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Missing Malaysian Airliner; Plane Search Continues; Building Collapse in NYC; Satellite Search for Plane

Aired March 12, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. Thank you so much for being with me on this Thursday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Busy, busy news day here as we're following two major stories this afternoon. First, right here in New York City, look at these pictures. Incredible amounts of smoke. A deadly scene there in Harlem as fire crews, New York Police Department's bomb squad have been working this five-alarm fire after an explosion and two buildings, not just one, two here collapsed in east Harlem. The latest numbers we have here, two dead, 24 others hurt. We have heard from New York's mayor, Bill de Blasio, speaking to reporters just a little while ago saying several people are also missing, but he will not, of course, speculate on that possible number.

The blast happened right around 9:30 this morning. The local utility company says it was called out to the location for a possible gas leak, but the explosion happened before its trucks arrived.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Let's get straight to our breaking news though. A new development in the other story we're following for you, that we have been following for days now. The latest in that search for that missing 777, that Malaysian airliner. Sadly it appears Malaysian officials still do not know where this plane was flying when it vanished with 239 people on board. And with each and every clue comes more confusion.

Here's what we've just learned. Malaysian police are now questioning the friend, this man who hosted these two Iranian nationals in Kuala Lumpur, the Iranian nationals who had those stolen passports who boarded this jet. So we have more on that angle in just a second as we're just learning that.

But we're also hearing this report that the last words heard from the crew of the plane were "all right, good night." That's according to "The Straight Times" (ph) newspaper. "All right, good night" from the crew.

After spending five days searching the area beneath the intended path of this Beijing bound flight, Malaysia's military now says it may have radically changed course, popping up as a blip on radar more than an hour later and hundreds of miles away. A dramatic change in course over the Malacca Straits. Also, that means, the search area has suddenly doubled in size today. It's a development so baffling that Vietnam - I mean just look at this map. So you have Vietnam here scaling back search efforts until Malaysia gets its act together. Twelve or so nations working on this. Reporters aren't getting clear answers either, by the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're getting increasing criticism now. You're searching east. You're searching west. You don't seem to know what you've seen on radar and it's taking you until now, five days later, (INAUDIBLE).

HISHAMMUDDIN BIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: I think that's not true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, can I ask you -

HUSSEIN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is utter confusion now.

HUSSEIN: I don't think so. I think it's far from it. It's only confusion if you want it to be seem to be confusion. We have made it - we have made it very clear and we've been very consistent in our -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you answered (ph) you do not believe (INAUDIBLE) as to where you need to search.

HUSSEIN: Yes, in these two areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So exactly how desperate has the situation become? A shaman, a witch doctor if you will, says a Malaysian leader enlisted this spiritual ceremony to uncover any clues. This is - this is how desperate they are and he came up with nothing.

On top of that, CNN has also learned that the home of the pilot is being searched by authorities here.

Let me bring in CNN International's Andrew Stevens, who's watching this story for us there in Kuala Lumpur.

And, Andrew, let's begin with the new nuggets that we've just broke here, the fact that this friend who hosted these two Iranian nationals is being questioned by police. Tell me what you know about that.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Yes, he's being picked up by police, Brooke, and as we speak he -- we understand that he's actually being interviewed at the central police station here in Kuala Lumpur. CNN spoke to him - we just spoke to him just in the last few minutes. He said he's safe and he's well and he's expecting to be there for another couple of hours.

Now, he was the friend of the two Iranians, the 18-year-old and the 29-year-old, who used the stolen passports to get on board that doomed flight. The theory on their use of these stolen passports has less to do with anything related to terrorism and more to do with the fact that it was people smuggling.

The -- one of the Iranians, the young Iranian boy, was -- his final destination was actually Frankfurt, where his mother was waiting to meet him at the airport. And the other Iranian was going to Copenhagen. But certainly the police now questioning their friends here in Kuala Lumpur as to exactly what his connections were and what he knew about these two.

I mean the police are talking to a lot of people. They also have been to the home of the pilot, the 53-year-old pilot. A very experienced pilot. He was also something of an aviation geek, Brooke, and he had his own simulator in his house. So police have been there and they've looked at the data on that simulator. No word yet on what they found.

BALDWIN: OK, I was curious as far as what police could be looking for at his home. So you have those two things happening.

In the meantime, I just go back to these families. I mean you had 239 people on board this 777 jet and with all these conflicting reports and Malaysian Airlines, you know, backing off one thing for another report, how are families handling this?

STEVENS: Well, you can only imagine just how difficult it must be for these families. We are going into our sixth day now. In fact, it's just turned day six in the hunt. We're still several hour away from daylight here. And still, we don't have anything concrete.

But what I can say about the search, Brooke, is that the Malaysian authorities did confirm today something that we got unofficially yesterday, the fact that this - there is a path, a flight path, which has been reflected on a radar map, which shows a plane, an unidentified plane, flying back over Malaysia into the Straits of Malacca.

Now, why this is linked to the - to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 is that the radar signal was picked up just after the plane lost contact. And it was on the same flight path and then it did a big deviation and went back across Malaysia into the Straits of Malacca. That is why that search in the western part of Malaysia is getting so much bigger now.

The question is, how high was that plane flying when it was last reported to be about 200 miles northwest of the coast? It was high. It could have been flying - it could have been flying for another couple of hours. It could be way out into Indian territorial waters. So, what this means is, those families who are sitting there, waiting hour by hour to get some information, could be facing days even weeks before they get some sort of understanding of where that plane went down.

BALDWIN: Hearts and thoughts go out to them as they sit and wait and wait. Andrew Stevens, thank you, in Kuala Lumpur.

I want to focus now really on this search, as Andrew mentioned, that's now suddenly doubled in size. The search area to this flight. The area they're searching now covers some 27,000 square miles. Authorities clearly don't know exactly where to focus the search for the missing airliner.

So let's bring in a pilot, a former international captain of Northwest Airlines, David Funk.

David, welcome.

DAVID FUNK, PILOT & FMR. INTERNATIONAL CAPTAIN, NORTHWEST AIRLINES: Thank you, Brooke. Good to be with you.

BALDWIN: So, let's begin with the -- what we know and what we don't know. What we don't know, debris. There was a clear lack of debris in the water.

FUNK: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: You know, no pieces of the plane, no cushions, no nothing. What might that mean?

FUNK: Well, that means one of two things. Either, a, we're not looking in the right place, or, b, the airplane touched down, not unlike Captain Sullenberger did on the miracle on the Hudson, where the airplane touched the water or maybe it's on land somewhere. But if it did ditch (ph), it touched down in a controlled state. Hopefully that that was the case and the folks got off with the rafts. But I would be inclined to believe that if they touched down in a controlled state, somebody would have grabbed the emergency locator transmitters, which have to be manually activated on that airplane. They'll actually go on if you just throw them in the water on their own. They're water- activated. However, that hasn't happened. So I'm inclined to think that's not the case. There's a lot of triple canopy jungle in that part of the world down south of Thailand, across Malaysia.

BALDWIN: I wanted to ask you on that. We keep focusing so much on the water.

FUNK: Yes, so if it's on the ground somewhere -

BALDWIN: We keep focusing so much on the water -

FUNK: Right, we -

BALDWIN: But there is heavily forested area in that part of the world. It's possible it could be on the land and no one would see it, right?

FUNK: That's correct, if you're not looking there. Now, it would be not impossible but difficult to look at our satellite data from that part of the world and see, can we see any recent flame or explosions, a new gash on the ground. But that takes time to go through and sort that data.

Like you said, 27,000 square miles of ocean, plus all the land mass that that airplane potentially flew over. The fact that they made a turn back towards land makes me think one of two things, either it was some catastrophe in the cockpit that was caused by a breach of the flight deck and the crew being forced, or did they have such a mechanical problem that they had to concentrate on flying the airplane, who know what that could have been with multiple electrical systems, very unusual to lose every ability to communicate.

In your comment earlier about what the pilot -- the last words heard from them. That's - believe it or not, kind of a routine see you later.

BALDWIN: I wanted - yes, "all right, good night."

FUNK: Nice to talk to you.

BALDWIN: It is?

FUNK: Exactly, "all right, good night." We're going to talk to the next controller or catch you next time, have a good day. I mean if you listen on the scanners around any major United States airport, you'll hear a lot of the same types of responses. That is a very common phrase heard in -

BALDWIN: Not alarming.

FUNK: In the Southeast Asian area. Not alarming at all to me.

BALDWIN: Glad you pointed that out. That was exactly where I was going next. David Funk, thank you so much. Always great to talk to someone who's been in the cockpit and knows how this works.

FUNK: You bet.

BALDWIN: We're going to have much more on the search for the plane, of course, throughout the hour. And the question, how the heck does a jumbo jet disappear for five - now we're getting into the sixth day, especially with this kind of technology. This is a 777. This is a sophisticated aircraft here. We'll talk to Richard Quest. He'll show us how easy it may be for a plane to vanish.

Plus, the Malaysian government announcing today this new search area. So we'll talk to Tom Foreman, who has a closer look at this new location and why it may actually be key in finding this missing plane.

We are also watching this developing situation in New York City very closely this afternoon. This building just explodes this morning, comes crashing down. It's actually two buildings. Two dead, more than a dozen injured. And next we will go to the scene. We will talk to a woman who was trapped in her bathroom after the blast. Hear how a neighbor got her out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's get right to the other big story today, this deadly explosion and buildings collapsing in New York City. This is what we know at this hour. At least two people are dead, 24 injured and many unaccounted for. You see the pictures. I mean they really tell the story here post explosion. The massive amounts of smoke plumes into the east Harlem air. At least two buildings, as I mentioned, destroyed. And all of this happened right around 9:30 this morning in Manhattan's east Harlem neighborhood. This is at 116th Street and Park Avenue. It was a five-story building with stores, apartments, just gone, gone. Neighbors reported smelling gas earlier this morning before that explosion. People several streets away say they heard and felt the blast as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boom! It's like heavy thunder. Heavy thunder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a big - big cloud. A big explosion. Like a -- thunder. Very heavy thunder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dozens of people, as you can imagine, who live in this area forced to get out of their homes. One woman told our correspondent there, Poppy Harlow, the explosion jammed her apartment door shut.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a big explosion. I didn't know what was going on. So I decided to look out my window. It's a building complex, so you can see the other side of the building. (INAUDIBLE) smoke. May neighbors came banging on my door and telling me to get out. That, I guess, they was evacuating the building. And I couldn't get out. My door was jammed. Everything off my windowsill fell and I guess the impact of the explosion jammed the door as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean just looking into it, I mean you can't even see past them because of the smoke there this morning. We know that the city's mayor, Bill de Blasio, he is there on the scene. We have also learned that President Obama has been briefed on the situation by Homeland Security. CNN has live team coverage of this massive explosion there. So on the phone with me right now, my colleague, Don Lemon.

Don, I know you're at 117th and Park. You've been there for a couple of hours now. Set the scene for me right here.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): I'm looking at, Brooke, piles and piles of rubble in the middle of Park Avenue, which is just - I've never seen anything like it. And I'm looking at dozens and dozens of firefighters on the scene.

Now, earlier, just before you came to me, those firefighters, Brooke, were digging through that rubble. And they're not doing it anymore. And I'm not exactly sure why they're not digging through (INAUDIBLE). I don't know if that means - that means they feel that they have found everyone who's in there, or it's a shift change, or it's just too dangerous for them to go any further. But that's what I'm looking at now. I'm looking at some firefighters who are moving away from the scene. I'm looking at some firefighters who are just sort of sitting and resting again. The train tressle (ph) here, the track, which carries the metro north to and fro and I am also looking at a hook and ladder truck spraying these two buildings, the hot spots and the fire that is still going since about 9:30 this morning. Just about, I guess, 30, 45 minutes ago there was a very, very strong smell of natural gas in the air and Con Edison, the electric and gas company, their workers were working frantically with a jack hammer and with picks trying to get down into this hole.

I'm standing right on the corner and just really a couple of yards away from that building and I can see a big hole that has been dug by Con Edison that has, you know, about 20 people in that hole, I guess, trying to shut that main off. And I guess a couple of minutes ago they managed to shut it off and now everyone has sort of moved away from that hole.

And just a short time ago, I saw a body be put into the medical examiner's van. I don't know if that is in addition to the two people who have died according to the mayor's office or if it's part of that. And we haven't heard any change in number, so I imagine that that is part of that.

And I also saw a drone flying over. Some people here in the neighborhood, residents are saying well this is just people who are filming it. Residents are filming it and some members of the police department are saying, no, that's one of our drones and they're getting information.

So there's a lot going on here. Everyone has been evacuated from that block and then also from the block that I'm in. And the only reason I was able to stay is because as I was being evacuated from a business, it was a councilwoman walked over and said, hey, how are you. And I recognized her and she brought me into the council office and now I've managed to stay inside the police perimeter to report from inside the scene, as close as I think anyone has been able to get, Brooke.

BALDWIN: It's a pretty grim description of what you have seen so far. Don Lemon, stay close to your phone here, as you can help - just keep us posted as far as how the scene is evolving there.

You know, as we mentioned, they're looking for people. There are people unaccounted for. One woman, thank goodness, she's OK. She lives in a building nearby and she felt this thing this morning. She said it felt like an earthquake. She is Aisha Watts (ph). She had just gotten home from taking her kids to school. And she's on the phone with me.

Aisha, I have to say, sitting here in New York City as well, a lot of people watching these pictures, just couldn't help but harken back with the smoke and the explosion to 9/11.

AISHA WATTS, WITNESS (via telephone): Right, that's how I felt.

BALDWIN: How - yes. How are you this afternoon, just a couple of hours removed?

WATTS: I am still shooken up because the building that was - that collapsed was 1648. I live in 1652 and that's connected to 1648. Even those it's two entrances, but it's still like connected together.

BALDWIN: So you are that close. WATTS: So as of 9:30, 9:31 this morning, I was starting (ph) to take a shower, getting ready for work since I dropped the kids off already. It was beyond a big boom. Beyond thunder. I thought it was a derailment from the metro north, since we live right here in the Park Avenue development. I thought the train fell off the tracks. I thought it was a terror attack. I didn't know what to think. The toilet was shaking. Everything was shaking. I got up. I heard the windows came - coming inside. They came in. I have no window frames. I have no walls. The walls came tumbling down. I have nothing.

BALDWIN: What did you do next? I understand that your apartment door was stuck. How did you - how'd you get out?

WATTS: Yes, my apartment door was stuck. I tried to get out. So I just ran back to try to get a knife to jam - you know, carve myself out or something, unlock myself. But that didn't work. I was banging on the door, on my apartment door for somebody to come and rescue me and help and my next door neighbor did.

BALDWIN: So your neighbor came to your rescue. Are you back in your apartment?

WATTS: Yes, thank God.

BALDWIN: Are you - thank God is right. Are you - you're not back in your apartment, are you?

WATTS: No, we can't go back for the next couple of days because the building was connected to it that collapsed.

BALDWIN: Tell me, Aisha, about the building. I guess it's buildings that collapsed. Were they -- do you know if they were full of residents? These were -

WATTS: (INAUDIBLE) very old buildings. I'm 37, about to be 38. That was beyond my time. That was when my grandmother came from South Carolina and going - she was born in 1920. She came up around 30. That was before the (INAUDIBLE). There was always problems in that building because we have a backyard for my building, (INAUDIBLE), and we can see them playing. You know, it's connected. We're all together.

BALDWIN: No more problems for the building. The building is gone.

WATTS: Yes, gone.

BALDWIN: I understand it was a pre-war - pre-World War II building there in east Harlem.

WATTS: (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: Oh, Aisha Watts, I'm glad you are a-OK and that your kids weren't home to experience what you experienced this morning, no walls, no windows in your apartment. Thank you so much for calling in.

We're going to get back to that story here in just a minute, but five days, we're working on six now. One plane, no signs whatsoever. U.S. intelligence officials turning to satellites to try to see if there are any clues that they can help find this plane. We'll tell you what they have found thus far.

Also, a massive search cannot be completed quickly, especially if the plane is sitting deep, deep in the ocean. We'll talk to an oceanographer who actually helped in the searched for that Air France flight a couple of years ago. Remember, it took them two years to figure out what went wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, back now to this international mystery that is capturing the world's attention now, what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Some are questioning whether spy satellites picked up any kind of evidence of an explosion. So let's go to the Pentagon, to our correspondent there, Barbara Starr, who's working that angle for us.

And, Barbara, what are sources telling you?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Brooke.

We talked to a number of officials and what they all say is no U.S. spy satellites, no U.S. spy sensors, military radars, none of it picked up any evidence of a mid-air explosion. They just don't see anything out there. But, like the whole mystery with this plane, that's not necessarily definitive we are told. They didn't pick up evidence of a mid-air explosion, but there could have been some type of event out over the open ocean that they simply couldn't pick up. It may not have been the type of event that these sensors are geared to register.

Let me explain. These satellites generally watch coastal areas and they watch for the launch of a ballistic missile. Some kind of missile coming up from the earth's surface. They, you know, they look for that infrared signature as the missile accelerates into the atmosphere. That may not be what happened here, of course, that kind of trajectory, so it didn't pick anything up.

They feel pretty sure that they've got a picture that they didn't have - they did not have a mid-air explosion register, but they just can't be 100 percent definitive about it, so adding to the mystery about what happened in this incident, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just total head scratcher, where is this plane. Barbara Starr, we are now in day six of this search. Thank you so much.

You have, you know, countries all across the world, that are now pooling their resources to try to find this Flight 370. They're searching this 27 (ph) square mile, about four sizes - four times the size of Massachusetts. That will not happen overnight. So we'll talk about why there is so much frustration over this very, very large search area.

We're also watching the situation for you in New York City, in east Harlem. Two people dead, more than two dozen injured in these building explosions this morning. Witnesses, we just talked to one, describe the blast feeling like an earthquake, shattering glass, walls of buildings nearby. We'll take you back to the scene live. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)