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At Sago Baptist Church in West Virginia, People Beginning Process of Grieving; Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Intensive Care

Aired January 05, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien reporting live from the Sago mine number one on the day after yet another outpouring of emotion at the Sago Baptist Church. This time, people beginning the process of grieving after that horrible roller-coaster night of emotion. And the soul survivor, 26-year-old Randy McCloy, still in critical condition, but lots of positive signs. Is he out of the woods yet? We'll ask one of his doctors -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in intensive care. A massive stroke has put him there. And now it throws the political future of the country into disarray. We've got much more on that developing story coming to you from Jerusalem this morning.

Also, a breaking story out of Iraq. Dozens are dead in a pair of suicide attacks. It is the bloodiest day since last month's election. We'll take you there live on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: There's a news conference going on in Israel. We are monitoring that news conference, updating us on the condition of the prime minister, Ariel Sharon. We're going to get back to that in just a few moments. First, though, we want to check in once again with Miles. He's reporting from West Virginia.

Hey, Miles.

Good morning again, Soledad. From the Sago mine number one, still a jumble of emotions here in the wake of that mining accident, 13 miners trapped, 12 of them dead. Last night we saw a dramatic scene. We just talked a little while ago to the miner who organized this vigil you see here. A hundred people or so gathering at the Sago Baptist Church. The scene where little less than 24 hours prior, people were led to believe their loved ones were alive for a period of time. And then ultimately, of course those hopes dashed.

Now the miners and their families need to move on and continue with their very dangerous jobs. As they describe it, a brother brotherhood, which they will press on with, a way of life. All throughout the area, signs of the times here, signs indicating people praying for the miners and their families, flags flown at half staff at the state capital in Charleston, West Virginia, and all throughout the state for that matter this morning. Many people wearing black ribbons in honor of the 12 miners who died.

Meanwhile, a couple of investigations under way, federal and state. They'll look into everything from soup to nuts on this. The whole safety record of the mine and the mining company. Were there some inherent problems with the way this mine was run. What happened that morning? Did those terrible thunderstorms which came through and those lightning strikes have something to do with it?

And finally, the miscommunication subsequent to that. How could such bad information get out? Why wasn't it corrected sooner? We'll get more on all that, and we'll check in with the sole survivor's doctor in just a little bit -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

I want to get back to the developing story about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. We're just getting an update from the hospital, Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and they are telling us that, in fact, his condition is stable, but still serious. He is under anesthesia still. He is being ventilated. And as you can imagine, this massive stroke has left him in very grave condition. If he survives, he is not expected to be able necessarily to continue as prime minister. And that, of course, could set up a fight for leadership in Israel and raise some very serious questions about the future of Middle East peace. We'll be continuing to monitoring the briefing from the hospital.

Right now, Guy Raz is, in fact, at the hospital in Jerusalem for us.

Hey, Guy, good morning.

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. (INAUDIBLE),. the director general of Hadassah Hospital, he's now giving us an update. Let's take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon. Prime Minister Sharon is hospitalized in the last few hours in the neurosurgical intensive care unit, Hadassah Medical Center. The condition is severe, but stable. All the vital signs and all the measurements that we know to measure are as expected after such a long operation and after such a hemorrhagic stroke.

As part of the treatment of the prime minister is to put him under heavy anesthesia and ventilation, to keep the intracranial pressure low. I came to report because there are many rumors around Israel about the prime minister's condition.

As the director general of the Hadassah Medical Center, I promise that we will bring to the citizens of Israel information about any changes in the prime minister's condition. I'll ask your support and your responsibility of transferring the accurate information from Hadassah to the rest of the world.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: The director of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, updating us on the condition of Ariel Sharon, saying essentially that he came up and came out to give information because there had been so many rumors, and that he wanted to emphasize that any changes he would be bringing, the medical center itself would be bringing to the public, as he mentioned. Severe but stable condition now, and, in fact, the vital signs as expected, considering the hemorrhagic stroke that was suffered by Ariel Sharon.

He's under anesthesia, being ventilated as well, trying to keep the pressure in the cranium low. because of course bleeding on the brain is essentially the big problem there.

Reaction now from the White House, because President Bush, strong supporter of the prime minister, and the White House seeing him as a critical player in this Mideast peace plan.

Suzanne Malveaux has got more on that from the White House for us.

Hey, Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, President Bush, of course, is keeping a very close eye on Sharon's condition, his developments. We're told he's getting constant updates. Just yesterday he released a personal statement that "Laura and I share the concerns of the Israeli people about Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's health. and we are praying for his recovery. Prime Minister Sharon is a man of courage and peace. On behalf of all Americans, we send our best wishes and hopes to the prime minister and his family."

The White House, of course, Soledad, being very cautious, and if you will, somewhat sensitive not to get ahead of this story, but also understanding very much so that his condition is grave -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And in that understanding, even with not wanting to get ahead of the story, what would happen? What would it mean to the U.S. if, in fact, Ariel Sharon dies?

MALVEAUX: Well, certainly that is something that the White House is considering. And as you know, March 2001, the leaders first met at the White House. But It really wasn't until after the September 11th attacks when they forged a personal and political alliance, really in their shared vision against the war on terror and also in their shared visions to sideline the late Yasser Arafat in this peace process. It was Sharon's move to pull the Israelis from the West Bank and parts of Gaza that catapulted President Bush's position. Administration officials realize, of course, that could be thrown into limbo. What they're concerned about is there is going to be a power vacuum, perhaps quite dangerous, in that region.

S. O'BRIEN: Very reasonable concern about this point. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us with the president's reaction. Thanks, Suzanne. Appreciate it.

Breaking news out of Iraq to get to as well this morning. Death toll there rising. Now nearly 100 people reported dead in attacks in Karbala and Ramadi. It makes this the single deadliest day since last month's parliamentary elections.

Michael Holmes is live for us in Baghdad.

Michael, twin attacks and utterly devastating. What's the latest on both of these?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad. A bloody day indeed, since the elections, as you say, the worst day of bloodshed here in Iraq. The Ramadi attack, the death toll has just kept rising. It's now at least 50 people have been killed. What happened was, police recruits were lining up for a final screening process before being accepted into the police force. Officials say that a man wearing a suicide bomb vest walked up to the lined-up police recruits and detonated those explosives.

There are witnesses on the ground telling us they heard two explosions, but the officials are sticking with one. Nonetheless, the result was, as you know, carnage, 50 dead, at least 50 wounded.

Now, this was in the eastern part of the city, and it is a fairly restive city at the best of times.

The other explosion happened in Karbala, as you said. Now this is in one of Shia Islam's holiest city. It happened on a walkway, a pedestrian mall, if you'd like, that runs between the Imam Hussein and the Imam Abbas shrines, two of the holiest shrines in all of Iraq. Thursday is an important day for the faithful. It would have been crowded there.

Hospital sources say 40 killed. Perhaps as many as twice that number wounded when this suicide bomber detonated his explosives.

This has been a dreadful day in Iraq, especially coming after what had been a largely peaceful election. There is now a definite spike in the violence -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Terrible news. All right, thanks, Michael Holmes with that update from Baghdad this morning.

Terrible news as well out of the Sago, West Virginia mine, where, of course, those families and the miners got devastating news after such hopeful and joyful news before.

Let's get right back to Miles. He's got an update on the story for us.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, Soledad, the one glimmer throughout this whole terrible dark ordeal has been the story of 26-year-old Randy McCloy. In just a moment, we're going to check in on his condition at the hospital, and a little bit later, we'll talk to one of his doctors.

Stay with us for more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: Such a sad story here at the Sago mine number one, but there's also that amazing story. The sole survivor, 26-year-old Randy McCloy. How could he possibly have survived, where 12 of his comrades underground did not. His condition appears to be much better than many of us might expect.

Joining us now to talk about that is Dr. John Prescott. He is dean of the West Virginia University Medical School, and he has been part of the team that has been treating Randy McCloy.

Dr. Prescott, good morning to you.

How is he doing this morning?

DR. JOHN PRESCOTT, ON MCCLOY'S MED. TEAM: Good morning.

He remains in a very critical state. He has remained stable. I will tell you that we did see some slight improvement last evening in some of his body functions. We've seen some improvement in his heart function, some improvement in his liver function, some improvement in his kidney function, and also some improvement his in his lung function or breathing functions.

But these are small improvements. He remains in a very critical state at this time.

M. O'BRIEN: So by no means should we presume that Randy McCloy is out of the woods right now?

PRESCOTT: That is correct. He remains, again, at least stable, with some signs of improvement, but he is certainly not out of the woods. He is in very critical condition, being taken care of by a team of doctors and nurses, including specialists in literally every field, looking at him making sure that they can provide the best care possible for him.

M. O'BRIEN: What is, fundamentally, the biggest problem that he faced while he was trapped in that mine? Is it, in fact, dehydration or was it exposure to carbon monoxide?

PRESCOTT: You know, no one knows exactly what occurred in that mine, and that's has been one of the problems we've had, is that we are still trying to put together the pieces of what exactly occurred during that incident. We do know that he does certainly face -- he faced issues with dehydration, he faced issues with not having food or sustenance, or perhaps enough oxygen, during the time period he was down there. So we are still trying to put together these pieces as we take care of him and we see this -- see him stabilize, and hopefully improve over the next several days.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, whenever there's a lack of oxygen, for whatever reason, the immediate -- one of the immediate concerns is the possibility of brain damage. What do we know about that?

PRESCOTT: Yes. We do know that his neurological functions have stayed the same over -- throughout the evening. There has really been no change in them since last evening when we last saw him, and to this morning when we begin our reexamination. The -- we are concerned about that, and we remain concerned. We've certainly talked to the family about this, and our doctors and our staff are certainly looking closely at this.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, help us understand a little bit better. When you say his neurological functions haven't changed, are his neurological functions not what you would hope them to be, and they remain in that state?

PRESCOTT: Sure. Right. His neurological remain -- what we do is a series of neurological tests throughout the evening, throughout the night, and there's ways in which we can measure his alertness, his responsiveness to different types of stimuli, and what we've been able to ascertain, is that there's been no change during this time period.

Now we did stop the sedation late last evening to make sure that we could now get a more accurate neurological testing done. And again, as I explained to someone else before, this is a process; it's not a one-time we can tell you exactly what's going to happen at this moment. We have to see a change over some time, and that's what we're looking for.

S. O'BRIEN: So when, in fact, you removed the sedation, or began weaning him of the sedation, was there a marked improvement? Did you see much of a difference?

PRESCOTT: We saw some initial difference. Right now with what we are seeing is that, again, because of some of the organs damaged, some of the organs that typically would clear or make the sedation medicine go away, it's taken some time. They weren't functioning at full capacity, so some of these medications may have lingered, and may linger in the blood system for a little while longer. And over time, we'll know whether or not they're still having any type of effect on Mr. McCloy's ability to wake up and respond.

S. O'BRIEN: Is he still on the breathing device, the ventilator?

PRESCOTT: Yes, he is. He's still on a ventilator. We're still giving him the oxygen that his body does need, and we're still helping him, although he is taking some breaths outside of what the machine is doing for him right now, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Right. And that's part of the reason why you put them on sedation, so they don't kind of fight that, as I understand it. Tell me this, did -- is -- has he been response nerve a way you would like him to be when asked questions?

PRESCOTT: When you -- you -- can talk with Mr. McCloy at this point, we're not certain that he is hearing anything at this point. He is not responding with purposeful movement at this moment. There was responses yesterday to his wife. We, at this time, again, we are not seeing those kind of responses, but that doesn't mean things have changed one way or the other. It's, again, we saw something for a moment yesterday. We hope to see, again, some signs of that again today. S. O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. John Prescott, who's dean of the medical school, West Virginia University, part of an impressive medical team trying to help out 26-year-old Randy McCloy, the sole survivor, thanks for shedding light on his condition.

Back to you, Soledad.

PRESCOTT: You're welcome.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got some tax news. If you're worried about getting hit by the AMT, the alternative minimum tax, you'll want to listen up. There's a new way you can eliminate a little bit of the surprise factor in that.

We've got that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

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S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back out to Miles, who's reporting for us from West Virginia this morning.

Hey, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Soledad.

In the immediate aftermath of this mine accident, those miners trapped, a team mobilized to try to offer them help. We'll talk to one man who was crucial in the early stages and who offered up the first indication that things might not be so good underground. Stay with us for more.

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