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Is Satellite Data Enough To Show Plane's End?; Airline: More Compensation Being Prepared After Initial $5,000 Payout; 176 Unaccounted For In "Catastrophic" Mudslide; Rare Interview With Exxon Valdez's Captain
Aired March 25, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin. This frantic search for Flight 370 has now been narrowed. So from the size of Australia to the size of Mexico. It's a huge reduction, all because of one satellite company, Inmarsat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MCLAUGHLIN, SENIOR V.P. EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, INMARSAT: If you look at the plots that we have using a recent adjusted techniques, we can say that the most likely route is the south and the most likely ending is in roughly the area where they're looking now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So as you watch this here, they say they tracked the plane here, down the southern arc, and apparently after a turn, into the Indian Ocean. Now, the data alone, enough to convince Malaysia that all lives were lost. But without any wreckage found, without any physical proof, the question remains, how can they be so sure? And so, the hunt continues. Planes and ships about to head out again shortly, 2:30 in the morning there in Perth, Australia, after gale force winds, torrential rain stalled the search. All of this while the clock ticks.
And the batteries in the plane's black box is dying just a little bit more as each second passes. Listening ultimately for those pings, the U.S. Navy now sending in a locater to help find that sound. The uncertainty, though, becoming just too much for the families of those onboard Flight 370. Many just refused to accept that all are lost unless they see some concrete evidence.
In Beijing, hundreds of friends and family members march to the Malaysian Embassy. CNN's Pauline Chiou was there as grief and anger boiled over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULINE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This morning, outrage and fury as relatives face off with police outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing. Over 300 Chinese friends and family members of Flight 370 protesting. STEVE, MOTHER ONBOARD FLIGHT 370: From the beginning, they just hide everything. I don't think that this kind of government, a liar and even a murderer can solve anything.
CHIOU: Following Monday's dire announcement by Malaysia's prime minister.
NAJIB RAZAK, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: Flight MH-370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.
CHIOU: Frustrated by Malaysia's handling of the incident, they descend upon the embassy on foot, marching over 2 miles after police prevented them from taking buses and blocked the embassy once they arrived. Furious and skeptical of Malaysia's investigation, some Chinese family members release a statement reading in part, "The Malaysian government and the Malaysian military continue putting off, holding back, and covering up the truth of the incident, as well as trying to deceive the families of passengers and people of the entire world."
DIMAL SHARMA, BROTHER ONBOARD FLIGHT 370: I don't know why I just want to see some debris of the aircraft and the black box to know what exactly happened because there are too many unanswered questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHIOU: Because of the questions that still remain, some Chinese families say they're now willing to go to Kuala Lumpur in order to confront the officials there at the highest level. And now China's president, Xi Jinping, has sent his deputy foreign minister to Malaysia to put pressure on the government there. Pauline Chiou, CNN, Beijing.
BALDWIN: Pauline, thank you. As this frustration and anger from these families boils over, we are now learning the airline is giving the families $5,000, 5,000 bucks during this waiting period. So let's talk to an aviation attorney and ask whether that is enough, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Now Malaysia Airlines said today that it would give $5,000 to each of the families from Flight 370. That may not sound like a lot, but the airline says more compensation is coming. So let me bring in aviation attorney, Steven Marks. Steven Marks, welcome.
STEVEN MARKS, AVIATION ATTORNEY, PODHURST ORSACK: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: First of all, when you hear 5,000, does that sound like enough, A, and B, how do these payouts typically work?
MARKS: Well, there's no amount of money, $5,000, of course, isn't enough, but no amount of money is sufficient for a person's life. What these families need now are answers. They need truth. They need the actual raw data so they're not being tortured with the inconsistencies that keeps coming from the Malaysian government. And the Malaysian government is working with Boeing because they need Boeing.
This is very similar to an Indonesian crash, subsidiary of Singapore Air that crashed years ago. The same thing happened with a lot of misinformation. Boeing was intimately involved because these governments don't deal with these crashes. They give theories such as intentional misconduct.
And ultimately we proved in a court of law many years later, and I'm getting to the compensation now, in a U.S. court. I tried that case for two months in Los Angeles. We won and we proved despite all these early theories about intentional misconduct that it was, in fact, a tail rudder power control unit that caused that crash.
BALDWIN: So then --
MARKS: And in that case, the jury awarded significant damages, far more than could ever be discussed by the insurers in this case.
BALDWIN: In this case, this is still the beginning, but we heard from the Malaysian PM yesterday saying all lives lost, right. So we have officials declaring no survivors. Yet, again, these families want proof, so we don't have a crash site, no debris, no sign of any victims so then how does that affect, Steven, compensation here?
MARKS: Well, what would ultimately affect compensation, it will be presumed after a certain period of time. But again, the compensation will come over time. We'll be able to successfully pursue these claims. These are under the Montreal Convention for the airline because that will cover the carrier's liability or if there is facts that will support a case against Boeing. Either way, the families will get compensation, but again --
BALDWIN: How much do you think? I mean, you're familiar with similar -- and again, this is unprecedented here but how much?
MARKS: Well, it really depends on the jurisdictions. There are Americans onboard, presumably they'll be entitled to an American forum. And of course, in the U.S., we have a jury system that compensates people very generously for loss. In different foreign jurisdictions, I've handled cases all over the world, they have different standards for compensation. We have had success even, for example, in Brazil and in Spain. The recovery systems there can mirror or even in some instances be greater than even in the United States.
So, but again, that's going to come over time. It will depend whether you're going to be governed by the treaty, which is Malaysia Airlines, the liability will be governed by that Montreal Convention, or whether it's a civil suit against manufacturers, sub-component manufacturers. In which case, you may have jurisdiction in the United States.
BALDWIN: As you pointed out, no amount of money will be enough. Steven Marks, thank you so much.
We have much, much more coverage on this missing plane ahead, including a closer look -- we keep talk about the technology, trying to find the pings. We'll talk about the hydrophone, this is the special device that the U.S. Navy is now sending into the Indian Ocean. So we will show you exactly how this is supposed to work, but first, we have to take you back to Washington State. Absolutely devastating story there. This deadly mudslide.
And coming up next, I will talk to a woman who is searching for answers. She wants to find her father-in-law. She says he is a survival enthusiast, would know what to do in this situation. We'll talk to her about this next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: An entire community absolutely devastated by this weekend's deadly mudslide in rural Washington is anxious. Anxious to hear from loved ones who have been reported missing or unaccounted for. Officials in Snohomish County say the number stands at 176 people. Now we're hearing from this 911 audio just released, gives us some idea of just the sheer panic that swept through this area as the slide hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I got a big emergency. There is a house, a big slide, and it is covering the road.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: My neighbor's house and their neighbor's house has been completely taken out. And it's collapsed on several of them and they're trapped.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Do you know that they're inside the house still?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes, I'm standing in the location right now and I can hear them tapping underneath and yelling at us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: One of those unaccounted for is a 52-year-old plumber by the name of Steve. A loving grandfather who went out on a service call. So joining me by phone from Marysville, Washington, is his daughter- in-law, Jessica Neal. Jessica, I cannot begin to imagine how tough these last couple of days have been for you. Can I just begin with how are you? And how is your husband, as this is his father?
JESSICA NEAL, FATHER IN LAW MISSING (via telephone): We're hanging in there. We're holding on to hope. We have no reason to believe otherwise until we hear differently. So we're hanging in there.
BALDWIN: When is the last time you or your husband heard from your father-in-law?
NEAL: The last time but ourselves heard from him was Friday, before.
BALDWIN: And when did you realize he is one of the 176 unaccounted for? NEAL: That came pretty quickly, when we heard about the slide, when we started calling around. And we didn't get a response and we found out he was in the area.
BALDWIN: What have these last couple of days been like for you?
NEAL: They're surreal. They're hard. It's difficult at times, but it's been overwhelming support from our communities. And of course, the family is here together.
BALDWIN: I hear, Jessica, you are helping hold down the fort back home where you are. But in talking to folks in Washington State, I know obviously there are rescue teams trying to find these people. But also family members with their own bare hands trying to find people in the mud and the muck. Is anyone from your family there trying to help?
NEAL: No, not that I'm aware of, but our close friends and neighbors and everything are doing everything they can to find the people. And we are so appreciative. I know my husband is working, gathering a relief effort and heading up there. So we are really thankful to everyone and all the companies and everyone that are helping us.
BALDWIN: Continue holding out hope. Jessica Neal, thank you so much. We're thinking about you and all the families still wondering where their loved ones are. Thank you for calling in. I appreciate it.
NEAL: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Coming up here on CNN, as crews hundred for Flight 370, we will give you a live demonstration of the equipment being used. The equipment that would hear that first signal, that ping. Stephanie Elam is standing by on this boat. You're looking at live pictures from Santa Barbara, California.
Also ahead, 25 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, CNN's Kyra Phillips sits down with the captain for a rare interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How much did you drink that day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three drinks.
PHILLIPS: And you carried so much responsibility of crude, millions of gallons of oil. Why have even one drink?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The ship channel in Texas where more than 160,000 gallons of oil spilled s partially reopened now. About 100 ships have been stuck in the Houston ship channel and they can now move around within it. But still, no ships can enter or exit. Saturday a ship hit an oil barge, causing the spill that has killed ten birds, left more than a dozen others covered in oil. Some local environmentalists told our Houston TV affiliate, KPRC, that officials are underestimating exactly how many animals have been affected by this. No word on when the channel will fully reopen. And when you look at these pictures, the images of the oil birds in Texas, what do you think of?
You think of that environmental catastrophe that hit 25 years ago this week. The Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was back on March 24th, 1989, that oil tanker ran aground in Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil, 1,300 miles of shoreline were marred. Thousands of birds, fish died. So did one industry, herring fishing. Totally collapsed.
And to this day, environmentalists say the oil is still polluting the area. Tonight, in a CNN special report, you will hear from the man in charge when the Exxon Valdez hit ground. Its captain in this rare and quite candid interview, Captain Joseph Hazelwood talks to CNN's Kyra Phillips about the burden he has carried for decades. Here's a clip of their interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): March 24th, 1989. Captain Joseph Hazelwood's emergency call to the Coast Guard.
JOSEPH HAZELWOOD, CAPTAIN, EXXON VALDEZ: We've fetched up hard aground, north of Goose Island off Bligh Reef and evidently leaking some oil --
PHILLIPS (on camera): What's it like to hear that 25 years later?
HAZELWOOD: It's still pretty gut-wrenching.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Captain Hazelwood has maintained a stoic silence for years. Rarely talking about the details of that night.
(on camera): Why did you decide to talk to me?
HAZELWOOD: Well, just to show that I'm a human being. I think I probably just wanted to be heard.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): A thoughtful and private man, accustomed to a solitary life at sea, Hazelwood flies home to find his picture on the front page of "The New York Times."
(on camera): What were you thinking at that moment?
HAZELWOOD: It's going to really suck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain, is there anything you'd like to say to us at all?
PHILLIPS (voice-over): When word got out that the captain of the Exxon Valdez had been drinking that day, the target was on his back.
(on camera): How much did you drink that day? HAZELWOOD: Three drinks.
PHILLIPS: And you carried so much responsibility, a crew, millions of gallons of oil. Why have even one drink? Why take that risk?
HAZELWOOD: I didn't think it was a risk. I thought I was drinking moderately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all extremely disappointed and outraged that an officer of such a critical position would have jeopardized the ship, crew, and the environment.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Exxon fired him by telegram.
(on camera): If you could rewrite history, would you have had a drink that day?
HAZELWOOD: The only thing I would have changed, if I could rewrite the whole script, I wouldn't have left the bridge. That's what I should be faulted for, nothing else.
PHILLIPS: Not the drinking?
HAZELWOOD: It had nothing to do with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: All these years later, he sat down with you to talk about this.
PHILLIPS: It's pretty intense.
BALDWIN: It seems like it and very candid. When you are asking him about the drinking, was he drunk that night?
PHILLIPS: He says absolutely not and the jury found that he wasn't impaired that night. But when reporters revealed that he had two drunk driving convictions, that he had been through rehab, the target was on his back and he has carried that burden for 25 years. We have to remember and you'll see tonight in this documentary, that wasn't the only issue that took this story to a whole other level. There were so many mistakes made that night and we reveal those, we talk about those and we talk about the changes as well. And also how Hazelwood is doing now, as you can see, he carries a pretty heavy burden.
