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Investigation Complete in Marine's Drowning; Australian Miners Still Trapped Underground

Aired May 02, 2006 - 15:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Institution failures, colossal lapses in safety and a dead U.S. Marine. Who should take the blame? CNN's Randi Kaye has a troubling case and a widow's demands for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Staff Sergeant Andrew Gonzales was a Marine drill instructor, as well as a strong swimmer. So, it was no surprise he was hand picked to become a combat instructor of water survival. No one ever imagined survival training would kill him.

(on camera): He thought it would be safe.

MICHELLE GONZALES, ANDREW GONZALES' WIDOW: Yes, he'd be safe. Yes, so, but he wasn't.

KAYE (voice-over): On Sergeant Gonzales' sixth day of training, the morning of August 1st last year, he climbed into the swim tank at this San Diego training facility for the last time.

(on camera): Do you believe that the Marines killed your husband?

GONZALES: I do. I do. I believe every safety measure, every precaution that they are supposed to take wasn't taken.

KAYE (voice-over): CNN obtained this investigative report from the Marines. Though heavily censored, it raises serious doubt about Sergeant Gonzales' mental state the day he died and whether or not the proper safety precautions were taken at the pool.

(on camera): In connection with the death of Gonzales, four Marines have been charged with dereliction of duty. Two of them with more serious charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide.

But what really happened the morning he died is still under investigation. The Marines refused CNN's request for an interview until the case is resolved.

So the question lingers, how is it that Staff Sergeant Gonzales, a strong experienced swimmer at the top of his class, chosen for survival training because of his skills in the water, could die practicing a routine rescue technique? (voice-over): According to the investigation, Gonzales was in an exercise where instructors grab students to simulate being grabbed by a distressed swimmer. Three times Gonzales failed to escape his instructor's hold. According to the report, witnesses heard Sergeant Gonzales yelling "let me go" several times that morning.

A Marine for 15 years, Jay Platt taught combat water survival training.

JAY PLATT, FORMER MARINE: An instructor is going to grab you very hard and you're having to fight for your life to get away.

KAYE: Shortly before slipping under, Gonzales is described as nervous, breathing rapidly, and visibly uncomfortable. He was pulled from the pool, barely breathing. Attempts to resuscitate him failed. Forty minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

GONZALES: The people that were in the water with him noticed distress and heavy breathing at various points, but not once did they let him have the break he needed or to get out of the water to catch his breath.

KAYE: According to the Marines, students are not permitted to rest in between rescues. And not let go until they complete the technique to the instructor's satisfaction.

(on camera): When you think about that morning, your husband's final morning, and what he must have been going through, how does that make you feel?

GONZALES: I'm disgusted. I'm just really disgusted. Because he loved being a Marine and that's all he wanted to be. They took it away from him.

KAYE (voice-over): The day he died, Gonzales refused to get in the swim tank. He had nearly drowned, his wife says, a few days earlier. But according to the investigation, he was ordered to get in the pool or be dropped from the course.

GONZALES: You know, less than an hour later, he was gone.

KAYE: So how tough is too tough when it comes to training?

PLATT: The Marine Corps is a preeminent fighting force for a reason, that everything the Marine Corps does is tough training. It's not the Boy Scouts.

KAYE: Michelle Gonzales wonders if her husband's death could have been prevented. The day he died, the Marines investigation found no designated observer or supervisor on the pool deck. In simple terms, no lifeguards.

(on camera): Who would normally be present at the side of the pool during training like this?

PLATT: You always are required to have at least one person not in the water because if I'm in an elevated position not in the water, I can see things going on there that you as an instructor with that student cannot see.

KAYE (voice-over): To make matters worse, in treating Gonzales, the investigation found one of two emergency oxygen bottles leaking and useless and that the Marines failed to use the poolside defibrillator.

GONZALES: My first hug as a married woman.

KAYE: In the seven months that have passed since her husband's death Michelle Gonzales has tried to get her life back on track. She's moved from San Diego to San Antonio, still wearing her husband's dog tags around her neck.

GONZALES: I know it's there and I always can think of him. But, I shouldn't be wearing it. He should be wearing it.

KAYE: This once proud Marine wife, now a Marine widow, is left to wonder if the Marines let one of their own die.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Randi Kaye now joining us from New York. Randy, Article 32 hearing investigation is complete. What were the findings?

KAYE: Well Kyra, the officer in charge of that hearing is suggesting now that all charges against those two Marines, the drill instructors be dropped and that the entire Marine Corps actually be held accountable.

That officer says that Sergeant Gonzales's death resulted from an institutional failure or a colossal failure as he calls it, to adequately supervise the course and the conduct.

He goes on to say to lay blame for this death at the feet of two officers fails to address the larger problem, being failure to implement the safety protocol and he adds if the two drill instructors are to be court-martialed, then so should each and every Marine who failed to supervise the conduct.

Now it's important to remember here, Kyra, that the safety protocol was not set up at the pool. The defibrillator was not readily available. One of the oxygen bottles was empty. Once again, there was not a lifeguard presence.

PHILLIPS: It just amazes me because there's so much attention to detail in the military so it's hard to hear those things. Now you read the investigating officers report, right? And there was testimony from Marines that were at the pool. What did they say?

KAYE: Well more than half a dozen Marines were called before that Article 32 hearing and what we heard was much of what we had seen in the story that just aired. But a few more details, that he was gasping for air the morning that he died yelling "stop, let me go. I don't want to do this."

The supervisors were splashing water in his face as he was looking to get some air. He apparently begged not to be dragged into the deeper water.

And here is a key piece of testimony. The tap rule was only observed at the trainer's discretion. Now Kyra, the tap rule is something that a drill instructor in training does when they are in one of these exercises and they're desperate for help or desperate to get oxygen. They're supposed to tap their instructor on the shoulder and be allowed to come to the surface. Well apparently this is only being used at the officer's discretion.

PHILLIPS: What is the next step for these guys?

KAYE: The next step now is that it's in the hands of the commanding officer. He can either decide if these two drill instructors should be court-martialed or if they charges against them should be dropped.

If they are court-martialed, each could get up to 20 years in prison if they're found guilty. There's also the two other officers that I had mentioned, the other two drill instructors facing lesser charges. They may have to go before the same type of Article 32 hearing or the commanding officer could also decide that they should go straight to court-martial or again, the charges could be dropped.

We should know as early as Thursday of this week.

PHILLIPS: Now Randi, I know that both of us, a lot of people at CNN have observed military training. And you've got to be tough and you've got to push it to the limit and you have to remain calm. It's very mental and very physical and it can't be easy.

So is there a lot of talk about how far is too far and do we need to re-evaluate how macho we get in this type of training?

KAYE: I think this is what this will certainly contribute to. I think there will be a lot of talk now. There's already been a lot of talk. There's been so many of these accidents over the years. Not just drowning, but many accidents during training and many deaths that have resulted.

So there will be certainly promises to be more talk about also one bit of testimony, just to show you how serious this is, coming out of that hearing, the motto apparently for these drill instructors is "swim or die, just don't quit." So that should tell you just how tough this training is.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

It's a gold mine, yes, but it's also a mine and a potential tomb for two Australian miners who have been trapped there for a week. The men are exhausted, but alive, and seemingly in pretty good spirits deep underground in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Reporter Chris Reason (ph) with Australia's Channel 7 Network is on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS REASON, CHANNEL 7 REPORTER (voice-over): It's the first look inside the subterranean city that sprawls beneath Beaconsfield. The video was made for miners and their families, and shows life a kilometer below ground, a glimpse of the conditions the trapped miners are enduring: cramped, filthy, dark and an uncomfortable 30 degrees.

Add to that, they are trapped in a cage safety platform like this one, only smaller. There was some relief today, though, news they'd worked open a door, providing an extra square meter of cavity space to crawl into.

BILL SHORTEN, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS' UNION: There's a little bit of room to move, but they are not out there doing calisthenics.

REASON: They have also been given tarpaulin sheets to keep dry, fresh clothes, glow sticks for light, more food, bedding, and magazines.

MATTHEW GILL, MINE MANAGER: I believe they're appropriate types of magazines.

REASON: And their request the weekend papers, proof they have kept their sense of humor.

GILL: And the reason he wanted Saturday's paper was because he is going to look for another job.

REASON: Those creature comforts will be vital. The pair have been told the 48-hour drilling process to rescue them is still yet to start. The raised borer drill they'll use, like this one, needs a concrete base to be laid before the operation can begin.

It's a wait not only unbearable for Todd Russell and Brant Webb, residents say the tension is exhausting. At the local Uniting Church, around the clock prayers. There are vigils outside the mine's main gates ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted God to give them strength, to guide them, to lead them, and I know he will.

REASON: ... and a continual stream of well wishers.

ACACIA SULZBURG, MINER'S DAUGHTER: I feel sad because they got trapped down there and some of my -- they're my best friends down there because he used to work there.

REASON: Binny Shea's has known Todd's family 30 years and knows he will make it through.

BINNY SHEA'S, FAMILY FRIEND: Yes, yes, it's (INAUDIBLE). UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you describe him?

SHEA'S: Tough. That's why he'll come out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, the mine manager says one of the trapped miners has resigned. We don't know whether he's the one Chris Reason was talking about who asked for the wanting postings in that paper.

Well, it's a loss you can't measure and no one should ever go through it again. The words of families of the 12 West Virginia coal miners killed in the Sago disaster in January, fighting through the tears and holding pictures of their sons, husbands and fathers. They opened two days of public hearings at a nearby college.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all miss him so much. We won't get to be with our dad again until we all meet in heaven.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad in my eyes was perfect. He was a fantastic role model, a devoted father, a loving companion, and a reliable friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not let these men -- let their deaths be in vain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one time it's going to stay in the forefront. It's not going to be swept under the rug as years go by and time goes by and forgotten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: This is only the second time the federal government's mining agency has let families testify at a public hearing.

Well, before we move on, let's take a closer look at the men in those family pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Alva Martin Bennett was known as Marty. Relatives say mining was the only job they can remember him doing in his 50 years. Like many in this tight-knit community, working in the mine was a family tradition. His father and son worked as miners, as well.

61-year-old Jim Bennett was known as a religious man who said he loved working in the mine. His son-in-law says he prayed every day for those going to toil underground. He had planned to retire this year.

57-year-old Jerry Groves had been a coal miner for more than 30 years. His father, grandfather, and brother were miners, too. 50-year-old Terry Helms mined coal for 35 years but he wouldn't let his son become a miner. His sister says that Helms was the first one to go down into the mine on Monday morning before the deadly blast.

David Lewis worked in the mine so he could stay at home at night with his three daughters while his wife went to school. He was 28 years old.

Martin Toler was a mine foreman. The 50-year-old had worked with his son, Chris, and Chris says he had planned to tell his dad to retire.

59-year-old Fred Ware had been getting ready for a Valentine's Day wedding. He'd been a miner for six years. His fiancee says he'd always told her he believed he would die in the mine.

Jack Weaver was 52. Marshall Winans was 49 years old, and all we know of George Hamner, Jr. so far is his name.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: So can you still be sexy at 70? Happy birthday to one of LIVE FROM's favorite hunks. International heartthrob and living legend Engelbert Humperdinck says his party is just getting started.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): He's the one that showed Elvis how to wear sideburns, tom-catted with singer Tom Jones, dined with Dino, kissed sex kitten Raquel Welch, and today he has got another reason to celebrate life. Engelbert Humperdinck turns 70.

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: The man born Arnold George Dorsey changed his name early in his career. His manager suggested Engelbert Humperdinck after the Austrian composer. A sensation was born.

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK, SINGER: I got lucky with "Release Me" as a song which was number one around the world.

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: The 70s sex symbol stashed at least 150 shirts on tour. Women went wild ripping them off his chest. And after 40 years in the biz, he's still hot ...

HUMPERDINCK: I never quite working on different projects.

PHILLIPS: ... because the fans still want more. HUMPERDINCK: I'm working on a DVD, on a CD, which is a little bit different for Engelbert Humperdinck. I don't want to give it away, because I think this is the new surprise, one of the surprises for my 70th year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Humperdinck has sold more than 130 million records. Yesterday, he came out with a box set of his greatest hits. Happy birthday Engelbert.

Now part two of our LIVE FROM pop quiz, can you do better than the 18-24-year-olds who took a geography literacy test? Which one of these countries is Iraq? The answer, and results of that test straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tens of thousands of young Americans are serving in Iraq, but most of their countrymen don't know where Iraq is. A new geographic literacy study finds almost two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 can't find Iraq on a map. Could you? Earlier we showed you a map of the Middle East, and there's Iraq. The same study found three- quarters of young Americans can't point out Iran or Israel. On the positive side, 70 percent can find China.

Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. Do you want to take a look at that map, point out one of the countries, Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I think I could do almost all of them, but not necessarily all of them. China, I think I know where China is. Iraq I know where it is. And right below it is Saudi Arabia. But that's another story, Kyra. We'll have a geography quiz on another day.

Lots of come -- lots of stuff coming up at the top of the hour here in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Republicans backpedaling on a gas rebate. Democrats continuing their offensive on oil prices. And get this, the chairman of ExxonMobil is speaking out. We're covering all sides of politics at the pump.

Plus, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright. Find out why she now says the war in Iraq may be the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history. She's live with us in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Also, nuclear war of words. If the U.S. takes action against Iran, Iran now threatens to attack Israel, and Israel is promising to hit right back. We'll take you inside Iran. A story you'll see only here on CNN.

And funeral protests outrage. The ACLU is coming to the defense of an extreme group that demonstrates at the burials of fallen soldiers. It's a war over the freedom of speech. That and much more, Kyra, all coming up in a few minutes. PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf. Look forward to it. We're going to check the numbers from Wall Street as the closing bell rings. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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