🔴 MARATHON: Global investigations from FRONTLINE

cage. (rat squeaks) >> BLOOM: The training begins at dawn. They're nocturnal, so they wear sunscreen to protect their sensitive ears. We head down the road to a training field run by the Hero Rat program. (engine idling) Here, trainers have created a hazardous treasure hunt, burying land mines and canisters of TNT. All the detonators have been removed, but the explosive material is still inside. Strapped into a harness, the rats run on a cord between two trainers. >> Whenever they trace an explosive scent, you may see they become a bit more nervous, they start looking where the highest concentration is, and on that spot, they will scratch as an indication. >> BLOOM: So, that sort of scratching indicates, like, "Okay, I've found something"? >> Yes. >> BLOOM: Yeah. Dogs have traditionally been used to detect land mines, but Bart realized that rats are less likely to set off a mine and less susceptible to tropical disease.

And once trained, rats work obediently with humans. Do you know when you've got a good one? >> Yes, example, me, I got good one, yeah. Named is Ararat. >> BLOOM: Ararat? >> Yes. (chuckles) That rat got two times jackpot, you know. >> Ararat is a star. He worked through the whole curriculum without any error. We're sure Ararat has a bright future in the mine fields. >> BLOOM: After nearly a year in training, Bart is sending Ararat and seven others on their first mission. ♪ ♪ Mozambique, on the east coast of Africa. A beautiful country with a terrible history of war. They're slowly rebuilding. But 30 years of conflict continues to take its toll here.

Since the end of the civil war, thousands of Mozambicans have been killed or injured by unexploded land mines. >> (speaking Portuguese): >> BLOOM: Ramos spent two years recovering in the hospital, but he lost both his legs beneath the knee. He now walks with prosthetics. >> (speaking Portuguese) (man responds on radio) >> BLOOM: A few years ago, the Hero Rat program hired Ramos as a radio operator. >> (speaking Portuguese) >> BLOOM: Ramos changed his mind about the rats after seeing them in action.

He welcomes the reinforcements, which have just arrived from Tanzania. Over the next few weeks, Ararat and the other new rats will be put through rigorous licensing tests. Meanwhile, Bart's brother Frank has set up a base camp where he shows us how the demining works. >> There we go. >> BLOOM: We suit up in protective gear and join a team heading out. >> Yeah, you're going to be looking very... You're going to be feeling very elegant in this thing, you know? (both laugh) Never go beyond any of the red marked poles. >> BLOOM: Mm-hmm. >> Never step over any tape. >> BLOOM: After clearing dense vegetation, the deminers use metal detectors. It's a dangerous and painstaking process that moves inch by inch. (detector sounds) And the detectors are triggered by even the smallest metal object. This is where Bart's rats have the advantage, zeroing in on just the explosives. Since the rats first began working here four years ago, they've found a hand grenade, unexploded ammunition, and 22 land mines. For Bart, after so many years of preparation, each trip into the minefields is a moment of truth. When the rats begin to scratch, the deminers are called in. (detector sounding) Uncovered, just where the rats indicated, a land mine,

which is carefully defused. The rats are rarely wrong. (children calling) Bart's Hero Rats are now demining the land around this school. They've cleared 100 acres. Children now play here unafraid. (children calling) It's another success for a program that many doubted. >> In the beginning, it was really tough. Everywhere I went to apply for funding, we were just laughed at. Institutions were actually very, very reluctant towards such an approach. >> BLOOM: In that initial stage, did you ever think to yourself, "What am I doing this for?" >> Um, well, the reason why was clear, obvious. (stammers) I dreamt of a better world. As long as these mines are there, people just cannot build a normal life. (door creaking) >> BLOOM: Back in his laboratory, Bart thinks he's found yet another way for his rats to help save lives. (rat squeaks) Bart and his wife, Maureen, have discovered that rats can help doctors diagnose tuberculosis by smelling it. In Africa, TB is a leading cause of death. A lab technician can only test around 20 samples a day. One rat can test up to 2,000.

You could pretty much put any scent in? >> Indeed-- this is a generic technology. In the end, the animals are trained to pinpoint a specific target scent. What's the target scent? This can be anything. >> BLOOM: Bart says the possibilities for his rats are limitless. >> They, they save human lives and... Yes, they are, they are heroes, actually. >> BLOOM: Inspired by a boyhood passion, Bart took a chance. And so far, his rats keep paying off. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (bus rattling) >> LOMONACO: The bus ride from Mexico City had taken six

hours. I came here to Oaxaca to piece together the life of a dead man. Back in Arizona, I'd reported on the increasing number of migrants who have died trying to cross into the United States. But I knew so little about any of them. (women singing in Spanish) In Agua del Espino, I found a village of Zapotec Indians mourning the loss of one of its sons. >> (speaking Spanish) >> LOMONACO: He was one of nearly 400 migrants who died along the border last year. >> (speaking Spanish in background) >> LOMONACO: This night marks the anniversary of his death. (brass band playing) His name was Matias Garcia. He was 29 years old. (band continues) >> IGNACIA (speaking Spanish): ♪ ♪ >> LOMONACO: Matias was the oldest of five children. When he was eight years old, he left school to work in the fields

with his father. At 16, Matias started leaving his village in Southern Mexico to work in California. >> MAN (speaking Spanish): >> LOMONACO: Matias left each spring, but he would return every fall. >> ISIDRA (speaking Spanish): >> LOMONACO: Matias' wife, Isidra, feeds the family with the corn and beans they grow. The money he earned in the north helped build their home and clothe the family. It sent his sons Juan and Elias to school.

Two years ago, Matias decided he would stop crossing. >> ISIDRA: (man speaking Spanish) >> LOMONACO: This is Matias in a home video taken in 2002. That spring, he began growing chiles so he could make enough money to support his family without going north. But an early frost that fall destroyed the crop overnight. It left Matias in debt. He had to cross again. This time, he would take a cousin with him and his 18-year-old brother, whom we'll call Serafin. It would be Serafin's first trip north. >> SERAFIN (speaking Spanish): ♪ ♪ >> LOMONACO: The men set out on May 28, 2003. >> IGNACIA: >> LOMONACO: Their mother wanted them to avoid a

three-day bus ride and save their strength for the journey. She convinced them to borrow money so they could fly just south of the border. (vehicle horn honking) They spent the night in Sonoyta, a popular crossing point along the Mexico/Arizona border. Like most migrants, they hired a coyote, or smuggler, to guide them. He told them to buy two gallons of water each. >> SERAFIN: >> LOMONACO: On Friday, May 30, it was 104 degrees. The group started walking at 5:00 in the afternoon to avoid the worst of the desert heat. The men walked all night. They crossed more than 20 miles. (insects buzzing) After sunrise, the heat rose quickly. It was too hot to continue walking. They rested in what little shade they could find. In the summer, the desert floor can reach up to 170 degrees.

The men barely slept. They ate tortillas they brought from home. They each had less than one gallon of water left. ♪ ♪ The journey north wasn't always so difficult. For years, most Mexican migrants entered the United States from Tijuana. Matias' uncle made the trip many times. (men singing in Spanish) >> (speaking Spanish): >> LOMONACO: In 1990, Matias first went north through Tijuana. Four years later, the U.S. entered the North American Free Trade Agreement.

At the same time the U.S. opened the border to trade, it made it harder for people to get across with a new strategy called Operation Gatekeeper. The Border Patrol reinforced the old fence with a series of walls between Tijuana and San Diego. They hoped to push migrants east, into the desert. They thought the rugged terrain would act as a natural barrier and discourage people from entering the country illegally. But it didn't. Hundreds of thousands of migrants began crossing the desert, first in California, then in Arizona. ♪ ♪ Matias Garcia had crossed the desert before, but usually in April. But this time, he couldn't raise enough money to hire a coyote until mid-May. The delay pushed his journey into the hottest part of the year. >> SERAFIN: >> LOMONACO: By 7:00, the men ran out of water. A few hours later, Matias collapsed. >> SERAFIN: >> LOMONACO: Serafin and his cousin carried Matias for

several hours. They were trying to make it to highway 85 in southwestern Arizona. >> SERAFIN: (police radio running) (microphone beeps) >> A42, 10-8. (sniffs) >> LOMONACO: Sheriff's Deputy Michael Walsh works along the border.

He found the men that night. They were trying to flag down help. >> Well, I was just doing routine patrol. I guess it was probably around, like, 2:15, 2:30 in the morning. As I pulled up, I would say the person that was flagging me down was standing right where my vehicle is at right now. (radio continues) I could see that he was visibly upset, he was crying. As I kept walking, I was then able to see that there was a third subject, which was lying on the ground. His head was up in this area, his feet were in that direction. His head was on the second subject's lap. I looked at the person that was lying on the ground, and you could, I could see that he was deceased. >> LOMONACO: It wasn't the first time Deputy Walsh had found the body of a migrant in the desert. >> Mostly you just find skeletal remains out in the desert. With this one, there's a lot more emotion, you know, family emotion involved in it. So it's a lot different. You have a name, you know, with the person. You know, you know that he had a brother, you know, his cousin. They, you know, obviously were close. They were visibly upset when he passed away. >> LOMONACO: The men had walked 32 miles.

Matias died 40 yards away from the highway they'd hoped would take them to California. (rooster crowing) >> (whistling) >> IGNACIA: >> LOMONACO: A week later, Matias' body was sent home.

But his family believes that his spirit is still in the desert. His mother says he visits her in her dreams. "Mamá, tengo sed. ¿Tienes agua?" "I'm thirsty," he says. "Do you have any water?" The day after Matias died, Serafin and his cousin were deported and released in a nearby border town. Within hours, they crossed back over the border and started walking through the desert again. >> SERAFIN: (branches breaking) >> LOMONACO: After walking for two more days, they got a ride to a small farming town outside of Fresno, California. Men from Agua del Espino have been working here for decades.

>> SERAFIN: >> (laughing and talking softly) >> LOMONACO: Back in the village, Matias' widow suffers, too, trying to be strong for her sons. >> ISIDRA: >> (speaking Spanish) (all blowing) >> ISIDRA: (woman singing in Spanish)

(song continues) >> LOMONACO: At a memorial service, his aunt sings of the family's loss. (song continues) Matias was one of more than 200 migrants that died in the Arizona desert in 2003, their names published in a local newspaper. (women begin singing) In the ten years since the U.S. tightened its border policy, more than 3,000 people have died. (song continues) A year after Matias' death, his family is struggling to make it without him. His father hasn't worked in the U.S. in years. That will soon change.

>> REY (speaking Spanish): >> LOMONACO: The year of mourning has kept him in the village, but he says he must leave now. He will go north this summer, the deadliest time to cross. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (woman vocalizing) >> ALEXIS BLOOM: The farming town of Iten, in the northwest highlands of Kenya, perches 8,000 feet above sea level. Iten is like any other

Kenyan village... ...except for one thing. The people here, the Kalenjin tribe, are some of the best runners in the world. (indistinct shouting) Kenya holds more records in long distance running than any other country. Kenyan men have been competing internationally since the 1960s. Women, until recently, have been sidelined. (woman vocalizing) Now, breaking with tradition, more and more women train to become professional runners. We came to Kenya to meet these new athletes, to see an unusual training camp for women, the only one in the country. >> We are lucky in this area, because we have a ladies' camp. >> BLOOM: Just a few years old, this high-altitude camp attracts talent from villages all over the highlands. This is where they start to shine.

>> If you train at home, you cannot get time to train like that. You can go to the river, you fetch water, you go for firewood, struggling hard. But here, only your work is to go for training. After training, you can relax. Concentrating only for your training. >> BLOOM: The camp provides for those without shoes or a tracksuit: three meals a day, the freedom to run, and the chance to succeed. (panting) The camp was started by one of Kenya's most famous runners, Lornah Kiplagat. >> Lornah Kiplagat of Kenya, in first place! >> BLOOM: Lornah caught the world's attention when she won the L.A. Marathon back-to-back in 1997 and '98. She's broken four world records, and broken social barriers, too. >> I think what I've shown them, the girls, is I've given them a lot of courage, because without courage you can't stand and talk. "Yeah, Lornah did it, why not us?" >> 74, don't go too fast, take it easy. >> BLOOM: Lornah is training in New Mexico for the Olympics. She built her camp in Kenya race by race, funded entirely by her prize money. Lornah has created an oasis outside the strict defines of traditional roles.

>> Take care that the house is clean. Take care that the farms are digged. Take care that the lunch is ready. Take care that the laundry is ready. Take care that the cows have their own food. And take care that your husband has food. That's our life. Every day. Throughout. 365 days. >> BLOOM: People didn't think this village girl's career or her camp would last. >> And they would say, "Forget about Lornah, she is too busy building up camps for women in Africa." But I'll tell you, since the moment I started to build up the camp in Kenya, I won every race I entered. But still they think I'm crazy anyway, so I don't mind. (birds chirping) (rooster crowing) >> BLOOM: Lornah's camp has changed the lives of many young athletes in Kenya. 25-year-old Nancy Kiprop is the most recent arrival. Nancy's goal is to make the Kenyan national team.

>> Here women run to stop asking your husband each and every day, "Give me something, I need to buy this, I need that." Because as women, we have some other things that maybe men, we don't like men to know. Maybe I run, I get my own money, I am free. I can get whatever I want, yeah. >> BLOOM: Another woman we met was Ruth Chebbi. Her mother raised eight children alone. >> I hope to be a good runner in the future. I get my own... properties so that I can be independent of myself, not depending on my parents. (singing in Swahili) >> BLOOM: Nancy invited us back to her village, a two-hour drive along bumpy tracks skirting the edge of the Great Rift Valley. (singing in Swahili) At home, Nancy has a husband and a baby named Victor. >> The biggest challenge now as a runner and being a woman is the, maybe the burden of bringing up children and at the same time taking up the career of being an athlete. >> BLOOM: You don't remember?

She's been training for so long? >> So that's a great challenge. >> (speaking Kalenjin) >> BLOOM: Seven people live in this two-room house. Pictures of champions adorn the walls. Nancy's husband is the rare Kenyan man. He cares for their child and lets Nancy run. Do you feel proud of Nancy when she's running? >> Sure, I am very proud, yeah. >> BLOOM: So it's okay with you that she will run and you look after Victor at home? >> Yeah. It's difficult to refuse somebody to go with this talent. That's gift from God. Who am I? Am I God? I'm not God. Let somebody go and use their talent. (women singing in native language) (man speaking on loudspeaker) >> BLOOM: Back in Iten, on a rainy Saturday, it was the first qualifying round for the national team. People speculate wildly about why Kenyans are such good runners.

But Nancy believes running is just a way of life. >> Why Kenyans are running so fast? Because our schools were located very far away from our homes. You run very many kilometers away from your home, maybe six kilometers. You run lunchtime, then you come back, six kilometers again. And then you go back to school for classes, evening classes, and in the evening you come back again. So we used to run, run, run in order not to miss the lessons. (man speaking on loudspeaker) >> BLOOM: For Nancy and Ruth, both running today, there's much at stake. A top runner can win thousands per race-- huge rewards, when over half of Kenyans live on less than a dollar a day. (cheering) Come on! The winners of this 8K race will move one step closer to the national team. Go, Nancy! Come on, Ruth! >> Whoo! Nancy has just been overtaken. But it's really, it's neck and neck. (cheering) Running with the best in the district, Nancy places third, qualifying to move on.

Ruth comes in sixth, also qualifying, but just barely. >> I have some worries about my future, if I cannot train hard. So I have to struggle hard, because if I have nothing, what kind of a life am I going to live? So I'm worrying about my future. >> BLOOM: Back at the camp, Ruth struggles to keep up, while Nancy pushes forward. >> To run you have to sweat. You will not win if you will not sweat. You have to sweat. Because you have to train hard to win easily. >> The girls will not all make it. The girls at the camp, for sure. Not all of them have good talent for running. But the good part of the story is, they have talent for something else. So that at the end, it is not only about running. It's a way of changing the whole lifestyle of women in Kenya. At the end, all of a sudden you see a different face, a different life, and you're like, "Wow, it's possible."

Yeah. (men and women singing in native language) ♪ ♪ >> MARK SCHAPIRO: Northwest Spain. Galicia, the edge of Europe...

A wild stretch of jagged coast and some of the world's richest fishing grounds. To locals this is a holy site. A church commemorates the place where the Virgin Mary is said to have come ashore in a stone boat. There's another monument here, depicting the cracked hull of a more modern ship, recalling a tragedy just offshore. In November 2002, a Greek-owned oil tanker called the Prestige broke apart in a storm. 20 million gallons of oil began to pour from the ship, as it sank into the freezing Atlantic. On shore, the people of Galicia watched and waited, braced for what might be coming. A terrible black tide began to arrive, devastating the coast of northern Spain all the way into France. It was one of the worst oil spills in history. The story of the wreck of the Prestige begins in Russia, where the ship is loaded with oil in the port of St. Petersburg.

The oil tanker has a shady and complicated history. Her owners are Greek, but they have registered their ship through a front company in Liberia. It's a strategy that limits taxes and liability. At 26 years old, the rusting, single-hulled tanker is well past the age of retirement. But that doesn't stop the owners from loading the aging ship with crude oil number four, one of the most toxic fuel oils in the world. On October 30, 2002, the Prestige sets off, not certain of her destination or who will buy her oil. The Prestige passes through the narrow Straits of Denmark. She sails across the North Sea and through the crowded English Channel. As the ship enters the Atlantic, the captain receives word of a buyer in Asia. (waves crashing) The Prestige is entering the area off Spain known as Costa del Muerte, the Coast of Death...

...just as a winter storm is building into a force-nine gale. The captain, Apostolos Mangouras, hears a loud bang from the starboard side. (loud bang) Suddenly, the ship begins to take on water. Her hull is battered by 20-foot waves. And her engines shut down. The Prestige is overwhelmed. >> (speaking Greek on radio) (continue conversing over radio) (helicopter whirs) >> SCHAPIRO: Captain Mangouras issues a call for help. Rescue copters hurry to evacuate the Filipino crew. In the tradition of the sea, the captain and his two top officers remain on board. He wants to bring the ship into a safe harbor. Already leaking oil, the ship drifts to within four miles of the coast. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: Spanish authorities dispatch a man to take control of the Prestige, 68-year-old Captain Serafin Diaz.

>> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: As Diaz reached the deck, he realized it was covered with oil. The ship was dead in the water, crippled by a gaping 50-foot hole on the starboard side. The steel had been ripped away and the ship was flooding. (radio chatter in Spanish) >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: It was Captain Mangouras. Diaz explained that the Spanish government had ordered him to restart the ship's engines and steer the Prestige out to sea, away from Spain. But Captain Mangouras refused, saying the ship should be brought out of the storm, into port, where the leaking oil could be contained. The two men argued for hours.

Finally, Diaz threatened the captain. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: The Spanish plan was to get the wounded ship out to deep water in the middle of the Atlantic. But after several days of sailing, and only 130 miles off the coast, the Prestige breaks in two. And it sinks. Captain Mangouras was airlifted to shore the night before the ship sank and immediately arrested.

He was charged with negligence and resisting Spanish authority. The oil started coming fast. It came in sheets, massive clumps of oil washed in with the tides. The entire northern coast of Spain was devastated as the oil killed everything in its path. Millions of fish and birds were suffocated or poisoned by the black tide. The Spanish government was completely unprepared. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: The people of Galicia had to clean the poisonous oil by hand. The damage stretched along 350 miles of coastline with almost twice the oil that spilled out of the infamous Exxon Valdez in Alaska. For people in the United States, this was a one-day story just before the war in Iraq. For the people of Galicia, the Prestige would be an enduring nightmare.

>> All of us who've been cleaning the beaches... ...we know that even if we get everything clean, our environmental land is going to be dead for many years. Maybe our children aren't going to be able to enjoy the beaches and this land. So... I don't know, I don't know. Sorry, but I don't want to talk anymore. (water spraying) >> SCHAPIRO: For the next six months, the beaches were like a scene from science fiction. High-pressure hoses blasted sticky oil from the rocks. The cleanup will cost an estimated $2 billion. The ship's insurance only covered $25 million. And the toxic oil doesn't just disappear.

It washes down into the sand, and will remain there for decades. Spain imposed a six-month ban on fishing along most of its northern coast. Only recently have Galician fishermen returned to the sea. The clams and mussels here used to be sold all over Europe. Now environmentalists question whether people should eat shellfish from this region at all. (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: But Galician fishermen are anxious to reassure me that the fish is okay. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: Rafael Mouzo is a fisherman and the mayor of a coastal village, Corcurbion, hard hit by the oil. >> (speaking Spanish) (cheering) >> SCHAPIRO: On the first anniversary of the Prestige disaster, 100,000 people took to the streets in the Galician capital of Santiago de Compostela.

A new movement has emerged: Nunca Mais-- "Never Again." >> (chanting): Nunca mais! (singing) >> SCHAPIRO: Like Mayor Mouzo, people here want to know exactly who was to blame and who should pay. >> (singing continues) >> NARRATOR: The Spanish government says they have found documents that show the Prestige should never have been at sea. Just before the Prestige sank, the Spanish government sent Serafin Diaz back onto the ship in a risky mission to search for evidence. Lowered onto the ship once more, Diaz ran up to the bridge and began to grab everything he could. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: The documents reveal the secret history of the Prestige. It turns out that while the ship was in St.

Petersburg, another captain was in command, Esfraitos Kostazos. He sent a series of urgent messages to the Greek ship owners, warning that the Prestige was in unsound condition. In fact, he threatened to quit unless the ship was repaired. The Greek owners' response was to replace Captain Kostazos with Captain Apostolos Mangouras. Now awaiting trial, Mangouras has refused to talk about the case, including the condition of the ship. The warning from Captain Kostazos did not stop the owners from taking a huge risk, sending an ailing ship out to sea with a full load of oil. There were no rules of international shipping to stop them. In Madrid, when the Spanish government began their investigation, they wanted to question the owners. But at first they couldn't even tell who the owners were. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: The mysterious owners of the Prestige have now been identified as a Greek shipping family. The Coulouthros family were able to disguise

their ownership by creating a front company in Liberia. The only thing that company owned was the Prestige. When the ship sank, there were no other assets to pursue. The Prestige tore open in a storm that other ships plowed through. The investigators wanted to know if the ship's inspection company had been aware of any problems that might have caused the catastrophe. The company responsible for inspecting the Prestige was the American Bureau of Shipping, ABS. This is their corporate video. ♪ ♪ For over 20 years, ABS had the contract to monitor the Prestige's condition. In May, just six months before it sank, ABS certified that the Prestige was seaworthy. But the original captain, Captain Kostazos, inspected the ship himself in St. Petersburg and sent this fax to ABS. In this hand-written note, the captain alerts ABS to nine serious deficiencies on board the Prestige. The problems include boilers in very bad condition, leaking pipelines and cracked and corroded beam parts in the ballast tank.

We contacted ABS at their corporate headquarters in Houston. They are a well-respected ship inspection company with offices throughout the world. But they declined to be interviewed on camera and sent us this written response: ABS has no evidence that the fax was ever transmitted to them. They say that the role of ship inspectors is very limited. They form "only one part of a maritime safety net in which the ship owner is the most important member." They say their inspection of the Prestige last May was a limited one, and that it was the ship owner's responsibility to inform them of any problem. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: Menendez says it won't be easy. They are battling powerful forces in the maritime system.

>> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: Meanwhile, the only one the Spanish are prosecuting is Captain Mangouras. In jail, one of the captain's few visitors was Jose Manuel Ortega, a maritime union official who believes Mangouras is being singled out unfairly. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: Ortega says the people most responsible for the Prestige disaster are protected by the way the system works. >> (speaking Spanish) >> SCHAPIRO: There are still 150 aging single-hulled vessels like the Prestige at sea. After the disaster,

the European Union banned them from entering their ports, but they can't control international waters. Mayor Mouzo is furious that not enough has been done to protect the Galician coast. >> (speaking Spanish) (waves crashing) >> SCHAPIRO: The Prestige lies 130 miles off this coast. Some days, its oil still washes ashore. The Spanish and French have sent submarine robots down to the shattered vessel. Two miles below the surface, the ship's rusted hull still contains 13,000 tons of oil.

They use the robots to seal the leaks. One day, they hope to extract the remaining oil. Above this graveyard, along the Costa del Muerte, the oil tankers keep passing. ♪ ♪ (people talking in background)

(vehicles passing) (horns honking) >> ARONSON: In the heart of the city that used to be called Bombay, now Mumbai, lies one of its poorest districts, Kamathipura. By day, its alleyways are filled with mostly unemployed men killing time... (bell dings) ...and prostitutes who drag their beds into the street waiting for their night's work to begin. (man calling in Indian language, car horns honking) Kamathipura is India's largest red light district, home to more than 60,000 sex workers. (vehicle horns honking) ♪ ♪ It is also the epicenter of India's AIDS crisis. Now, in a country where even talking about sex has been taboo, the conversation has become open and frank. Typically, how much would you charge a male client for sex? >> YELU (speaking Indian language): >> ARONSON: Yelu has been a prostitute for 12 years.

For her and her fellow sex workers, their only defense against H.I.V. is convincing men to wear condoms. But most often, the men will simply refuse. Do most of them just not know about H.I.V. and AIDS yet? Is this the situation? They're just not educated? >> RUPA (speaking Indian language): >> ARONSON: Rupa is the daughter of a former brothel owner. >> RUPA: >> YELU: (women laughing) >> Love, love, love... (laughing, speaking Indian language) >> ARONSON: So, so, all of a sudden, if you're in love, it's okay to, to have sex without a condom? >> WOMAN: Yeah. >> ARONSON: How many times does it take to fall in love? (women laughing) >> YELU: >> ARONSON: "I love you" means no condom. >> YELU: (women laughing) ♪ ♪ >> ARONSON: They laughed about the situation, but the tragic fact is more than half of the sex workers here are H.I.V.-positive, and they are powerless in Mumbai's lucrative sex industry. For the pimps and brothel owners, it's a multi-million-dollar business, and money, not health, is the bottom line.

Most men will pay more to have unprotected sex... (traffic humming, people talking in background) ...and they'll pay the highest prices for the youngest girls. >> MAN (speaking Indian language): >> GIRL: >> ARONSON: India's red light districts are filled with young girls. They are the most valuable commodity in the sex industry. (car horn honks) Many of them have been kidnapped and trafficked to India. (car door closes) Some have been sold by their own families. All of these girls have been rescued from prostitution by a group called Sanlaap. Most of them were sold into the sex industry between the ages of 13 and 16. We met them at the shelter where they now live. >> KHUSHBOO (speaking Indian language): >> ARONSON: Mm-hmm. >> JHARNA: