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Extending International Search for Malaysian Airline Plane; Purported Transcript of Final Communication of Flight 370 with Ground Control; Continuous Crisis around Crimea; Press Conference of Malaysian Acting Transportation Minister
Aired March 22, 2014 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Search efforts intensify in the Indian Ocean as more planes join the hunt for the passenger jet that vanished two weeks ago. We're in Perth, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with the latest. And Crimea and Russia celebrate their new union as Ukraine and the E.U. sign a new trade pact.
I'm Amara Walker. Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, and lets' get straight to the top stories. The first plane that flew out over the Southern Indian Ocean has returned to Australia today, and so far there is no sign of wreckage from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. At least six search planes headed out over the remote ocean, including ones from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.
Now, five Chinese naval vessels are heading south to join the effort, and two Chinese patrol planes arrive today in Perth, Australia. Now, Britain's "Telegraph" newspaper has published what it says is the transcript of the final 54 minutes of communications between Flight 370 pilots and ground control. Let's get straight to the latest on the operations underway off the coast of Western Australia. Andrew Stevens is in Perth, and he joins us live now with more.
So, Andrew, it sounds like this search efforts are expanding.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's certainly ramping up, Amara. The pilot of that first P3 Air Force's planning to return, but he's also told us that the conditions are not so good out there either. There's a cloud from 2,500 feet right down to 500 (INAUDIBLE). So, getting visual as - quite difficult, quite challenging. Having said that, he did say that they did manage to cover 100 percent of the target objective.
So, that was encouraging news, but no word on those two mysterious objects, but definitely the air operations and the sea operations are ramping up, six aircraft going out today. Interestingly, two of them are corporate jets. They don't have, obviously, sophisticated radar surveillance devices on board, but what they do have is good old- fashioned eyesight and that is what the Australian authorities are being pushing saying that it's important to get eyes on the target, not just radar sounds and images, but actually to get eyes on the target. He also said this is why the Chinese planes coming in here to this air force base in Australia is so important, because they can provide that element. Listen to what he said.
WARREN TRUSS, ACTING AUSTRALIA PRIME MINISTER: Well we welcome these additional assets, including the Chinese aircraft. They have a capability to that will be important also to the search. I'm told that they have a good platform for visual observations and as I mentioned earlier, this, it is more likely that a pair of eyes are going to identify something floating in the ocean than much of the technical equipment that's on board the aircraft.
STEVENS: Underling just how important the visual contact is. These two Chinese planes are expected to join the search tomorrow, Amara, and Japanese surveillance planes are also expected tomorrow and they will join the search possibly on Monday. And on the water, I can tell you that the Australian naval vessel, the HMAS Success, is expected in the target zone any time around now and there are three Chinese naval vessels plus another two smaller search vessels from China, which are also nearing the target as well. So the sea search and the air search both significantly ramping up.
WALKER: And Andrew, this area that they're searching, it is quite large, but it's also in a very remote area. It's out of normal, of the normal shipping lanes and the conditions can get really, really harsh. Can you give us the sense of how challenging the search is?
STEVENS: Yeah. This is one of the most remote places on earth and the Australian government as everybody does, keeps on coming back to this point. It is massively difficult and challenging. It's a four- hour flight just to get there, Amara. You're right, this is a stretch of water where storms can develop quickly and dangerously. We've already known that the visibility has been limited two out of three days so far on this search, add to that you've got an ocean, which is up to five kilometers deep, which means that you need sonar devices in the water to actually relay any pings from any emergency beacons that may be emitting some sort of signal from the seabed. So you stack it all up, it is a very, very difficult task indeed. The Australians are saying that it's daunting, but that's not going to put them off. Listen again to what the acting prime minister said.
TRUSS: It is a very remote area, but we intend to continue the search until we are absolutely satisfied that further searching would be futile, and that day is not in sight. We will continue the effort. We'll continue to liaise with our international allies in this search. But at this search we are planning for it to continue indefinitely, although I recognize that there will be a time at some stage if nothing is discovered where a further reappraisal will have to be made, but we are not even think - we are not even thinking about that at the present time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: (INAUDIBLE) two corporate jets, Amara, means that they can actually search more area over the course of the day because they can spend up to five hours on that target location, because they can get there so much more quickly, so the search area today has been expanded from 23,000 square kilometers yesterday to 37,000 square kilometers today so that's a 50 percent increase in the search area just because they've got these corporate jets now operating down there.
WALKER: All right, well, let's hope the weather cooperates. Andrew Stevens live for us in Perth, Australia with the latest on the search efforts there. Andrew, many thanks to you on that report.
And British newspaper has now published a transcript of communications between the flight and air traffic controllers. It's based on the Mandarin version of the original English language transcript. So, it has been translated twice. And CNN has not verified it. Rene Marsh has the details from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN CORESPONDENT: A purported transcript that details what Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 told air traffic controllers from takeoff until it disappeared has been obtained by "London's Telegraph" newspaper. "Air traffic control, this is MH-370, good morning" one of the pilots says, "A routine start." The conversations match with what Malaysian investigators and U.S. officials have told CNN that the recordings indicated a normal flight. This is MH-370, flight altitude 350, he radios, indicating where the plane was cruising.
The radio calls were somewhat informal, but not unusual and gave no sign the plane was about to disappear. At 1:07 a.m. a message saying the plane was at 35,000 feet, a potentially odd sign identified by the paper, because that same communication had already been given six minutes earlier. At 1:19 a.m., Malaysian authorities say the co-pilot makes his final transmission to air traffic control. "All right, good night." Two minutes later the transponder that helps air traffic controllers track the plane goes off. Flight 370 hasn't been heard from or seen since.
The newspaper says they've asked Malaysia Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority to confirm the transcripts, but the prime minister's office would only say they won't release that data. Now this transcript does not tell us what went wrong on the plane, but at the very least that answers the question of whether the pilot said anything odd that may indicate a problem in the cockpit. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking Chinese)
AUDIENCE: (speaking Chinese)
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WALKER: Coming up, the agony for families of the 239 people aboard the plane, they demand answers from Malaysian officials, but receive little assurance. Plus the tale of two signing ceremonies, one in Brussels, the other in Moscow. So how could they affect events on the ground in Crimea? That's coming straight ahead.
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WALKER: Welcome back. Russia says the latest European sanctions are divorced from reality. The European Union has announced new sanctions against 12 more Russian officials including the Kremlin's deputy prime minister. This as E.U. and Ukrainian officials met in Brussels to sign an agreement forging closer ties following Russia's formal annexation of Crimea. Moscow says it reserves the right to respond to the latest European sanctions. Now, sanctions and signing ceremonies aside, what are Ukrainian military forces still in Crimea going to do? Joining us live in Kiev is senior international correspondent Ivan Watson. So, Ivan, what is the status of those Ukrainian troops and does Crimea - does Kiev, rather, have a plan for them?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're not hearing a concrete plan and what seems to be taking place over the course of the last week is Ukrainian military bases, one by one, being taken over by Russian troops and increasingly I'm hearing from ordinary Ukrainians, not just concerned, but also frustration with their government that there hasn't been a concrete plan to at least get these men and women out who are facing not only pressure from the Russian military forces, but also these kind of pro-Russian self-declared self-defense forces who have been particularly humiliating for the Ukrainian military troops.
There was an incredible scene this week that took place where there was actually a handover ceremony of the Ukrainian Naval Military Academy in Crimea. This was a more formal ceremony, not a forced takeover where Ukrainian cadets brought down their flag, and it was replaced by a Russian military flag in that naval academy and then a remarkable scene of defiance and protest from a handful of Ukrainian cadets who at the conclusion of the ceremony sang the Ukrainian national anthem in protest, clearly not part of the scripted and elaborate military ceremony there.
And that's a bit of a sign of the embarrassment, the humiliation that the Ukrainian country is feeling and the military as well, and an example of defiance there, but a rare one. In the rest of the cases you have Ukrainian troops that are being pushed out from one base after another, sometimes after feeling threats, in one case over the course of this week, a Ukrainian officer shot while in his guard post and increasing calls, I'd say from ordinary Ukrainians for some kind of concrete plan to bring these people out safely with their families. You have to recall, in some of these cases there are families living with some of these thousands of troops in these military barracks and residences darted across the Crimean peninsula. Amara.
WALKER: And Ivan, what more can you tell us about a Ukrainian gas tycoon who has been arrested?
WATSON: This was big news last night and it's been overshadowed by the tussle of the geopolitics of Russia's annexation of Crimea and the fears of an invasion here in Ukraine and from its Western partners. But at the same time, we have to remember that the protest movement that began here in Kiev's Maidan Square more than three months ago, a big part of it was a call for change and anger not only at the excess use of police force, but also the rampant corruption in the Ukrainian government and at the highest levels of the business elite. So what we saw last night was anti-corruption officers from the police raiding the offices of the head of the state gas company here, the state gas enterprise here and detaining a man named Evhen Bakulin.
Now, according to the ministry of interior, the acting ministry of interior, he's claiming that this man oversaw corrupt practices that led to the deprivation of $4 billion worth of money from the state government. Of course, this is just coming from the acting ministry of interior. He's claiming that there's probably much more money that has been stolen through elicit sales of gas and price fixing and price gouging and he also put out a statement saying, do not try to put any political pressure on him whatsoever from any side of the political elite here, that his forces are going to continue their anti- corruption purges here.
And that was a message that was welcomed by an anti-corruption non- governmental organization here who said that it is the energy business here, the energy market that is one of the biggest sources of corruption within the government. So we'll have to see how that goes. It's clearly being welcomed by some sectors of civil society.
In a separate area of this gas business, one of Ukraine's most wealthy man, he's a gas magnet named Dmytro Firtash who is wanted in the U.S., he was released on bail yesterday in Austria by a court there after paying a bail, get this, of 125 million euros. He's battling extradition charges to bring him to the U.S. He has argued that his arrest in Austria is purely political. This is a man who is believed to have had close ties to the former government here in Ukraine as well as to the Russian government. Amara?
WALER: Well, some very interesting developments there and the tensions that clearly do remain high. Ivan Watson live from Kiev, Ukraine, I appreciate that report. Thank you, Ivan. And the Ukrainian presidential candidate says he believes President Putin's sights are set far beyond Crimea. Vitali Klitschko, the former heavy weight boxer who played a major part in the recent Ukrainian protest movement, spoke with CNN in Brussels. Klitschko says Crimea should be a demilitarized zone, but he beliefs the Russian leader wants all of Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VITALI KLITSCHKO, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We never expect to make a fight, war with Russia, because we are very close to each other, and many people have relatives in Russia, and many people have relatives in Ukraine. We have very close history, and how we work in the future is a good idea to make from Crimea demilitarized zone, no military forces anymore, in this territoria (ph) and I think so we have to show a good example.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: Vitali Klitschko and other Ukrainian presidential candidates will face off in elections set for May 25th. Well, this is "CNN NEWSROOM." Coming up, how a cyclone off the coast of Indonesia could soon hamper search efforts for Flight 370.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: A growing number of aircraft are joining the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Two long range commercial jets capable of flying over the search area for about five hours are now taking part and two Chinese patrol planes arrived today in Perth, Australia.
Now with still no sign of what happened to Flight 370, two weeks after it disappeared, the emotional strain is growing for the relatives of the missing passengers and crew. Pauline Chiou has more on that from Beijing. And Pauline, I can't imagine what these families are still going through. What are they telling you?
PAULINE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, they're going into day 15 of this, with very few answers, and there's still so much raw emotion as they're desperate for information. We saw another second meeting between families and high level officials from Malaysia, that meeting took place this morning, but it did not end well. It ended after only one hour because emotions ran so high and things got very turbulent after about an hour, when one official started listing all of the resources that are being put into this search, all of the airplanes and the ships from different countries and finally a man stood up and interrupted him and said don't waste our time.
This is information that you can put up on the wall. We can read it later. For now, give us the information and the answers that we need and suddenly you saw many family members get up and join him, some starting to shout and scream at these officials criticizing them for the way they've handled the situation the past 15 days, because Amara, as you know, these families have been waiting for some sort of direction on where this plane is and they feel so frustrated, because so much time has been lost, and during this time, when things got very heated, the officials stood up and they left. I think it was more for fear of their safety because for the first time today I saw uniformed police officers there in the family briefing.
So, it's unclear if these officials will actually come back because these are they high level meetings that these relatives have been asking for for several days now. So, it's still unclear if they will come back. The families, however, gathered together and they actually gave an impromptu news conference to the Chinese media so they're taking this into their own hands, but very, very, very frustrated at the moment.
WALKER: Yes, you can see in the video there, and Pauline, you know, I understand First Lady Michelle Obama is also in Beijing. Did she make any comments about the search for this missing plane?
CHIOU: She did. She is here on a six-day visit to China, and she was at Beijing University a couple of hours ago. And before she started her speech to the students there, she said she wanted to say something to the families of this flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA: I just want to say a very few brief words about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As my husband has said the United States is offering as many resources as possible to assist in the search and please know that we are keeping all of the families and loved ones of those on this flight in our thoughts and in our prayers at this very difficult time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHIOU: Now, most of the passengers on this flight are Chinese, but there are three Americans on this flight as well, one man and also two children and as we know by now the U.S. is also heavily involved in this search. The U.S. Navy helping out from the very beginning. Amara.
WALKER: Yeah, a very difficult situation there especially for these family members who just want some kind of answer. Pauline Chiou, thank you for that update from Beijing.
Well, while no one knows what happened to Flight 370 one of the leading theories is that it was deliberately diverted. And if that's the case, what changes could this incident prompt? Let's bring an aviation security expert Glenn Schoen for some more perspective on this. So, Glenn, let me first ask you - What are the possible scenarios that seem most likely to you?
GLENN SCHOEN, AVIATION SECURITY EXPERT: Well, several are open, but when we start looking at the realm of potentially intentional incident as opposed to an accident, some of the clear possibilities here are, on the one hand hijack and on the other hand, possibility of some form of inflight explosion. I mean these are things that obviously, there's been a lot of speculation for a week and a half now on these possibilities, but within the international security community, we see particularly on the hijack side now not necessarily new developments, but thinking out all the options up to the point at where analysts can start looking for the smaller indicators that might support these theories. And when we look at, for instance, when this happened, we lose contact with the plane, we now have a number of people looking at the potential, was this an optimal moment for that to happen if you look at a hijack theory. In other words, the plane is still full of fuel, you 'are shortly into the flight, you have a maximum range that you could extend it to, you are doing it late at night on an evening flight, even though most hijacks occur during daylight. During - during an evening flight when most passengers are asleep and the crew might not be as acutely aware of what's happening at that point.
WALKER: So, in the scenario - Right, so let me just interrupt there because in the scenario of a hijacking someone would have to gain access to the cockpit. And you said this could happen during a very vulnerable time. Several countries, like China and Ukraine said that these background checks on their passengers have come back with nothing suspicious, so hijacking still a possibility, despite that? SCHOEN: It certainly is. And we have to realize that even with all of the work that all of these governments and agencies are doing right now to scrub so to speak the passenger list and the crew list to make sure we don't have any indicators, the fact that an intelligence service doesn't have background on somebody and cannot find that they've been involved with something, doesn't necessarily mean that they're clean. It doesn't necessarily mean that they can't initiate, and they haven't been able to keep below the radar. We've had previous hijackings where these persons were not known to authorities. Again, it's a speculative angle, but it's one that needs to be covered. The second angle there is, and we just don't know, whether or not there might be a stowaway. In other words somebody who might have hidden themselves aboard the aircraft and gone into operation.
Now, the details on how these theories are looked at by security agencies go quite far, so Malaysia Airlines, a big international airline, it functions according to international standards. For instance, there's a procedure there on how to prove when they would open the cockpit door and when they would not, and so all these kinds of things are being looked at now to see does this fall into place anywhere, does it fit with any incoming information.
WALKER: Well, you know, a lot of the investigation is also focusing on the pilots. They have come under a lot of scrutiny and, you know, the captain had this flight simulator in his home, and investigators are trying to recover those deleted files from that hard drive from the simulator. What do you make of that?
SCHOEN: Well, it's a tough one here and this is one of the problems we're facing with this investigation again, is I think what the world is sort of waiting for is one clear point that would speak and put out information on what's happening as opposed to dribs and drabs and then one agency or one country basing on what they get from another country. It's unfortunate here that there wasn't some sort of open multiparty investigation right from the start, just to stop speculation. So what the U.S., I guess is saying is, we're worried here about some of the evidence being contaminated and that we might not get all the answers. Now, of course when we look at computer forensics that's a fairly technical to some extent as a terra (ph) area of endeavor. So it's somewhere where you have to be very careful with the evidence, and there's a concern here that if there's a contamination, we're two nil (ph) behind in a game where we should be, unfortunately, to help these families and the indirect victims much further in the process.
WALKER: And well, the point is investigators need a lot more answers and more clues to find what direction that they need to go in. Glenn Schoen, aviation expert. Respective in your time, I appreciate you.
SCHOEN: Thank you.
WALKER: Up next we'll go live to Kuala Lumpur for the latest news conference on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WALKER: You are watching "CNN NEWSROOM." I'm Amara Walker. Malaysian authorities are starting their news conference in Kuala Lumpur. Let's take a listen in.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the region. (INAUDIBLE). We have the president of (INAUDIBLE) Hishammuddin Bin Tun Hussein, acting minister of transport. (INAUDIBLE) General department of civil aviation. (INAUDIBLE) Chief executive officer of Malaysian Airlines.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media to start off the press conference this evening (INAUDIBLE) acting minister of transport to deliver his statement. (INAUDIBLE). HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN ACTING TRANSPORTATION MINISTER: Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim. Diplomatic, logistical and technical efforts continue in the search for MH370. As we intensify the search and rescue operations the overall emphasis remains the same, using all available means to narrow the search areas in both corridors.
In the northern corridor, in response to diplomatic notes, we can confirm that China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Laos, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have verbally informed the search and rescue operations that based on preliminary analysis, there have been no sightings of the aircraft on their radar. With respect to the southern corridor, today two Chinese Ilyushin, Il-76 will arrive in Perth to begin operations. The Shaanxi Y-8, which arrived yesterday, will be operating from Subang Air Base in Malaysia. China is also sending an additional two ships from the Andaman Sea to join the five Chinese ships already in the southern corridor.
Two Indian aircraft, a P-8 Poseidon and the C-113 Hercules arrived in Malaysia at 1800 last night to assist with the search. HMS Echo is currently in the Persian Gulf and is en route to the southern corridor. The ship is equipped with advanced sensors that allow it to search effectively underwater. Five aircraft and two merchant ships were involved in the search and rescue operations in the vicinity of the objects identified by the Australian authorities, which are approximately 2,500 kilometers southwest of Perth.
Despite improved visual search conditions yesterday, there were no sightings of the objects of interest. Operations continue and today they plan to search an area of approximately 10,500 square nautical miles. The rescue coordination center Australia anticipates that six aircraft, four military and two civilian, will be visually searching the area. Two merchant vessels will also be present during the search operations and HMAS Success was due to reach the search area at 14:30 today. Generally, conditions in the southern corridor are very challenging. The ocean varies between 1,150 meters and 7,000 meters in depth. In the area where the possible objects were identified by the Australian authorities, there are strong currents and also rough seas. A cyclone warning has been declared for a tropical cyclone storm Gillian, which is located in the southern corridor. Very strong winds and rough seas are expected there today. The briefing for families in Kuala yesterday went well. The briefing in Beijing, however, was less productive. Despite the best intentions, I understand there were tense scenes. I have received the report from the Malaysian high level team as well as a copy of the declaration from the Chinese families. I've asked the ministry of foreign affairs together with authorities in China to investigate what had happened. We will continue to engage with the families. We are working hard with Chinese authorities and the Chinese working group to create a more conducive environment for the briefings. I've instructed my technical team to do a review of both findings so that we can improve them.
We appeal to all parties to be understanding during the extraordinary and difficult time. My pledge to all the families, wherever they are, is the same. We will do everything in our power to keep you informed. In respect to the transcript, the original transcript of the conversation between NH-370 and the Malaysian air traffic control is with the investigation team where it is being analyzed. As is standard practice in investigations of this sort, the transcript cannot be publicly released at this stage. I can, however, confirm that the transcript does not indicate anything abnormal.
On the matter of MH-370's cargo, the cargo manifest is with the investigations team and will be released in due course. Preliminary investigations of the cargo manifest has not shown any link to anything that might have contributed to MH-370's disappearance. As was stated yesterday, all cargo carried on MH-370 was in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization and International Air Transport Association standards. Over the past two weeks, ladies and gentlemen, the search for MH-370 has taken many twists and turns. From satellite images to eyewitness accounts, we have followed every lead and investigated every possibility. Today we have forecast on these from the satellite images announced by the Australian authorities on Thursday. We continue to be updated by Australian authorities on an hourly basis.
I know the roller coaster has been incredibly hard for everyone, especially for the families. We hope and pray this difficult search will be resolved and bring closure to those whose relatives were on board. I would like to take this opportunity also to thank all 26 countries who are with us in this effort, from only people to the highest levels of government. I would also like to pay special tribute to the men and women of all countries who are putting themselves in harm's way in the search for MH-370. As we speak, people are sailing through a cyclone to help find the missing plane. We are immensely grateful to all (INAUDIBLE) for the efforts. Thank you.
UNDENTIFIED MALE (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE). This question directed to Igi (ph). Igi, (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WALKER: So as the local reporters are asking questions in their native language, I do want to break away and kind of recap what we just heard from the acting transportation minister. On day 15 he essentially said that the search thus far has not yielded very many results. He said the efforts in the northern corridor and the southern corridor are continuing with no sightings on both ends. We do have Saima Mohsin standing by. She's been listening to this news conference. And Saima, we did hear the transportation minister talk about this transcript, and that he reiterated that it is with investigators, but nothing abnormal was found in this transcript, this communication between the cockpit and air traffic control.
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. I'm really sorry, I'm on the phone to you right now, just come out of the press conference. I didn't really hear your question, but if you're talking about the transcript we have actually seen a leaked version of this transcript. Now, see, what the minister was trying to say was that through their investigation and everything they've looked through, this transcript does not, and I quote, "doesn't indicate anything abnormal."
Now what they're saying is that every way they kind of spoke to air traffic control seemed normal, nothing seemed to indicate anything abnormal, no kind of suggestions that something may have been wrong on board and, of course, that is what everyone is trying to get at. When they last had that contact with Flight MH-370, the final words "All right, good night." Was something happening on board before that or did everything go wrong afterwards that led to the disappearance? Amara?
WALKER: Yeah, and he also mentioned the cargo manifest, that investigators are also reviewing that cargo manifest, but he did say and he emphasized that it has shown no link to any disappearance to the plane. So, essentially he's giving an update that there really is no update in terms of any more clues.
MOHSIN: No, sadly not. There isn't an update and yesterday families and friends of those on board were feeling very, how do you say it, let down, confused.
WALKER: Demoralized.
MOHSIN: To what's happening. Every lead they get, they think maybe this time now they'll know what happened and, of course, they've been spending 16 days and heading into a 16th night here in Kuala Lumpur without any knowledge of what's happened to their loved ones, but what the ministry is trying to emphasize and all those involved in the search and rescue operation is, that they really are putting all their resources into this operation. We talked, actually the number of ships, the number of aircrafts that are involved and let's not forget this isn't just down in the south in the Indian Ocean, but also up north. I'll take you through some of that. Right now there are six aircraft and four of those are military, two civilian jets. These are long range jets that can get out to the 2,500 kilometers away from Perth, part of the ocean, cover a large expanse of ocean for them. There are two merchant ships currently down there and HMAS Success which is almost out that location. "HMS Echo," this is a British ship is absolutely in the Persian Gulf. Now, why they really need that to get there? Is that it has underwater sensors. We keep emphasizing here on CNN, they need this kind of technology to try and hear that crucial signal from the flight's data recorder that could reveal so much to so many people waiting for answers from Flight MH-370. Also, another thing that came up today in the press conference was that this search is still going on in the northern corridor. Beach - also, not just released in the press conference, but from earlier on today about where that search is taking place. Now, we understand four Indian naval ships are in the west of the Andaman Islands and the P-8 aircraft is searching south of the Great Nicobar Islands west of Sumatra. So the search is still under way in the northern corridor as well in a limited area. But as it seems it's quite difficult, but not impossible.
WALKER: It's definitely a challenging situation there and the acting transportation minister also spoke about how challenging the search area is in the southern corridor and he also mentioned that there is a cyclone warning nearby. Talk to us, Saima, a little bit about those challenges that the searchers face with the high winds and the rough waves there.
MOHSIN: I'm sorry, Amara, can you repeat that question, please?
WALKER: The transportation minister talked about how challenging the conditions are in the southern corridor, at least in the southern Indian Ocean where the search is focused right now. Can you talk to us a little bit about the challenges that these searchers face with the high winds and the strong currents?
MOHSIN: Yes, absolutely. It's called - a lot of windy weather yesterday that didn't allow aircraft to take off. Then they - you know, they have to get out to the distance of 2,500 kilometers away from Perth. And, of course, then they have a huge expanse of ocean to cover and, of course, the Indian Ocean is a huge Ocean, but this area they're trying to cover, it has some incredibly deep choppy waters. It ranges from 1,150 meters deep to 7,000 meters in depth, so you can imagine, and that's why we've seen those pictures of military aircraft throwing out buoys which have sensors and that is actually to try and detect what kind of currents there are to see how far the debris may have floated by now.
WALKER: Right. And we also heard he did mention the briefings with the family members in Kuala Lumpur that it had went pretty well, but the briefing in Beijing he admitted that it did not go over so well, that there was a lot of tensions between family members and some of the Malaysian officials, and as we heard from Pauline Chiou, she said that it seemed that the Malaysian officials were a bit concerned for their safety and even left the room when some of the family members started to get really emotional about not having enough information and feeling as if the Malaysian authorities were not being forthcoming with them. What have you heard from the families in Kuala Lumpur? A lot of them traveled from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur, hopefully to be closer to the investigators and get more information. Do they seem satisfied or are there frustrations boiling over?
MOHSIN: Yeah, a lot of frustrations. You know, they have had briefing after briefing but they see in this formal press conference where, you know, they've been given information, they've been given hope. Whether that be debris or whether that be hope of the hijacking. You know, they think it's some kind of connection to Flight MH-370 and their loved ones and then, but the problem is that then the next day they're let down again. They don't know what's really going on. And there is a lot of frustration. And let's not forget, Thursday, it's now Saturday here, it's Thursday was the first time Malaysia Airlines or the ministry of transport or anyone from the military actually decided to hold a briefing for relatives here in Kuala Lumpur.
So after two weeks in, and they've had very little direct contact with officials and by the way, Malaysia Airlines didn't go there. There's also added stress now because they now have to move hotels because of the Formula One in Kuala Lumpur, a lot of hotels have been booked up and now they also have to be moved.
WALKER: Excuse me, Saima, I may have to cut you off there, because we want to join the news conference again as they are speaking English. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: Especially with the major countries and the countries, in which the passengers belong to. We have made special emphasis to cooperate and I need more detail on any allegation to the contrary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (speaking foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm joining from Malaysia (INAUDIBLE). I have a question for Ahmad Jauhari, there's a report in the "Sydney Morning Herald" two days ago about claims that if (INAUDIBLE) had subscribed to an upgrade to its satellite services, I believe it costs $10 a flight, then it would been able to receive more data than you saw. Even if the 8,000 - distance with (INAUDIBLE). Could you comment on that and perhaps explain what the system is?
AHMAD JAUHARI YAHYA, CEO, MALAYSIA AIRLINES: I think that system is something to do with increasing the (INAUDIBLE) for competition. We believe we can say the system that we have, we do know that actually all operations were running, so that's just an update, you know. We just need more info but we do think that it is something that even again the system will help in all kind of situation.
Yes, please.
(speaking in foreign language)
Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking in foreign language.)
WALKER: OK, so we just want to recap you on what has been going on in this news conference in Kuala Lumpur, essentially Malaysian authorities there saying that there really is no update. No siding is to be had by any of the search crews, though we heard from the acting transportation minister a few moments ago and he said the efforts continue to be under way. They have intensified the search efforts. He talked about the search efforts in the northern corridor. OK, looks like they are now speaking English. Bear with us. We're going to take a listen back into the questions and answers from the reporters and authorities. Take a listen.
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: As long as there is hope, we will continue with the search. Those are my immediate impressions and that is some commitment that I personally, because the question was personal to me, I will give to all the family members out there.
(speaking in foreign language)
WALKER: OK, so Malaysian authorities there holding a news conference essentially saying that this search thus far has not yielded much. Day 15, and still no clue where Flight 370 is, and what exactly happened to this flight. We have been listening to the acting transportation minister with the CEO of Malaysia Airlines by his side and he essentially said that in the northern corridor all the countries have reported back to Malaysian authorities saying that there have been no sightings on their radar of anything, and in that southern corridor, he also said that there's been a lot of assistance from so many different countries and despite the better weather conditions that they have been experiencing in that very remote area in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, again, there have been no sightings of anything, no sightings of that debris that was captured via satellite, and it was released by Australian authorities just a couple of days ago. Saima Mohsin has been listening in on this news conference. She is standing by. And again, you know, a lot of people are wondering about the details of this transcript between the communications, between the cockpit and air traffic control and we heard from the acting transportation minister and he said that there is nothing abnormal that they saw in these transcripts.
MOHSIN: Yeah, that's right. Those are the exact words he used, in fact. The transcript does not indicate anything abnormal. And that's also what the experts that we've been speaking to here in Kuala Lumpur and on CNN throughout the night have been telling us, that they don't believe that there is anything abnormal on this transcript. Now that, of course, is crucial because we don't know whether anything went wrong before those last words from Flight MH-370. Amara.
WALKER: OK. We're going to go back to this news conference, they're going back and forth on the language and looks like they are speaking English now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there specific rules and protocol as to how long ...
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: Would you speak (INAUDIBLE), please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Are there specific rules and protocol as to how long you'll continue searching or does that have a point when you have to stop searching?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: At the moment we are continuing the search and I do not want to indicate when and if we are going to stop. I think that's the least we owe the families right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you feeling?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: I think that's the hope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you feeling personally how long this is taking?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: That's exactly what was asked of me just now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, I don't understand.
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: And I gave the answer that I will not give up hope and I will continue as from day one and I am given more hope to get closure to this by the support that we are receiving from so many countries. And the more assets that have been deployed, the more countries that come on board, I think that will give us more hope to continue, but personally I'm not looking back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, this gentleman sitting there. Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Department of Defense and the U.S., they are saying that the U.S. $4 million funding for SAR ops will come to an end at the end of April. When the funding ends, will you also stop the SAR operations and also how much have you spent so far on the rescue?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: That's the best spot of this whole operation is nobody, not the Malaysian government, none of our partners have talked about dollars and cents, it's all about trying to find the aircraft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a rough estimate?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: No. It didn't even cross our mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your questions, Madame?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a Japan business person in (INAUDIBLE). Search, it has been working with the French authority. In terms of the case of the Air France 447, as you know they found the first brace - that the debris and afterwards and then it took two years to get back the black box. In fact, that the place they found it is totally opposite side from the side where they found it in first place. If this debris is confirmed for the MH-370, how do you describe that the situation at this moment? Is it the breakthrough for the massive search for the 370 or this is just the beginning of the hard part of the story? Is also that I would directly have your opinions and the comment on that, also how does French authority has been analyzing this situation through experience, because the cult leaders David Gallo was mentioning the more David Gallo is the co-leader for the search for the Air France 447, through the experience, he say the more information he got the more complicated the difficult the situation has become. Thanks very much.
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: I was with Mr. Jean Paul Traudette (ph), who was the former director general of BEE and who headed the investigation team for the Air France 447, and that proves that the possibilities that you indicated just now is already in ongoing, but I do not even want to consider that here in this in respect of the families. Whenever there is still hope that the passengers are still alive, we must continue to find that aircraft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). I come from India. I just wanted to ask you so far, the search has been going on and you are the defense minister of Malaysia, so I wanted to know if Malaysia has deployed any efforts in sense and where are they looking at it right now, including the Scorpion submarines --
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: Sorry, I just got some breaking news, sir. What was the question again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question was about Malaysian defenses that have been deployed for the search including the Scorpion submarines and my other question to you is, is there any lead so far of the police investigations that has been going on?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: Our submarines do not have the ability especially sonar, passive or active and the ships is something that I discussed with my counterparts. For example, Secretary Hagel on possible deployment, that we in Malaysia do not have it. So the sonar capability and the deep sea surveillance, search and rescue is also something that we are asking our friends to assist and that has been a tremendous boost to us, because nobody has actually said no to our request at any stage, whether it is satellite, whether it's radar, primary, secondary, military, civil, whether it is expertise, as in the French case, and now we're talking about deep sea search and rescue. So those are the sort of things that I am not encountered, but the news that I just received is that the Chinese ambassador received satellite image of floating objects in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to verify. The Beijing government will announce this in a couple of hours. This floating object is 22 meters long and 13 inches wide.
(INAUDIBLE)
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: I wouldn't know. This is all I have.
(INAUDIBLE)
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: This is all I have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can - excuse me.
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: But as stated in this note, the Chinese government will be announcing this in a couple of hours, so I think the media will be fully aware of the actual location and more details regarding it. Hmm? 22 meters long, 30 meters wide. (CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One at a time, please. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 22 meters long and 30 meters wide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police investigation --
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: OK. I'll get him to come the next time. I'll get him to come to the next one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, next question, please.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Sara Sidner from CNN. Can you tell me what is inaccurate about the transcript that was posted by "The Telegraph" please?
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: We cannot just tell you that because the transcript as in the standard practice of investigation of this type - the transcript cannot be particularly released at this stage.
We will take one more question because I want to follow this lead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a follow-up question just on this.
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
HISHAMMUDDIN BIN TUN HUSSEIN: I wouldn't know. There's too many ships going in that direction. So until I find out more details about this. And I've been accused of not releasing -- informing the world about the information. This is coming to me as quick as you are seeing it on TV right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apart from that detail, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ships, do they in any way go in that Australian special zone?
HUSSEIN: If you allow me to follow this lead by computing this PC early (ph), then I will give you an answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. That's an assessment. Thank you very much.
OK. OK, one more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. That's quite a development. We just heard from that Malaysian authority that the acting transportation minister, he just received a note during that news conference, and he read it to reporters there, saying that a -- the Chinese ambassador reported to him that he received a satellite image of a floating object. Let's listen in to one more question from the reporter there. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK...
Thank you very much. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. It looks like we missed that. Let me just recap what we just heard.
There was a developing new situation there. The acting transportation minister was given a note and he read it out to the reporters. And it essentially said that the Chinese government telling those authorities that they do have a satellite image in the southern corridor, where that search is going on right now of a floating object. And he said this floating object is 22 meters long and 30 meters wide.
I want to bring in now Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst, and the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation. She currently works for a law firm that represents victims and their families suffering --
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