whales do. what did the mangroves do? do they protect the nursery of the whales? that s exactly what they do. gray whales come and give birth and they rest for several months a year and mangroves give them protection around the coastline. reporter: oh, there! look at that! wow. it s making a circle around us. a natural solution to climate change. wow! reporter: all thanks to these simple trees of the sea. and here s the thing. over the last 30 to 40 years up to 35% of mangrove forests have been lost according to the u.n. and that s why those programs to protect mangroves and to replant mangroves every chance we get are so important. katy? you get good assignments there, gadi schwartz. hope you had fun. gadi, thank you very much. that s going to do it for me today. garrett haake picks up our coverage next. picks up our verage next.
several people were critically injured in an apartment fire, the worst in history. they have lowered the deaths from 19 to 17. officials are investigating whether a maintenance issue within an apartment door may have allowed the thick smoke to rise throughout the building. the city s fire commissioner said yesterday while the flames were contained to the hallway just outside the apartment where the fire began, smoke still traveled through the building, and that was what caused the deaths and serious injuries throughout the structure. a plane crash on any day is a dramatic story in itself. this plane crash in california has another twist involving a train and a story of heroism. nbc news correspondent gadi schwartz has more. reporter: in the history of high-stakes rescue, this train-versus-plane chain of events is heart-pounding. what you just saw might be too
the first gold medal for team usa won by lindsay jacobellis who took the top spot and shaun white and chloe kim advance to the half-pipe finals. mikaela shiffrin did not finish after skidding five seconds into a run. but a silver or maybe even a gold lining if she takes home two more gold medals in these games she will make olympic history and hold the record for most golds by female alpine skier and she has three more chances to do that in other events. finally to the mystery, a medal ceremony for team figure skating was suddenly delayed by the ioc because of, quote, legal issues. nbc news does not know the nature of those issues. joining me now is nbc news correspondent gadi schwartz.
then fourth place, canada, would get to step up to third place. but, unfortunately, at this point, there s still no word on whether we re going to know either way what the ioc at this point only saying sometimes legal issues can drag on. so, not a lot of information. very interesting. we will be watching. gadi schwartz. thank you so much. appreciate it. that right there, my friends, is going to do it for me. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next. coverage next.
NBC News Correspondent Gadi Schwartz, NBC Sports Figure Skating Analyst Scott Hamilton, and Mayo Clinic Anesthesiologist and Expert in Human Performance Kori Schake joined Chris Jansing to discuss yesterday’s Olympic figure skating women’s final, after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva fell to fourth place in her final performance amid the attention of a highly publicized doping scandal, “the most intense scrutiny and pressure, and controversy imaginable,” Schwartz says. The 15 year-old stepped off the ice to immediate criticism from the coach who Valieva was under the watchful eye of when she “became an instant pariah to the entire world.”