is expected to climb even higher as night continues to grind on there in morocco. sam kiley joins us from morocco. i think perhaps you saw the ceiling above you giving way just a touch. how are things where you re at? reporter: well, jim, you put your finger on what everybody here is most afraid of here in the medina in the old city of marrakech. an environment that certainly not in living memory and for many people, not even in the history books has any recollection of being worried about an earthquake. here you have the direct results of it. it is the collapse of a roof, that blank space there is the night sky above it. you have a roof, a floor, two ceilings, all collapsed down on to the ground here where i m standing. if you look at these buildings, we re in these very narrow streets, these very, very narrow streets. all of these buildings have enormous cracks down the side. the concern obviously is, if any of these cracks give way as a result of future tremors, then the
hello again, everyone. thank you so much for joining me this saturday. we re following the breaking news out of morocco where more than a thousand people were killed after a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck late friday. it was the strongest to hit the area in over a century. the epicenter was located in the high atlas mountains just southwes southwest. rescuers are struggling to access the areas after roads were damaged. hospitals were filling up, prompting patients to wait outside as hospital beds were moved onto the streets. more than 700 people are in critical condition. and with intense aftershocks expected in the area, officials believe the death toll will steadily rise. i heard people screaming. everyone went out of their houses. the street is full of people and women screaming. that s what happened. even now people can t go back home because they re still afraid. toi want to bring in ben wedeman for more. the destruction is devastating. looking at some of t
magnitude earthquake, the strong oft to hit the north african nation in more than a century. the quake struck late last night, centered in the high mountains around the tourist destination of marrakech. the quake brought down buildings and homes and people ran into the streets. look at this video, two men run when they begin to feel the shaking. moments later you see panicked people running by and then rubble falling where those men were just moments before. look at that. there you go. there s the rubble falling. nearly 700 people were reportedly injured in the quake. and now there is a race to reach the victims in the most affected area. but officials say rescue teams are struggling to get to some of these places. cnn s ben wedeman is joining us now, he s following this story, ben, we know that this large earthquake hit around 11:00 p.m. local time so a lot of people must have been sleeping. what are the latest on the rescue efforts and tell us about the concerns that mo
co-defendants. and another confirmed sighting of danelo cavalcante. the convicted murderer who escaped prison last week, there have been nine confirmed sightings in the last nine days and yet the pennsylvania escapee is still on the run. 3,400 feet beneath the surface, an american is alive in a deep cave. we are learning when the rescue operation could get him out. this hour of cnn this morning starts right now. this morning we could see the full report from the fulton county special grand jury in georgia investigating the election subversion case there. the one that ultimately led to the indictment of former president trump and 18 co-defendants. we have been waiting for this for months. a reminder, this is different than the grand jury that returned the indictments last month. of this is the special grand jury that investigated efforts to overturn the 2020 election last year and recommended charges. grand jurors heard from over 75 witnesses over seven months. in
former president will stand striel next month. in kyiv, secretary of state antony blinken has made a surprise visit, he is there right now, set to meet with ukrainian president volodymr zelenskyy. senate republicans getting ready to meet with mitch mcconnell as concerns grow over the gop leader s health after he froze in front of reporters again. this hour of cnn this morning starts now. here s where we begin. in a few hours, the first televised hearing in the georgia alex m alex m election / election interference begins. the judge says he is going to address critical scheduling matters for the trial. it could begin october 23. there are 19 defendants. they have all all entered not plea pleas. the hearing will look at breaking up the case and trying some of the defendants separately. yeah, that s a loaded calendar you are looking at there. meanwhile, in the federal election interference case special counsel jack smith is accusing former president trump of making da