalion chief with the L.A. County Fire Department Lifeguard division. Because you also have lifeguards out there working with the firefighters because of their expertise in water rescue. And what they did in that particular case, we saw the baby being swept down...

NGUYEN: Let's look at that video right now. You see the mother and the baby in the raft. But then the raft flips. And I guess the question to you, Mike, is that a result of the current or was that the result of the roping system that was in place?

BROOKS: Both, you had -- looks like maybe a short trail line that may have just gone ahead and stopped. And as the current flipped the raft, as we're going to see here, you see the trail line goes taut. And you see the woman hanging on to the baby. Now, she was in an exposure suit. And they had the baby in like, a little papoose pack, if you will, holding on to her. So it was tied to her at the time. And that's why she was able to keep the baby in her arms as the raft flipped. We see the raft flipping there.

And this current just swept her right downstream. Now, it was a captain from the fire department who was the downstream safety man, who was actually in a dry suit, that we see go up to the mother, who's there in an exposure suit herself. He's in a dry suit with a personal flotation device and all the safety equipment. And he goes up and takes the baby from the mother and was able to bring her to shore. Now, he was the guy who was downstream. He's the last line of defense, if you will, for this particular rescue.

NGUYEN: OK, when we see this video, in just an moment where you see him with the baby, walking through the water, how risky is that? Because this water seems to be -- there it is, the video right now.

BROOKS: Very, very, tough.

NGUYEN: He could easily lose his footing, couldn't he?

BROOKS: He could. They're lucky that this was as shallow as it was. But you see him still fighting against the current. Now, this team, Betty, was pre-deployed. What the L.A. County Fire Department has done, as part of preparations, they go to areas where they feel that there could be a swift water rescue problem, a rescue problem from the floodwaters. And they had pre-staged into San Dimas for operations such as this and lo and behold, it was...

NGUYEN: So they were already set up.

BROOKS: They were already pre-deployed. And it's part of their -- you know, just looking at things, being proactive and saying, we might have a problem, we've seen problems with this particular stream in San Dimas and they go out there and pre-deploy. Now, and you've got the lifeguards and the fire department working extremely well together in this particular case.

In fact, I was talking to Mickey and he said, hey, we've got to go, we're heading to the slide areas right now.

NGUYEN: Well, let's move over to those mudslides, because, as you mentioned, they're dealing with a lot of just desperate situations there. How much time do they have to actually find someone before it's just too late?

BROOKS: It's difficult to say. But the urban search and rescue teams and in L.A. County, in the city of Los Angeles, Ventura, where they're having these mudslides, are excellent at what they do. They're technical rescue expertise. Hopefully, they're hoping to find people in some of the voids. We've seen the houses being swept down the sides of these hills. And what they're doing, they're now -- there are a number of people still missing, but what they're hoping to do is to find some of these people in void spaces. There you get into confined space rescue. And what they're using, they're using some sound sensors, they're using fiberoptic cameras to go into these void spaces to see if they can actually find people.

NGUYEN: But oxygen is the key.

BROOKS: Oxygen is the key. If they find someone, in this particular case, what they can do is take an oxygen line and put it into void space, and hopefully get that person some extra time while they do rescue them, because it's very, very tenuous going through the mud. You just can't go ahead and sweep the mud off them. You have to go bucket by bucket, by hand, trying to get this. Because when you have so much pressure from the mud around you, you all of a sudden take the pressure away from that person's body, it's going to change the inside chemistry of their body and could send the person into shock. But they hope to find these people alive in these void spaces.

NGUYEN: Well, these rescue crews have their hands full, no doubt.

BROOKS: Yes, they do, and extremely and extremely brave firefighterfs and rescue personnel.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. Mike Brooks, thank you so much.

BROOKS: Thank you, Betty.

NGUYEN: There's more LIVE FROM after this.

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O'BRIEN: More of all the news of the day coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, including a possible new case of mad cow disease in Canada. We're expecting an official announcement on that in about five minutes time.

And on the lighter side, is it a wonderful coincidence or true love finding a way? A little girl puts a message in a bottle. What happens next will surprise you. So stay tuned. LIVE FROM's hour of power begins after this.

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