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NEW DAY SUNDAY

The Crash of Flight 214; Venezuela Awaits Snowden's Response; Egypt Braces for New Protests; Week 3 for Zimmerman Trial

Aired July 7, 2013 - 07:00   ET

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


(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: While the crash was fatal, it seems a miracle that more didn't die. You'll hear one survivor's terrifying story.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: More answers are emerging, but there are still more questions. Two of the most important -- how did this happen and how do we prevent it from happening again?

BROWN: Good morning, everyone. I'm Pamela Brown.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for starting your day with us.

We begin this morning on the West Coast, where about 16 hours ago, Boeing 777 crashed at the San Francisco International Airport. Two people were killed. At least five people have been critically injured.

Now we know the identities of the two women who were killed in that crash, two young girls, actually. Their names, Mengyuan Ye and Linjia Wang. Both girls were 16 years old.

BROWN: Witnesses say they saw the tail of the plane appear to clip the end of that runway as the plane came in for landing, and that's when the tail ripped off, leaving a trail of debris along that runway.

BLACKWELL: Some survivors say it took as much as a half hour, 30 minutes for ambulances to reach the runway, and it left many of the passengers to help each other escape from that wreckage.

BROWN: A lot of heroes that played a role yesterday.

Miguel Marquez joins us live from the San Francisco International Airport.

Miguel, you've been following this story. What do we know?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we do know that the two people that were killed on that flight were found on the runway. The CEO of Asiana Airlines spoke just a short time ago as well, saying that there was, as far as he could tell, no engine failure on that plane. That was one thing that passengers on that plane said it felt like the engines sort of revved up just before the plane made contact with that embankment. He also said that there was no emergency warning to passengers before that plane landed.

Now, investigators from both the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board and the South Korean agency are either here are on their way here at this hour. Survivors also say that they were -- that the individuals who came, the rescuers who came to the plane, they were asked for knives from the flight attendants on board so they could cut people loose from those seats.

Here's how one passenger described that crash landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As it landed, like, it was a hard, loud noise and then the masks fell down, and then, like, I don't know, severe stuff started falling down on people and everyone started screaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now, from what we understand, we have an animation about how the train came in for a crash landing, the tail hitting the embankment, the nose pitched up and hit the runway very hard. The tail essentially disintegrated. The engine on the left side of the plane disappeared. We still don't know exactly where that was.

The plane skidded to a halt. The engine on the right side came to rest right next to the fuselage. It was very hot, it was smoking. That's what eventually caused the fire on that fuselage.

We also know that there was a United flight sitting right at the head of that runway waiting to take off, waiting for that Asiana flight to clear out so it could then take off. They must have had a front-row seat and investigators will certainly want to talk to them.

Back to you guys.

BLACKWELL: Hey, Miguel, I've got a question before we let you go. We know that the U.S. investigators, NTSB officials there on the scene, the South Korean officials are on their way. What's the indication of what this morning their focus will be?

MARQUEZ: Well, I think they're going to be wanting to talk to everybody that they certainly can. A lot of the passengers have already been talked to about what happened on that plane. The pilots, obviously, survived.

Also, they'll want to collect the black boxes out of that plane and try to figure out everything that was going on here at the airport and on board that plane to see what exactly happened -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Miguel Marquez live at San Francisco International Airport this morning -- thank you.

BROWN: And we mentioned the NTSB is now on site at San Francisco International Airport. We want to call your attention to two of the images that they tweeted out. Take a look here in these pictures. You can see the investigators standing right outside the wreckage of flight 214.

You can also see a view inside the cabin. Take a look at this. A brief look at the chaos those passengers faced in those moments right after that plane crash landed. You can see barely, if you look close enough, you can see rows of seating tumbled over and the little yellow dots right there are the oxygen masks that were deployed during that crash landing.

You just can imagine being a passenger in those moments. All of a sudden, it goes dark. The oxygen masks are deployed. The seats tumbling over --

BLACKWELL: And then the smoke and the fire.

BROWN: The smoke and the fire. You don't know if the plane's going to blow up, what's going to happen. And amazingly, as we've been hearing from passengers all morning and their loved ones, so many jumped into action. Instead of running off the plane, they went to help others.

BLACKWELL: And some of the first reports that anything went wrong came from the passengers themselves through social media. I want you to listen to how one passenger on board the jet described that scene, and you will see the passenger trying to get away from, several of them, in fact, trying to get away from the plane before the ambulances arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID EUN, PASSENGER: We just crash landed on my flight from Seoul to SFO. The plane hit the runway really hard on the landing, and we skidded to the side. I thought we were going to flip over. Everyone seems to be OK, a little shaken up. I don't have shoes on, hit my head pretty hard, but I think I'm OK. As much as I fly, I don't think about this stuff happening. Anyway, everyone seems to be OK but shaken up. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: You heard him say, as much as I fly, you don't think that's ever going to happen to you.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BROWN: But I'm sure that this is a reality check for a lot of people who fly to maybe pay closer attention to the safety rules and --

BLACKWELL: And there was an additional challenge because there were some South Korean citizens --

BROWN: Right, language barrier. BLACKWELL: -- Chinese citizens and American citizens. So there was a language barrier, but 305 passengers made it out with their lives. Now, of the 307 as we said, 182 were taken to hospitals in the Bay Area. San Francisco General is the city's only level one trauma center.

Now, right after the crash, the staff pitched tents outside the ER to handle the rush of patients.

BROWN: CNN Sara Sidner joins us now from San Francisco General Hospital.

Sara, what can you tell us? How many patients are still there and do you know what their condition is?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, at this time, the hospital has been saying 26 children, 27 adults being treated at San Francisco General Hospital. There are six patients that are critical. Six patients have been released. And you mentioned those tents that they had put up because they thought there would be many, many more dozens of patients, considering that there were 307 passengers initially on that plane and seeing the number of passengers, they figured that the fatalities or the injuries or the number of people that need to be treated would be quite high.

And so, they were prepared to bring in quite a number of people here. They had extra staff that they brought in, but it turned out, they only had to deal with about 52 to 54 patients. Again, six patients have been released from this particular hospital. In all, 182 people taken to 11 Bay Area hospitals. This one obviously being one of the closest and with that level 1 trauma center, they were able to deal with some of the worst-case scenarios.

I want to also mention to you the news coming in from China, that very sad news. Two 16-year-old students from China are the two people who died in this crash, and their names: Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia.

So, we now know the names of the two people killed in this crash. They are 16 years old, from China and they are students. So, very sad news and we hope our prayers go out to their families as well.

And, obviously, here in the Bay Area, there are still many, many people being treated for injuries ranging from cuts and bruises and broken bones to spinal injuries to critical internal injuries, Pamela.

BROWN: Quite a range there. We heard San Francisco's fire chief saying that when first responders got to the scene, there were actually passengers coming out of the water. Do we know, Sara, if those passengers were trying to douse themselves because of chemical exposure, perhaps, or flames?

BLACKWELL: Burns?

BROWN: Do we know why?

BLACKWELL: We don't know that yet. We can only assume, and there was an assumption made by the San Francisco fire chief who made that statement, that some of the passengers that had gone to the water, that they may have been trying to douse themselves.

We do not know that for a direct fact. We haven't gotten second confirmation on that, but the San Francisco fire chief did mention that, and it is an interesting point that may be made.

You did see the fire there. You saw the damage from the fire and the chemicals that may have been on the skin that people may have been trying to wash off. But we do know that the two people that were found dead were found on the runway. And so, there's still so much that needs to be investigated as to not only how all of this happened.

But still, the number of people who are being treated, that's changing on an hourly basis as people are able to leave the hospital and the hospital releases them. And we'll try to get that information to you as soon as we get a bit more -- Pamela.

BROWN: OK. Sara Sidner, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Well, the investigation has already begun. The NTSB's go team has been on the ground in San Francisco for about seven hours now. They'll be joined by the South Korean investigators and officials from Asiana Airlines and Boeing.

And terrorism does not appear to be the cause of yesterday's crash, but besides that, the NTSB chief says that everything is on the table.

CNN's Rene Marsh is following this angle of the investigation.

Rene, can you tell us what investigators will focus on today?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, Pamela, Victor, good morning.

You know, no detail will be too small. And what we've done is we've highlighted some parts of the crash scene based on what we've been able to see in both the pictures and the video so far.

So, here's what we know. Going from the left of your screen to the right, we have debris in the water right there on the left, and we also know there is a debris trail where the land meets the water. We have a graphic, a map that shows you all of the debris that we're talking about here.

Now, in the same vicinity, a couple of wheels from the plane and then the tip of the plane. Now, shift your eyes to the right. That's where the vertical stabilizer, that's the up-and-down part of the tail, that fell off. And to the right of that is the horizontal stabilizers. That is the left-to-right part of the tail.

Next, we're going to move on over to the right again, one of the landing gear sections. And then, finally, move your eyes all the way to the far right of your screen, and that's where the fuselage and the passengers ended up. Again, victor, you mentioned, the NTSB investigators have been on the ground now for about seven hours. They're going to be looking at how close these parts are in relation to each other, which part came off first. Of course, within the NTSB, there are specialized teams. They will analyze critical areas, several critical areas.

The recordings will be crucial. We're talking about the flight data recorder that holds information like the altitude and the engine thrust, the cockpit voice recorder. That could pick up things like voices, background noises and warning signals that may have gone off. Both, we should note, are located in the tail area of the plane, and we know that the tail broke off, but those boxes are pretty sturdy, and the experts that we spoke to say they are likely intact.

Next, they're going to look at human performance -- namely, the four pilots, their training, the possibility of fatigue on a more than 10-hour international flight, what they ate, drug and alcohol tests for the flight crew. They'll also look at the training for the flight crew and getting passengers off the plane.

BLACKWELL: You know, Rene, you mentioned and detailed the NTSB probe and what the U.S. officials will be looking into, but there is another crew of investigators on the way from south Korea from their transportation ministry.

Is this going to be a jurisdictional nightmare? I mean, this did originate from Seoul, South Korea.

MARSH: Right. Well, you know, NTSB's chairman, Deborah Hersman, who's leading the go team there in San Francisco, she mentioned all of these parties that will be a part of the investigation.

And this is normal. This is routine. And this is a plus, because the NTSB is going to be relying on the expertise of Boeing. They're going to be relying on information from all of these different agencies to simply work together. They have a lot of experience in working together to piece together all the elements of what led up to this crash.

So, short answer is they will all be able to add something to this investigation, so, perhaps, we'll get some answers.

BLACKWELL: All right. I know that the families, of course, and the survivors, 305 survivors, are waiting for those answers. Rene Marsh in Washington for us. Thank you.

MARSH: Sure.

BLACKWELL: We're going to have a lot more on the crash of Flight 214. This tragedy took the lives two of young women. Their names have been released this morning.

But the construction of the Boeing 777 may have saved other lives. We'll talk with a former top official at the NTSB.

BROWN: And in other news, where is NSA leaker Edward Snowden headed? Several U.S. rivals are offering him sanctuary. We'll find out if he's taking them up on it, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MURPHY, PLANE CRASH WITNESS: But what I saw as it was coming in to land at the last minute, you could see the front end pop up and then slam down, and then it went from there and it eventually became the big explosion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Seventeen minutes after the hour.

Let's talk now about the investigation that has begun into what caused the deadly crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214.

It is just beginning, and it could take months, maybe even years.

BROWN: We know now that two young Chinese students were killed, 16-year-old Mengyuan Ye and Linjia Wang. Remarkably, though 305 others on that aircraft survived.

The plane was a twin engine Boeing 777, capable of carrying between 305 and 440 passengers, and newer models can travel more than 8,000 nautical miles without stopping.

Peter Goelz joins us now on the phone from Washington. He is a former managing director with the NTSB.

So, tell us more about the configuration of this aircraft and how it could actually have prevented a worse situation from happening.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR (via telephone): Well, the 777, which was, you know, first put in the air in 1994, is required to have a new generation of seats. They're called 16G seats, which means that every seat in the aircraft is attached to the frame so it does not come loose in a violent crash.

And prior to these seats, investigators found that passengers would be badly injured and killed because the seats were coming loose. So, this was part of an effort in the 1980s and '90s to really strengthen the cabin interior so that when a crash like this occurred, people really had a chance to get out, both in terms of, say, seats, the flammability of the material used in the interior of the cabin, and the burn-through rate on the outside of the aircraft.

And I think all three of these things contributed to the very, very positive outcome of this accident.

BLACKWELL: Can you walk us through the early stages of what will become this investigation as we go through the next weeks and months? I mean, is this one of those situations in which investigators will want to put this plane back together? What happens in the first few weeks or so? GOELZ: I would say the first thing that happens today is there will be an organizational meeting that's probably going to take place at the break of dawn in which they'll break into working groups. And each of these working groups, whether it is flight operations, data recorders, witness statements, whether it's survivability, whether it's human performance, will be headed up by a senior NTSB investigator, somebody who has years of experience investigating accidents.

The Korean safety board will be invited to participate. They will most likely be on the ground some time today, if they're not already there. And this investigation will be conducted under a set of broad rules that all of the nation's air -- you know, all of the nations have signed a treaty at the International Civil Aviation Organization that sets the ground rules, so there's a process that everyone is familiar with that the NTSB will follow.

The first order of business is after you take care of the injured and those affected is to recover the data recorders, and they could be in the water off the end of the runway, it could be still on the plane. They will go after those as soon as possible, recover them, send them to Washington, D.C., to be -- to have the data downloaded.

BLACKWELL: We know that the NTSB is already seven hours into that work. Peter Goelz, former managing director with the NTSB, thank you.

BROWN: And as he said, upgrades, more secure seats, fire- proofing the cabin, reinforcements in the fuel system all contributing factors in preventing even a worse situation.

Well, we are following some other big stories this morning. A trio of Latin American nations reach out to Edward Snowden, but will the fugitive NSA leaker find a way to get to them? That's the big question. We'll have an answer for you right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's about 24 minutes after the hour.

We'll have much more for you on that deadly plane crash in San Francisco, but we are covering other stories, including Edward Snowden and his possible new country, his new place to call home.

BROWN: Three Latin American nations are indicating that they would welcome the NSA leaker with open arms. And right now, CNN's senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, is live in Caracas with the latest on Venezuela's offer of asylum.

BLACKWELL: Matthew, has Venezuela taken any logistical, practical steps to bring Edward Snowden to Caracas?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the moment, Victor, it's not clear. Certainly, we've had word from the foreign minister of the country who said that so far they haven't spoken to Edward Snowden directly, who's believed to be hold up in the Moscow airport, of course, about whether or not he even wants to come to Venezuela as a political refugee.

And so, it seems at the moment that they haven't contacted him. They don't appear to have issued any travel documents at this stage. And, of course, that's a key issue.

It's not enough for Venezuela simply to say, yes, we accept Edward Snowden to come to our country to claim political asylum. They have to provide him with some kind of travel documents so he can leave the airport in Moscow. That's possible, of course, but we haven't received any indication yet that any such document has been given to Edward Snowden.

And so, there are still big questions hanging over whether or not he can come here.

BROWN: You know, Venezuela and America has had a history of having a contentious relationship, but it seems like recently, they've been trying to build bridges there. This could have a very big impact on Venezuela if it does offer asylum to Edward Snowden, is that right?

CHANCE: Yes, I think that's true, and it's really remarkable that just a month ago, John Kerry, secretary of state, was meeting with the Venezuelan foreign minister. They said they wanted to put the relationship between the two countries back on a positive footing. They were talking about the possibility of exchanging ambassadors. There's no diplomatic relations at the moment between the two countries.

And so, yes, I mean, there have been a lot of efforts made by the Venezuelans to reach out to the United States to build bridges, particularly since the death of Hugo Chavez earlier this year.

Venezuela's got some very severe economic problems. It's got huge food shortages, product shortages. It's got massive inflation. The United States is the biggest customer for its vast oil reserves, and it wants to kind of increase that relationship to try and lift the country out of its economic problems.

Offering Edward Snowden asylum is potentially going to derail that initiative. So, it's very risky for them.

BROWN: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Coming up, we're going to have more on the San Francisco plane crash and one survivor said it well. He said we were ten seconds from home. Ten seconds from home.

We're going to hear from someone who was on that flight. And will it be a special day at Yankee Stadium? Very possibly. We'll tell you who the team is hosting at today's game.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Pamela Brown.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Now to five things you need to know this morning.

Number one: the deadly crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport. The NTSB is on the scene investigating right now. Part of the go team dispatched from Washington last night.

Two girls, 16-year-olds, were killed in the crash, both of them carrying Chinese passports. At least 180 others were treated at local hospitals. Five are in critical condition.

BROWN: And at number two, more countries are offering NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum. First, it was Venezuela, now Bolivia and Nicaragua are rolling out that welcome mat. So far, though, no sign of Snowden, presumably still somewhere at an airport in Moscow.

BLACKWELL: Number three, more on that train crash Saturday in Quebec. One person is confirmed dead, dozens of others are reported missing. This train carrying 72 cars of cruel oil rolled unattended for nearly seven miles, before derailing and exploding into a spectacular inferno.

We showed you the pictures yesterday. Here's pictures of the plumes of smoke there continues to burn this morning. Officials say the train came loose after it had been parked.

BROWN: And at number four, a very somber procession begins in Phoenix later this morning. Nineteen hearses will carry the bodies of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, home to Prescott, Arizona. The firefighters died last Sunday, battling a fire at Yarnell Hill near Prescott.

Area fire departments will cross ladders over the procession to honor their fallen brothers.

BLACKWELL: Story five, Newtown day at Yankee Stadium. The team will host about 3,000 residents from Newtown, Connecticut, at today's game with the Baltimore Orioles. The names of the sandy hook school shooting victims will be displayed on the stadium's scoreboard as part of a special pregame ceremony.

Let's go back now to our top story, that deadly plane crash in San Francisco.

BROWN: Yes, amazingly, some even calling it a miracle that all but two of the plane's 307 passengers survived.

Paul Vercammen takes us through the crash and what it was like for the survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Harrowing accounts from survivors of Asiana Flight 214 after a crash landing at San Francisco International Airport. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The moment it touched the runway, there was a bang, you know, and we knew that something has gone wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought we were going back up. I thought maybe we would go back up and start flying again, trying to improvise another landing, but we went back down again. So, it was, as I said, felt like slow motion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, the engine was off -- like, he sped up, like the pilot knew he was short.

VERCAMMEN: Instead of a routine landing, an impact that resulted in smoke and eventually flames and an alarming hole in the fuselage.

TOWER: Asiana 214 heavy, San Francisco tower.

PILOT: (INAUDIBLE)

TOWER: Asiana 214 heavy emergency vehicles are responding. We have everyone on their way.

VERCAMMEN: The Boeing 777 reached the end of a 10-hour flight from Seoul, South Korean, Saturday, with 291 passengers and 16 crew members onboard. All have been accounted for.

MAYOR ED LEE, SAN FRANCISCO: It is incredible and very lucky that we have so many survivors, but there are still many that are critically injured, and our prayers and our thoughts continue to go out for them.

VERCAMMEN: Nine bay area hospitals treated 182 passengers and crew. By Saturday evening, many were headed home, but still, others remained being treated for burns, bruises and fractures.

DR. CHRIS BARTON, SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HOSPITAL: Some of them are in shock. Some are very tearful. Some look stunned.

Overall, I think it's amazing how well most of the patients are coping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And much of what we know about the crash of Asiana Flight 214 has actually come from the passengers who survived it.

BLACKWELL: Elliott stone gave a detailed account to our colleague, Wolf Blitzer, including his encounter on the runway with passengers who were apparently flung out of the plane. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLIOTT STONE, CRASH SURVIVOR (via telephone): And it seemed like we were a little bit high, like we could see the tarmac down below us. So, we were coming down kind of sharp.

And then right when it appeared to coast like for the landing, all of a sudden, the engine was off -- like you sped up, like the pilot knew he was short. And then, boom, the back end just hit and flies up in the air, and everybody's head goes up to the ceiling. And then it just kind of drifts for a little bit, for a good 300 yards and then tips over. Fire starts.

Everybody's, you know, pushing the doors out. And then once we were on the ground everybody was all huddled on one side. My family and I went to the other side.

And like 20 minutes later, this lady just appears from like 500 yards away just like crippled just walking. So, we started running over and there was another five bodies like 500 yards away that nobody saw. And so we were running over there calling an ambulance and stuff.

But the ambulances took like 20, 30 minutes to get there. It's pretty ridiculous. We were just yelling at people, yelling at firefighters. Get over here. Get over here. And they were just lagging hard and probably at the airport for hours for nothing.

So, I don't know. We're not very impressed with the whole protocol and systems in place for this type of thing.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Elliot, where were you sitting on the plane?

STONE: We were really fortunate. We were central. My girlfriend, her sister, and two other of my martial art students, and we were all pretty central to the back end that got knocked off right on that landing.

So the flight attendants out on the tarmac way in the back because they were sitting in the back end and got hammered because we landed short. And then they all fell out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And another person who was on that plane, Ben Levy, he knew something was wrong with the way Asiana Flight 214 was initially coming in for that landing.

BROWN: He talked about how it was just an ordinary flight that quickly turned to chaos and then to calm as passengers tried to help each other escape the burning plane. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN LEVY, CRASH SURVIVOR: Sounded like we were about to land. The nose of the plane, as you know, goes up a little bit. And then we full throttle started hitting hard. And then we felt like we were going up again.

So, that's why I said I felt like we were going to pull almost like a miss landing and go back up, and it didn't happen. It was just crash back. And as I say, if we flipped, none of us would be here to talk about it. It's like a Six Flags show, right? You're tied up to your chair, and then, again, we're skipping on the runway, and I felt like we were going back up. I thought maybe we would go back up and start flying again, you know, trying to improvise another landing, but we went back down again.

So, as I said it felt like slow motion. I was still tied to my chair until I unbuckled, but our chair, the whole row was completely crushed on the chairs behind me. It was chaos, a lot of -- first of all, there was a lot of Koreans that might not speak English that well. But yes, it was disbelief, screaming, a bit of chaos, but I think we managed to get everybody to calm down pretty quickly and really started getting out and not pushing each other or stepping on each other. So, it felt like it went really fast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now with more on the injuries passengers suffered in yesterday's crash.

BROWN: Elizabeth, nice to have you here.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you.

BROWN: Tell us what the situation is right now. What are you hearing as far as injuries go?

COHEN: Right. So, let's look at the overview of what's happening there. So, you have 182 injured, and that's a huge number, and in fact, couldn't all be handled by the one trauma center that's in San Francisco. They had to go to 11 area hospitals.

And there's a real collection of, a real array of injuries. I mean, everything from cuts and bruises to broken bones, spinal fractures, burns, internal injuries. So, they're dealing with a lot and they're dealing with a wide variety of injuries in this crash.

BLACKWELL: What are the more serious injuries?

COHEN: You know, the most serious thing -- I was talking to a doctor who has handled these situations before, and he said the very first thing you look for is trauma to the head, because if someone has had trauma, an impact to the head, there could be bleeding inside the head, and that then really doesn't leave any room for the brain -- to put it sort of in layman's terms -- and that's immediately life- threatening. You have to go in there, you have to do surgery, you have to stop that bleeding.

Also, bleeding in the abdominal cavity. And if you think about seatbelts, if seatbelts were on and if that made an impact. If there is bleeding in the abdomen, that's also immediately life-threatening, something surgeons have to go in right away and stop that bleeding.

BROWN: We talk about the physical injuries, but what about the psychological wounds, the emotional scars? Could there be problems with PTSD for some passengers?

COHEN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you can imagine landing. We've seen what the plane looks like. You can imagine landing in that.

And you've got to make some very quick decisions on your own. You don't necessarily have a flight attendant right there telling you what to do. Hopefully, you watched the in flight video.

But still, you're not prepared to start making these life-and- death decisions. And you know, it's very -- it's interesting how different people deal with it. I've talked to people after these kinds of traumas, and some people, they deal with it okay, they work through it, and other people, it psychologically scars them for life. I mean, everyone is very different and you can't always predict how people are going to do.

BLACKWELL: We're going to have that conversation in detail coming up next hour, the psychological scars. We know from Sara Sidner, who's outside this hospital in San Francisco, the San Francisco General, that 26 children were taken there. And although they may just have cuts and bruises, imagine being 6, 7, 8 years old and you see this -- clearly some psychological injuries.

COHEN: And imagine if you get separated from your parents at some point in the process. You can only imagine the mayhem that followed. We've heard about these, some of the folks were wet, some of the folks went into the water.

You know, imagine the thought process that has to happen. You're landing, you think everything's going to be fine, then all of a sudden, you've got to think through, I feel heat, I'm going to get to the water. It's really traumatic.

BROWN: This reaction trying to save your life.

COHEN: Exactly.

BROWN: It's amazing to hear how many people stayed calm, but for some of the passengers, you imagine it hasn't even sunk in yet.

COHEN: Right. They're still in shock.

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Egypt, as we're covering another big story this morning, rocked by unrest, now is bracing for more protests today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLACKWELL: And we have new details about the crash in San Francisco. New details from the NTSB -- those black boxes have been recovered from Asiana Flight 214 from this Boeing 777. BROWN: And we've learned that those boxes are on their way to D.C. right now. Of course, those boxes will hopefully provide some critical clues into what happened the moments before that crash landing in San Francisco.

BLACKWELL: And we'll continue to have updates as they come in. The NTSB Go Team has been on the ground for about seven hours now. And of course, we'll continue our special coverage of this crash in San Francisco.

Well, after days of unrest, we could see more big protests in Egypt today.

BROWN: Supporters and opponents of ousted President Mohamed Morsy plan to take to the streets again in rival rallies.

Let's bring in CNN's Reza Sayah in Cairo with more on this.

So, tell us what the situation is like there right now, Reza.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Things are calm right now, Pamela, but Cairo and much of Egypt bracing themselves for another day of rival protests and demonstrations in this ongoing conflict where on one side you have Egyptians who are happy.

These are opponents of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsy. They're happy that he's gone and Egypt is on its way, seemingly, to establishing a transitional government, then on to a permanent government.

But then you have the other side, supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsy, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. They feel robbed and betrayed. They feel that the democratic process was violated when Mr. Morsy was ousted.

They're planning demonstrations in several locations in Cairo, including in front of the presidential guard headquarters. That is where they believe, according to state media reports, that their president has been held in custody over the past several days, according to reports, facing possible charges of inciting violence. So, that group was holding demonstrations.

Not to be outdone, opponents of Morsy, they're holding their own demonstrations. They're calling it "legitimacy belongs with the people". They'll be celebrating in a show of force.

But if you look at the way things are right now, victor and Pamela, Egypt seems to have a problem because it's divided. Some Egypts are happy, some Egypts are not and we'll see how this conflict ends because no signs that it's ending any time soon.

BLACKWELL: Reza, soon after Mohamed Morsy was ousted as president, this new interim president was installed, supported by the military there.

But there is confusion about who will be the next prime minister. SAYAH: Yes, that confusion came last night where there were reports that Mohammed ElBaradei was appointed as the new interim prime minister. ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate, the Egyptian diplomat, he is well-liked by liberals and moderates as an interim prime minister to move the country forward. He is not well liked by the Islamists, the conservatives, the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. They don't believe this is a man that represents their views.

So, when these reports came out last night, supporters of Mr. Morsy were outraged, but then several hours later we got word that an appointment has not been made. The first signals that setting up a transitional government is not going to be easy, some resistance from the ultra-conservative Salifist Noor party apparently playing a role in the pushback against his potentially -- guys.

BROWN: It's a volatile situation there.

Reza Sayah, thank you so much for that report.

BLACKWELL: Another story we're following, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, he may soon be a man with a country, because Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, he called Snowden a brave youth and said his country is ready to protect Snowden so humanity can learn the truth. Bolivia has also extended an offer of asylum to Snowden and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said that his country would do the same, if circumstances permit.

BROWN: And now to Pretoria, South Africa. That's where the feud among relatives of Nelson Mandela and one of his grandsons continues. The South African press association reports his grandson plans to file a complaint accusing the family's lawyer of misleading the courts about Mandela's health. It's all part of a dispute over where Mandela's three deceased children are buried.

Meantime, Mandela, who is 94 years old, remains on life support.

BLACKWELL: No Englishman has won the men's title at Wimbledon in 77 years, and today at centre court, Andy Murray will try to end that streak. He'll face Serbia's Novak Djokovic in today's final.

Yesterday at Wimbledon, Marion Bartoli, she won the women's title in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, over Sabine Lisicki.

BROWN: And the defense tomorrow morning in the George Zimmerman trial picks up after a week of dramatic testimony from the mother of slain teen Trayvon Martin. We'll tell you what to expect.

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BROWN: And turning to Florida now where the trial of George Zimmerman is set to resume at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Before the weekend recess, the prosecution rested Friday and the defense called its first witness.

BLACKWELL: George Zimmerman's mom testified that it was her son screaming on a 911 tape recorded the night Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

Our Martin Savidge is in Sanford, Florida.

Martin, who is up next for the defense?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. Good morning, Pamela.

You know, we really don't know. Because there is no formal list given to the media as to who is expected to testify on the defense's behalf. But that being said, we can anticipate that you're probably going to see, number one, the same medical people, and I'm talking about the paramedics, the first responders that were interviewed, because it's very important for the defense to show the injuries and to reinforce to the jury how the defense were to George Zimmerman. That is, after all, part of his self-defense claim.

I would look for witness deja vu, and I mean, by that, let's see, Jonathan Manalo (ph), he is the witness who took the photographs of George's bloody head. I would also anticipate you're probably going to hear from Chris Serino, he is the lead investigator, he did say a number of things that seem to help the defense's case, and probably a medical examiner, but a different medical examiner, brought in by the defense team to bolster and go through a lot of the science, the DNA and the other information and evidence that came from Trayvon's body and also from George Zimmerman.

So, all of those will probably be in the mix next week.

BROWN: And given that, Martin, how many days do we expect it to take for the defense to make its case?

SAVIDGE: Yes, that's another good question. Again, talking to the defense, they would say that it might be three, four days that they will need. Some of this could develop over time. We'll see how the questioning goes. But I think that they possibly believe by Thursday, I won't necessarily it goes to the hands of jury. Because actually there are some motions that the judge delayed and said, well, after the evidence has been heard.

So there will probably be other hear hearings that have to take place. So, late Thursday, maybe Friday going to the jury but, you know, that kind of speculation is really risky speculation at this point.

BLACKWELL: All right. Martin Savidge, live for us this morning in Sanford, Florida, thank you, Martin.

BROWN: And we've just learned this morning the black boxes from Asiana flight from Flight 214 are on their way to Washington as we speak, as the investigation into what caused that Boeing 777 to crash- land in San Francisco was in full swing. We'll have the latest at the top of the hour. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: We know the NTSB is on the ground at San Francisco. They've been there for about seven hours, looking into what caused that just learned this morning that the black boxes with are found and are on their way to Washington.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And those black boxes will give the NTSB and the South Korean investigators were on their way, information about what happened and what was done technologically before the Flight 214 smashed into the seawall and the tail broke off and the plane slid on its belly and we know later, burst into flames.

Three hundred five of the 307 people unfortunately were able to escape with their lives. But two young women, 16-year-old, actually girls, Chinese girls, lost their lives. We have more information coming up at the top of the hour.

Some of the most remarkable images in the aftermath of the crash, it came from social media. A photograph posted to Twitter by David Eun, it shows what appears to be the passengers just walking off the plane. They've got bags, sometimes laptops and you see the smoke there coming from the plane.

He wrote on Twitter, "I just landed, crash landed in SFO, tail ripped off, most everyone seems fine, I'm OK." And then he leaves this one word, "Surreal."

BROWN: That sums it up. It's amazing, though, you see people walking off the plane with their bags, how they had the time and sense of mind to do that. They calmly walked out.

BLACKWELL: Well, the question is, is it calm or is it shock? I think that will be something we're going to talk about in the next hour, about the psychological affects of what has happened.

BROWN: And take a look at these images here. You can see fire crews there dousing the fuselage with water and foam.

Anthony Caserone (ph), who witnessed the landing from a nearby hotel, so he saw the plane touched the ground rather, and then noticed a larger white plume of smoke and he told CNN that he saw a, quote, "large, brief, fire ball that came from underneath the aircraft." You can bet those NTSB investigators will be talking to people like Anthony who saw that crash when it happened.

BLACKWELL: They were held at the airport for several hours yesterday. There was some frustration people there, OK, we are safe, I know as much as anyone has said, let me go home, but, of course, they want to ask what they heard, especially that rubbing up of the engine.

We've got a lot more on this story and other big stories that we're covering this morning.

BROWN: The next hour starts right now.

(MUSIC) BLACKWELL: Ten hours of calm end in a few minutes of horror. One person says they were seconds from being home. We're live from San Francisco on the crash of Flight 214.