Italian Cruise Accident; Iranian Boats Attacking U.S. Vessels; Controversial Haley Barbour Pardons
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And from CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's January 14th. Good morning, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick. A luxury cruise ship on its side off the Italian coast after hitting a sand bank with thousands of people onboard. Three are dead, more than a dozen are hurt. Coming up, passengers describe their vacation nightmare. Speaking out on controversial pardons that has the whole country talking, former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour defends his decision to pardon more than 200 people. One of them is speaking out this morning, a convicted murder who says he deserves to be free. And it is almost there. Two ships now just off the coast of Nome, Alaska breaking through layers of ice to bring precious fuel to the cut off town. We have been keeping an eye on a rescue operation taking place off the western coast of Italy this morning. Here is the emergency. It's a crowded cruise ship that ran aground and is tipped over on its side. There are around 4,000 passengers and crew on board. We are now hearing that as many as 70 people are still missing. Journalist Barbie Nadeau is at the port where the survivors are being taken. Good morning, Barbie. Have you spoken with any of the passengers?</s>BARBIE NADEAU, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Yes, I've spoken to a number of passengers and they all describe a very familiar scene. They had just finished eating dinner on their cruise, first night of the cruise and the ship's electricity went off and they felt what they describe as a shutter as the ship ran, literally ran aground onto the sandbar which caused a huge gaping hole in the hull of the ship. Right now, the ship I just saw is on its side, about 90 degrees resting on a bed of rocks and shallow water. You can see the gash in the hull of the ship. All of the passengers have been taken off the ship. There are still around 50 to 70 people they tell us that are unaccounted for. They are not sure if that's just a discrepancy in the passenger manifesto or if that's actually people missing in the water. All of the passengers are being brought to the Italian town of Porto Santo Stefano where they are processed and then sent either to Rome</s>FEYERICK: It's interesting. Were they able to get off the boat from what you can tell at least into the calm manner? You can see them preceding there because it doesn't seem that the ship began sort of listing until the majority of the passengers were off, correct?</s>NADEAU: The people were on the ship that I spoke to. I spoke to dozens of people this morning in the reception center. Many of them said it was lifting before they called for the evacuation of the ship which means that the people on the boat definitely knew that there was a problem on the ship. Many of these were experienced cruise ship passengers. They knew exactly there was a problem when they felt that shutter. You got confirmation from the Italian Coast Guard that the ship never did call a may day signal. They never cried out for help. They also told the passengers who were on the ship that they were suffering an electrical or generator problem and that's why the lights went out. There's a lot of misinformation right now. People and passengers that they felt they were being given misinformation at the time of the disaster. People were never called. The passengers I spoke to were never called to the muster station which is where you go in the event of a disaster like this because they hadn't yet had that drill. They didn't know where they were supposed to meet up in the time of a disaster because the ship had just left shore about two and a half hours before the accident took place. It was the first night of the cruise. They had just finished their dinner. They hadn't really gone through the emergency procedures. People were settling in and this disaster happened.</s>FEYERICK: And very quickly, Barbie, do they have divers in the water searching for any potential victims? I know there's a 70 passenger discrepancy. Do they have divers, emergency personnel?</s>NADEAU: Yes, they do right now have divers going around the base of the ship. The ship is now in very, very shallow water. Because of the size of the ship and just the placement of it, in this very rocky area, it's very difficult to see. It's a beautiful clear day. There shouldn't be a weather issue. Water is not particularly cold. But they have several dozen Italian Coast Guard divers who are checking out the perimeter and inside of the ship right now to see if they can find anyone there. The majority of the passengers who have been taken to the shore have already been delivered to points outside of this general area. They've been taken</s>FEYERICK: OK. Barbie Nadeau, thank you very much for bringing us up to date. Lots of great information there. We appreciate it. Thanks so much.</s>NADEAU: Thank you.</s>FEYERICK: Take a look at this video. You are looking at a different ship as a matter of fact. You are looking at Iranian military speedboats on the trail of the USS New Orleans. The video was shot just over a week ago in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy says Iran's military is getting more aggressive with those small boats. This was the first of two incidents like this last week. Here is Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" last night.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The thinking is that the Iranians really were not looking for a shooting match. They were going to break off but they were going to cause a little heart stopping action before they did that. One of the things here is look, the Iranians gained some intelligence by getting so close to U.S. Navy ships. They were able to gauge the U.S. military response as they came at those ships. That gives them valuable information if the next time it's not just a cat and mouse game.</s>FEYERICK: And Iran has threatened to shut down the Straits of Hormuz if international sanctions over the country's nuclear program are implemented. We have been following the progress of a fuel tanker and an ice breaker making their way through the frozen north to Nome, Alaska. They are almost there. The ships are just outside the harbor in Nome now. It's the first ever attempt to supply fuel to a western Alaska town through an icy sea. Nome is getting dangerously close to running out of fuel after bad weather canceled a delivery last fall. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is now defending his decision to pardon more than 200 people. He's says he's surprised at the reaction. A judge has put a halt to the prison releases and the legislature is considering changing their constitution to take pardon powers away from the governor. Barbour says he didn't do anything wrong.</s>HALEY BARBOUR, FMR. MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR: Historic power of gubernatorial clemency by the governor to pardon felons is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances. I'm not saying I'll be perfect, that nobody who received clemency will ever do nothing wrong. I'm not infallible and nobody else is. but, I am very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons, including those at the mansion.</s>FEYERICK: Now, you heard him mention the mansion. He's talking about prison trustees who worked at the governor's mansion. Four convicted murderers worked there. They were pardoned, including Anthony McCray, who was convicted of killing his wife in 2001.</s>ANTHONY MCCRAY, PARDONED BY HALEY BARBOUR: Everybody deserves a second chance in life.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think people should be angry at Governor Barbour?</s>MCCRAY: No, sir. He treats us like we his children.</s>FEYERICK: Judge Mike Smith presided over McCray's murder case. Our Martin Savidge asked him about the pardon.</s>MIKE SMITH, RETIRED MISSISSIPPI JUDGE: I was disappointed he was pardoned.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is there more to that or is that as much as we're going to say?</s>SMITH: I hope that the attorney general will be successful in having the pardon overturned.</s>FEYERICK: Now, here is more of what Barbour had to say about letting those convicted murderers go free.</s>BARBOUR: I have absolute confidence, so much confidence I have let my grandchildren play with these fine men. I have let them ride their tricycles out in the driveway with them watching out for them. I have no question in my mind that these five guys are not a threat to society. But, you know, people like you can say what if, what if, what if until the moon goes down.</s>FEYERICK: Now, in all Barbour says he granted clemency to 215 people. 189 of them had already finished their sentences. They were out of prison but they no longer have the record. Thirteen of the remaining 26 inmates have chronic medical conditions. Barbour says they were let go so the state wouldn't have to pay for their expensive medical care. A setback for four of the Republican presidential candidates. They have lost their bid to get on the Virginia primary ballot. A judge ruled that they waited too long to file claims to get their names added to the super Tuesday primary. That means Virginians can only choose either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul. The others sued saying that the ballot requirements were unconstitutional. To get on the ballot in Virginia, candidates had to collect 10,000 signatures including at least 400 from each of the state's 11 Congressional districts. Job creator or job killer? That's the debate over Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital. We'll hear from people in South Carolina who were directly affected.