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Video shows ferry captain's escape
4/29/2014 8:29:20 AM
- 193 people are confirmed dead and 109 are missing, the coast guard says
- Coast guard on captain's rescue: "We couldn't tell who was a passenger"
- One of the teenage victims took cell phone video as the Sewol ferry began to sink
- Loudspeaker announcements can be heard telling passengers to stay put
Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- In one video, the captain of the sinking South Korean ferry scrambles to safety. In another, stranded passengers panic.
"Wow, it's tilting a lot. We're tilting to this side. Can't move," one says.
"You think I'm really going to die?" another cries.
The two recordings fueled fresh outrage Monday over the Sewol ferry's sinking as questions swirled over why so many perished in the disaster while many members of the ship's crew survived.
The video capturing passengers' panic was recorded by a teenage boy on the vessel, according to South Korean national TV network JTBC. The teen's father gave the network the footage after authorities recovered his son's body and found the cell phone. Its memory card was still intact, JTBC reported.
The network shared a roughly three-minute audio clip of the video with CNN, which translated the exchanges.
The clip provides a horrifying glimpse into the uncertainty and desperation inside the ferry as it rolled.
Meanwhile, outside the ferry, rescuers were circling, a video released by South Korea's coast guard shows.
The video shows the coast guard's rescue of Lee Joon-seok, the ship's captain, who scrambles off the stricken vessel in his underwear.
Speaking out about it for the first time on Monday, the men who rescued him said they had no idea who he was until later.
"During the rescue operation, people were just dropping in the sea," South Korean coast guard Capt. Kim Kyung Il told reporters. "Everyone was wearing a life vest, so we couldn't tell who was passenger, and who was crew."
Arrests and an investigation
Many South Koreans have lambasted the government's response to the disaster, saying it has been too slow. South Korean authorities are pressing a criminal investigation.
The ship's captain and 14 others have been arrested. Prosecutors in Mokpo, who are leading the ferry investigation, tell CNN that all the 15 crew members in charge of sailing and the engine room have been indicted and are being held in the Mokpo prison.
Authorities also arrested three people Monday on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the sinking of the ferry.
On Sunday, South Korea's Prime Minister announced his resignation, saying he wants to take responsibility for the initial reaction to the disaster.
Chung Hong-won apologized "on behalf of the government for the many problems that arose during the first response and the subsequent rescue operation" in addition to "problems that existed before the accident."
While political fallout occurs, the father of the boy who shot the cell phone video is beside himself with grief.
"My son, it must have been cold and dark where you were," said Park Jong-dae, weeping as he read a statement on JTBC. "How much you must have been cold and afraid?
"I hoped and prayed for your survival, but it didn't turn out that way. My son, now it's time for us to say goodbye. It's time for you and me to say goodbye and for me to let go of the hope that I could not let go so far. Please forgive me. Farewell. ..."
Images of ferry captain abandoning ship are shocking
Confusion and a warning to stay put
On Monday, searchers continued to look for passengers and crew, and so far have retrieved 193 bodies. Another 109 people are still missing.
The fate of those seen and heard on the video is not known.
Coast guard officials told reporters on Monday that when they arrived at the site of the shipwreck, the ferry was listing so badly that they immediately sounded their alarm.
"When we got there, we used our speakers to tell everyone to get off the boat and get into the water," Kim said.
At some point inside the ferry, passengers -- including 300 students on a school field trip -- apparently heard a different message.
In the audio recording provided by JTBC, a voice on a public address system warns that everyone should stay where they are: "Do not move from your present location and please stay. ..."
Ferry disaster's toll on South Korea's national psyche
While some seem confused, there are people who appear to joke around, clearly not fully comprehending the gravity of what's happening. At one point a voice is heard saying, "This trip is screwed."
Others seem more distressed by the situation and ask about life jackets.
"Mom, dad, dad, dad! What about my younger sibling?" one cries.
Some passengers talk to one another, trying to reassure and inform. Another voice says, "I think it's calming down."
Then: "Is it calming down?"
"It's going more to the left."
"I think it's better than it was before."
"I'm wearing the life vest."
"I'm wearing one, too. I really have to."
"I have to wear one, too."
Some appear to try to help others.
One shouts, "Hey!" then says the name of someone who doesn't have a life jacket. "We need to get one!"
As the video continues, it seems that no one knows what's really happening.
"What's the captain doing?" one person asks.
Later, a voice is heard saying, "They should let us know what's going on."
South Korean president apologizes for response to ferry sinking
CNN's Nic Robertson reported from Jindo. CNN's Ashley Fantz and Catherine E. Shoichet reported from Atlanta. CNN's Jung-eun Kim, Judy Kwon and Steven Jiang contributed to this report.
What's behind MERS outbreak?
4/30/2014 12:50:37 AM
- The MERS coronvirus has sickened more than 330 people in Saudi Arabia
- Twenty-six new cases were reported last weekend
- Researchers have found the live virus in camels
(CNN) -- Evidence is mounting against camels as leading suspects in a deadly mystery that's claimed more than 100 lives in the Middle East.
The biological supervillain is the virus causing MERS-coV, short for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a type of coronavirus.
Since the first documented cases in spring 2012, MERS has sickened at least 339 people in Saudi Arabia alone and killed nearly a third of them, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
A recent surge in reported cases -- including 26 new ones this past weekend -- has fanned concern the outbreak might be shifting into a more dangerous phase.
With any newly recognized virus, disease detectives start with a few key questions. What kind of illness does it cause? How is it spread? And where does it come from?
With regard to that last question, a new paper leaves little doubt that at least one answer is camels.
Researchers from Columbia University, King Saud University and the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance managed to isolate live MERS virus from two single-humped camels, known as dromedaries.
Should I be concerned about new virus?
A genetic analysis found numerous substrains in the camel viruses, including one that perfectly matches a substrain isolated from a human patient. The findings are published in mBio, the open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The attention on camels isn't new; in February, the same group published a finding that nearly three-quarters of camels in Saudi Arabia tested positive for past exposure to the MERS coronavirus.
The new paper still leaves many questions unanswered: For example, what other animals might harbor the virus? Could it be bats, as some have suggested?
"There might be another animal, but we don't know," says Dr. Ian Lipkin, who organized the research as director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "We need more in terms of surveillance."
Does the virus make camels sick? Researchers don't know, says Peter Daszak, another study author and president of the EcoHealth Alliance, which researches links between animal health and human disease.
Perhaps most urgent: Has something recently changed to make MERS-coV more dangerous?
Here, some of the evidence is reassuring. Any avid mystery reader knows that a watchdog who doesn't bark can be an important clue. With MERS, there is a lack of alarm bells from the laboratory; so far there is no evidence that the virus is changing to attack people more aggressively or to spread more easily.
There isn't enough evidence to draw a firm conclusion, says Dr. Mark Denison, a leading expert on coronaviruses and a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University. It also remains to be seen whether humans are being infected by more than one of the substrains found in camels. "There's a lot more work that would need to be done" to prove it, he says.
Those who study MERS-coV says it's crucial to pin down just how the virus is transmitted.
"We need to know what people are most at risk," Daszak says. "We don't know if they're involved in camel racing, camel breeding, camel slaughter -- that's really critical right now."
Lipkin says the virus likely spreads in a variety of ways, but he'd like to see more aggressive steps taken to prevent the possibility of people being infected by eating camel meat or drinking raw, unpasteurized camel milk -- both of which are common in Saudi Arabia.
He says the Saudis will face special concerns again this fall when millions descend on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the Hajj pilgrimage. As part of the ritual, animals are sacrificed, and their meat shipped all over the world to help feed the hungry.
Saudis: More deaths from respiratory syndrome
"The butchery will begin in three or four months' time, and we have to have measures in place to ensure that the animals aren't infected," Lipkin says. For example, he says, officials could decide to forbid the slaughter of young camels for food since younger animals are more likely to carry the MERS virus.
Dr. David Swerdlow, who heads the team responsible for tracking MERS at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the Saudi government took steps to discourage the spread of the virus during last year's Hajj, including posting warnings to discourage people older than 65, pregnant women or those who were immune-compromised from making the pilgrimage.
Health authorities have not yet decided what steps to take this year, Swerdlow says, but the United States is watching the situation closely.
"Any time you have an emerging infection that has a high case fatality rate, that's been around for over a year, that has caused illness in multiple countries, that's caused illness in travelers and health care workers, and for which there is no treatment or vaccine, we're concerned. We've been concerned for a year and a half, and we remain concerned."
Bombings hit key Syrian cities
4/29/2014 9:01:20 PM
- NEW: Mortar and car bomb attacks killed nearly 60 people, report says
- NEW: A car bombing in Homs' al-Zahra neighborhood kills 40, state news agency says
- The car bomb hits an Alawite area, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
- Chemical weapons watchdog says it is investigating chlorine gas attack claims
(CNN) -- At least 58 people in Syria were killed Tuesday in "terrorist" mortar and car bomb attacks in the city of Homs and the Damascus area, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
A car bombing in Homs' al-Zahra neighborhood killed 40, SANA reported, citing an unnamed source in the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, also reported many casualties, including women and children, in the car bomb attack.
It described al-Zahra as an Alawite neighborhood. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is a member of the Alawite religious sect, which is an offshoot of Shia Islam.
In Damascus, mortar rounds hit the al-Shaghour neighborhood. Two slammed into the Badr-Eddin al-Hooni Institute for Islamic Sharia Sciences, killing 14.
Four people were killed in a mortar strike at a center for displaced people in the Damascus countryside. Three of those killed were children.
Scores of people were wounded in the violence.
The unrest comes amid Syria's three-year civil war pitting government forces against rebels trying to end the rule of al-Assad. The government often refers to rebels as armed terrorists bent on destabilizing the country.
The government announced this month that new elections would be held June 3.
But that may not yield any change in a country where al-Assad's family has had a tight grip on power for 43 years. Al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000 and won a second term in 2007, unopposed.
More than 100,000 people, including many civilians, have been killed in the war.
Chlorine gas attack claims
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Tuesday that it would investigate claims the Syrian government may have used chlorine gas in a deadly attack on its people this month in Hama province.
"The Syrian government, which has agreed to accept this mission, has undertaken to provide security in areas under its control," the OPCW said. "The mission will carry out its work in the most challenging circumstances."
The team is expected to leave for Syria soon and has the backing of the United Nations, the statement added.
If confirmed, a chlorine attack would undermine a deal brokered by Russia last fall and approved by the U.N. Security Council that requires Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to the international community.
The agreement halted threats of U.S. military action after allegations Syria launched a chemical attack last August that killed over 1,400 people. Al-Assad and other officials have vehemently denied their forces were responsible.
The Syrian opposition does not have helicopters to carry and deliver such weapons, and has been trading accusations with the government about the April 11 incident.
Controversy followed video clips posted on anti-government websites showing a number of civilians, including children, appearing to have difficulty breathing and using oxygen masks. The chemical symbol for chlorine, Cl2, is visible on the side of a canister that opposition activists say was used in the attack.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week that the United States "had indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical, probably chlorine, in Syria this month in the opposition-dominated village of Kfar Zeita."
She added, "We're examining allegations that the government was responsible."
Analyst: 'A likely deliberate tactic'
In a report Tuesday, analyst Firas Abi Ali of IHS Country Risk cited several claims in international and opposition social media that the Syrian government has stepped up its use of chlorine gas against civilian and military targets in Idlib, Hama and Damascus provinces since April 15.
IHS has not been able to confirm the reports independently, he said, but they have been corroborated by videos showing civilians suffering symptoms associated with chemical weapons use.
"If confirmed, it indicates that Assad assesses that he can use these weapons with impunity, given U.S. unwillingness to intervene directly, and reflects his own forces' overstretch in the face of opposition offensives in Daraa, Aleppo and Latakia," he said.
"Moreover, the use of chemical weapons is a likely deliberate tactic intended to highlight to the civilian population the severe cost of supporting the insurgency."
Chlorine is not listed as a chemical that Syria is expected to give up under the Security Council resolution. But its use as a weapon of war is prohibited under the 1925 Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria has signed.
More than 90% of Syria's chemical weapons material has now been removed or destroyed, the OPCW said Thursday, ahead of the June 30 deadline agreed to under the international deal.
Read: Syrian opposition: Army helicopter drops barrel bombs in Aleppo, killing 24
Read: Opinion: Forget Ukraine, Syria is now the world's biggest threat
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
MH370: Searchers skeptical of 'found wreck' claim
4/29/2014 9:59:03 PM
- Site where it says the wreckage lies is several thousand miles away from current search area
- Relatives of passengers hear never-before-publicized audio from the plane
- More than 600 military members from around the world end their air search
- Crews will now search a larger, 60,000-square-kilometer area of the ocean floor
Near Perth, Australia (CNN) -- A private company declared that it has found what it believes is wreckage of a plane in the ocean, but leaders of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are dismissing the claim.
The reasons for the skepticism are obvious -- the site where GeoResonance says it found the wreckage, in the Bay of Bengal, is several thousand miles away from the current search area in the southern Indian Ocean.
The Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is coordinating the multinational search, dismissed the claim.
"The Australian-led search is relying on information from satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft's location," the JACC said.
"The location specified by the GeoResonance report is not within the search arc derived from this data. The joint international team is satisfied that the final resting place of the missing aircraft is in the southerly portion of the search arc."
Malaysian acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia "is working with its international partners to assess the credibility of this information."
GeoResonance said it analyzes super-weak electromagnetic fields captured by airborne multispectral images.
"The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated," GeoResonance said in a statement.
The company's director, David Pope, said he did not want to go public with the information at first, but his information was disregarded.
"We're a large group of scientists, and we were being ignored, and we thought we had a moral obligation to get our findings to the authorities," he told CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday.
GeoResonance's technology was created to search for nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry under the ocean or beneath the earth in bunkers, Pope said.
The company began its search four days after the plane went missing and sent officials initial findings on March 31, Pope said. It followed up with a full report on April 15.
By going public, the company says it hopes it will spur officials to take its claim seriously.
Malaysian authorities contacted GeoResonance on Tuesday and were "very interested, very excited" about the findings, Pope said.
Inmarsat, the company whose satellite had the last known contact with MH370, remains "very confident" in its analysis that the plane ended up in the southern Indian Ocean, a source close to the MH370 investigation told CNN.
The Inmarsat analysis is "based on testable physics and mathematics," the source said, and has been reviewed by U.S., British and Malaysian authorities as well as an independent satellite company.
Aerial search ends
After seven weeks of intense but fruitless searching, the international air effort to find the plane is over. But some ships will stay on the Indian Ocean to gather any debris that might surface.
More than 600 military personnel from at least seven countries solemnly posed in front of search planes Tuesday for a commemorative photo. Some traded military patches and mulled over their disappointment in not finding the Boeing 777.
Also on Tuesday, relatives of missing passengers heard new details from officials, including audio recordings from the plane that had never been released to the public before.
The final words between the cockpit and a control tower weren't extraordinary. But after 52 days in limbo, families say they're finally starting to get some of the answers they've been looking for.
More intense underwater search
Most of the international air crews will leave the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce, near Perth, over the next few days.
The likelihood of finding any debris on the ocean's surface is "highly unlikely," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday. By now, most of the debris is probably waterlogged and has probably sunk, he said.
So officials are moving on to the next phase: a more intense underwater search that will use private contractors and could cost about $56 million.
Crews will now scour a much larger area of the ocean floor -- 60,000 square kilometers. The process could take at least six to eight months, officials said.
The Bluefin-21 underwater probe will continue scanning the ocean floor. But the submersible couldn't search Tuesday because of weather and very high seas.
No one knows exactly what happened to Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board. The plane was headed from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.
New details for relatives
Relatives of Chinese passengers have been furious about the perceived lack of information given by Malaysian authorities.
But on Tuesday, Malaysian officials briefed scores of family members in Beijing and played never-before-released audio of the plane's final chatter with a control tower.
"Malaysia three seven zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120.9, good night," says a voice identified by Malaysian officials as that of a radar controller in Kuala Lumpur.
"Good night Malaysian three seven zero," answers a male voice believed to be a crew member on board.
Officials also showed family members maps of the flight's route, including a questionable turn at Penang over the Strait of Malacca. That turn sent the plane veering far off course.
Malaysia Airlines representative Subas Chandran said the plane probably ran out of fuel about seven-and-a-half hours into the flight.
Such details, while sobering, were welcomed by relatives.
"They are making progress," said Jimmy Wang, a member of the families' committee aimed at seeking answers.
Miguel Marquez and David Molko reported from Western Australia; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Ivan Watson and Allen Shum contributed to this report.
Images that may be MH370
4/29/2014 9:08:59 PM
An Australian exploration company, GeoResonance, searches for Flight MH370 by looking for the metals in the plane.
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