Horrifying Mine Disaster in Turkey; Two Confirmed Cases of MERS in U.S.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me. We begin with a horrifying mine disaster that's unfolding now in western Turkey. It's the coal mining town of Soma, and it may touch nearly every single family there. Overnight, rescue workers managed to haul dozens of survivors from a smoke-filled shaft. But more than 200 -- 200 are confirmed dead, and hope is fading quickly for hundreds more who remain trapped. CNN's Ivan Waston has scrambled to the town and has the latest on this heart-wrenching drama. Tell us more, Ivan.</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. We're overlooking the sprawling mine complex behind me, this gritty coal mine outside the town of Soma in Turkey, where this race against time is underway. Sadly, tragically, the death toll seems to grow every couple of hours, with the Turkish prime minister who recently visited here, saying it has now been confirmed 232 coal miners killed as a result of what authorities say was an electrical fire that broke out deep below the surface of the mountain here, on Tuesday. Now rescue workers that I've spoken with that were working throughout the night, I spoke with two Turkish rescue workers. They say they brought up the bodies of six men overnight. They said it takes more than 45 minutes to navigate the different mine shafts and galleries down there to try to reach the areas where the workers were when the fire broke out. They say that it is terribly hot as a result of the fires, and that there is a massive amount of smoke, that the rescue workers have to go in carrying oxygen tanks. If anybody is to have survived -- and there are believed to have been hundreds of coal miners who were down there performing a shift change when the fire broke out -- if they are to survive, they would have had to reach some of the emergency chambers and reach oxygen tanks for themselves, as well. And the rescue workers I talked to, they said they did not know if there had been communications with any of the hundreds of workers who were believed to still be trapped down below. Now in the nearby town of Soma, there you see pretty awful scene, sad scenes of hundreds, thousands of residents lining the roads near the hospital there, behind police barriers, behind lines of police and riot police, waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones, men who may have earned perhaps $500 a month doing this terribly dangerous work. Every year, Turkish coal mine workers die in similar incidents. But the way this is going, there are fears this may become the deadliest mine disaster in recent Turkish history. Carol?</s>COSTELLO: Ivan Watson, reporting live for us this morning. MERS. If you don't know what it is, listen up. MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, has hit home. It is potentially deadly because it has no known treatment. Right now there is one patient with MERS in this Orlando hospital. A hospital worker exposed to this patient has also been admitted, while 20 other hospital workers were ordered to go home until tests confirmed they did not contract the virus. Also, the TSA plans to put up advisories about MERS. At 20 airports across the country. I'm going to take you to Orlando in three minutes. But first, Brian Todd has more on MERS for you.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A creeping, contagious and potentially deadly respiratory virus has reached the U.S. and created a legitimate health scare. Two Orlando area health care workers exposed to a patient with MERS have been treated for flu-like symptoms. One of those workers is in isolation.</s>DR. ANTONIO CRESPO, DR. P. PHILLIPS HOSPITAL, ORLANDO: It all happened before the proper isolation precautions were initiated. So these people were in contact with a patient without a mask.</s>TODD: Officials say about 20 health care workers at two hospitals in the Orlando area might have been exposed to the MERS patient. What is MERS? It stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. It started in the Saudi Peninsula, but has now spread around the globe. Experts say it may originate with camels, but you can get it simply by breathing in. Most of those getting it have been relatives of patients or health care workers.</s>DR. JOXEL GARCIA, U.S. PBULIC HEALTH SERVICE COMMISSIONED CORPS: We can infect one person to another if they're in close proximity. We have droplets of the fluid that we have in our body being inhaled by the other person. Or in close contact with the other person.</s>TODD: It attacks the respiratory system. The main symptoms -- coughing, fever, trouble breathing. Why is it so scary? It's deadlier and spreads through the body faster than the very similar SARS virus of a decade ago. About a third of the 530-plus MERS patients have died, experts say, compared to about 10 percent of SARS victims.</s>GARCIA: There is no vaccine for it and no treatment for it.</s>TODD: Meaning patients survive only by getting the symptoms treated. There are two actual MERS patients now in the U.S., both of them health care workers. The most recent one in Orlando, recently flew from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to London. Then from London to Boston. Boston to Atlanta. Then Atlanta to Orlando. (on camera): Are they going to have to track everyone on each one of those flights?</s>GARCIA: Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, what they will be doing is -- the people that were in close contact with that patient. So if you were sitting near that person, one or two seats, yes, you're going to be interviewed. But if you're sitting several rows and that patient did not walk close to you, there is no reason to even be concerned.</s>TODD (voice-over): The other MERS patient in the U.S. also recently flew from Saudi Arabia, traveling to London and then London to Chicago. Then took a bus from Chicago to Indiana. (on camera): Dr. Joxel Garcia says that bus ride could be a problem. The patient had extended exposure to others, closer in. And it's not clear how good the ventilation system on that bus was. All of those bus passengers, he says, will have to be tracked. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>COSTELLO: All right. I want to take you back to that Orlando hospital, where one patient is suffering from MERS and another patient has flu-like symptoms. Alina Machado is there. Do we know how these patients are doing, Alina?</s>ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: : Well, Carol, we know that the 44- year-old who is the second confirmed MERS case in the U.S. is still here. He's recovering. Doctors say he is in good condition and is improving. All we know about this health care worker is that this person was admitted here after showing possible symptoms. Now, that person is one of 20 health care workers from two separate hospitals here in Orlando who are being evaluated for possible exposure to the MERS virus. They have all been tested. They have also been told to stay home for 14 days. Take a listen to what an infectious disease specialist told us about the situation.</s>CRESPO: That's what the health department in conjunction with the CDC has recommended. Time for the virus to show symptoms in a period of incubation, has been determined to be between 2 and 14 days. So that is considered to be a safe period.</s>MACHADO: Doctors here are waiting for initial test results to come back, and we're told, Carol, those results could be available as early as today.</s>COSTELLO: We'll be watching. Alina Machado reporting live from Orlando this morning. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Magic Johnson responds to Donald Sterling, opening up about the bizarre rant that shocked the NBA and beyond.</s>EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I was in disbelief that he would say these things, and then, you know, to throw me into the situation. I don't know the young lady, barely know Donald. So now I'm caught in the middle of this love affair or whatever they have. And so it was sort of disappointing.</s>COSTELLO: More of the basketball legend's exclusive interview with Anderson Cooper, ahead.