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Debris Found in MH-370 Search Area; Search for Debris Produces No Solid Clues; 17 Deaths Confirmed in Massive Slide

Aired March 29, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon. It is the top of the hour. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I need to tell you that in about two hours search planes are going to return to the sky in pursuit of any physical evidence from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. And at daybreak crews will resume scouring the Indian Ocean.

Meantime, we are tracking a potentially major development here, potentially major development, two ships retrieved objects from the search area today. Finally, after hearing the phrase possible objects repeated for weeks, we are getting our first look at actual objects that were found. I want you to take a look at this.

And I want to be very clear about it, no link exists so far, no link exists so far between the objects that we're going to show you here that you're seeing now, like this one, and the missing Malaysia airliner. OK. So we're not sure yet. They're checking it. It could be sea trash.

Analysts thought are examining those objects now. And we're going to talk about that should they be touching them? How should they be handling them? What's the right protocol and procedure? And also this development I need to tell you about as well.

Grieving families of passengers are enduring an emotional roller coaster. No one can imagine what they're going through right now. On Monday Malaysian officials told them all lives were lost, no one survived. That message really got muddled today. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMUDDIN BIN HUSSEIN, ACTING MALAYSIAN TRANSPORTATION MINISTER: We've been hoping against hope no matter how remote. Of course we are praying and we will continue our search for the possible survivors, but what they want is a commitment on our part to continue the search. And that I have given not only on behalf of the Malaysian government but of so many nations that is involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So how can grieving families possibly cope with constantly shifting search areas and mixed messages from Malaysian officials? Well, our experts are here to weigh in. And we're going to try to get to some solution for this, at least not where the plane is but how can we figure out what's going on with the families and possibly help them?

We're tracking the developments in Australia and Malaysia for you. So we want to get you caught up on the very latest first.

The mystery of Malaysia Flight 370, and for that we're going to go to CNN's Will Ripley. He is stationed for us in Perth, Australia. Live there now. Will, you know, we're just hours from daybreak. The search is resuming for the day. What's the plan for Sunday? It's Sunday there. What's the plan?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 4:00 in the morning on Sunday here, Don. In a normal day this would be a quiet time here at Pearce Air Base. But these are not normal days. These are not normal times. Flight crews are already here at this hour getting their planes ready. We have seen planes take off as early as 5:00 a.m.. The reason why they're leaving so early before the sun even rises is because it takes a couple hours to get to this search area and they want to maximize the time they have with daylight, good visibility.

The weather's going to be good today, we don't know how it's going to be tomorrow. The forecast shows there could be some changes. But today looks good for the search for this debris. Eight planes in the air, seven ships are now stationed in this area. They were arriving throughout the day yesterday. Two of them as you mentioned a Chinese ship, an Australian ship, they recovered objects.

Now there will be seven ships waiting to retrieve objects. The planes will be looking. They'll spot the objects. They'll drop down a buoy, they'll actually release it. Sometimes they release a dye into the water to mark the spot. And then these ships head towards those locations, they retrieve the objects. And then there will be experts here in Australia who in one place will be looking at all of this, looking at all this to determine if indeed there is any link to Flight 370.

As you mentioned no confirmed link as of yet, but the work will be continuing in force today.

LEMON: I want to reiterate that with a question because as we've been - as you have just reported, we've been reporting, the Chinese crews have retrieved those objects from the ocean. Have you heard anything more about whether they could be connected to Flight 370?

RIPLEY: You know, specifically the Australian authorities when we asked them that very question yesterday, they said no confirmed link at this point. We just don't know. It's too soon to know because the objects are still on those ships. They need to get back to shore and they need to get in front of the experts who have the answers to that.

But we do know this, planes for the past three weeks now have been flying and they've been seeing a lot of debris in the Indian Ocean. There's a lot of debris in general in this part of the world in the ocean. It's been called a trash dump. And so there's lots of objects floating and the planes always overlooked the objects, but now we have this new search area.

We have planes that are there seeing things that they think that at least have the potential to be connected to this investigation. Are they connected? We don't know. But this is certainly more promising than what we've seen so far in this search.

LEMON: Will Ripley in Perth, (INAUDIBLE) great job with the new information. Thank you, Will. We'll get back to you especially if there are any new developments, we'll get back to you soon.

But I want to bring in our panel now. Jeff Gardere, he's a clinical forensics psychologist, aviation analyst Les Abend is here and he's a contributing editor of "Flying Magazine," also David Jordan is a deep ocean explorer and former U.S. navy submarine officer.

So David, I'm going to start with you. My question is do objects retrieved today look significant to you in any way? Or do they look like ocean trash?

DAVID JORDAN, FMR. U.S. NAVY SUBMARINE OFFICER: Unfortunately, there is a tremendous amount of trash in the ocean. I've seen wrecks at 10,000 feet deep over 2,000-year-old that are littered with styrofoam and plastic bags, sad to say. I'm certainly not qualified to identify any of those pieces. But I'm sure that if the plane did crash in that area there will be many pieces of debris. The important thing is to note very carefully the location and time of each one so that we can have an opportunity to make some kind of estimate as to where they originated.

LEMON: Les Abend, you know, the search field moved hundreds of miles yesterday based on calculations that Flight 370 flew faster, burned more fuel and had a shorter flight path over the ocean. I mean it seems to change frequently, how confident are you with these new calculations?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, you know, I think I'm like everybody else. I think that, you know, they started off with an assumption that may have not been correct. And I'm thinking now they're refining it a little bit better. But they went with the information that they had. And I think we're in a better spot now.

LEMON: And lost time in the beginning possibly searching in areas that the plane - we don't know.

ABEND: We don't know.

LEMON: Right.

ABEND: But the bottom line is they're in a - they're constantly collaborating data together. And I think it's important that, you know, it's been refined. I see that as a good positive sign.

LEMON: I want to talk about the families. I want to get the quote straight, they said today that they would keep searching for possible survivors no matter how remote the odds. Just days ago they told the families that no one had survived. This constant back and forth, I can't imagine one day you may have some hope, the next day you don't have any hope at least according to officials. What gives here?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, it's very clear that the Malaysian officials, the airlines, certainly they have mucked this whole thing up. They have been giving a lot of information that has been inaccurate, inconsistent. And so these families already on an emotional roller coaster, they're very unstable.

So one minute now, you know, a few days ago you're saying, well, they're all dead. That's it. And so the families' like wait a minute, you dropped this on us like a bomb after you gave us this info. And now you say, OK, well let's pray for them, miracles do happen. So this is just playing on the minds of these family members. And it's simply not fair.

LEMON: My colleague, Richard Quest, will say that we should not possibly - yes, there have been mistakes made. There's no investigation is perfect. But maybe we should not be so hard - I'm paraphrasing, I don't want to put words in his mouth. But maybe we should not be so hard on Malaysian Airlines and Malaysian officials because they're going about this the best way they can.

This is something new for just about everyone. Even if this was an investigation in the United States we're not sure it would be handled properly as well.

GARDERE: I would say this, Quest means business. Gardere means psychology.

LEMON: Right.

GARDERE: They should have had a psychological expert working with them as to what is happening with the mental status of these family members. And what is the best way to support them, help them through the grieving process if they can even get there. A lot of mistakes have been made. Yes, you don't want to point fingers.

LEMON: The text message.

GARDERE: The text messages, all of those issues.

LEMON: OK.

GARDERE: It's just too much on these families.

LEMON: They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. You're shaking your head.

Yes, absolutely.

ABEND: This is overwhelming stuff for everybody.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you, guys. Stick around, we're going to talk a lot throughout the evening here on CNN. Anxious for answers. Families of those aboard 370 are finding it tough to manage their grief as we have just been talking about here.

Now they're banning together with the help of one man who's going through his own pain. Their story is coming up. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back everyone. You're watching CNN's special coverage of the disappearance of Flight 370. I want to get you updated. There are several key developments that we need to talk about here. Because Chinese crews have found several objects, not sure if they are connected to flight 370. They have found it in the southern Indian Ocean. You're looking at that video that came into CNN just a short time ago.

And the objects appear to be in the colors they say of Malaysia Airlines. Again, not exactly sure if it's those objects. Once they get to them, they throw color in the water, they cast dye in the water and they also buoys, locator buoys. So that they can figure out exactly where those objects are and then the Chinese boats, those inflatable boats, they will go out and then they will try to retrieve some of this material. We have video of them - actually those are the boats right there.

We have video of them actually retrieving some of the material. You can't really make out what it is. In one instance, it looks like a net fishing for it right there. In one instance it looks like a net-type thing they have pulled out of the water and another instance it looks like something on paper. The big concern here though is are those crews, are they trained? That's the material right there that I'm talking about. Are they trained to handle this material properly as they pull it out of the ocean? There was some concern by some of our analysts today that they may be touching these objects and therefore compromising the integrity of the investigation by handling these objects.

We have been told that they should handle them with care and that they should not have any sort of fingerprints, DNA or what have you on these particular objects.

We have also though been focusing on the families that have gotten mixed messages from Malaysia Airlines and from the Malaysian government, really from the airlines. At one point last week sending out text messages saying all hope had been lost and they believe that everyone on board the plane had died that had gone down in the southern Indian Ocean. And then now saying they will do everything they can to continue to look for survivors. They have not given up yet and they have hope against hope.

It's really, really just horrible for these families. You can't imagine the grief and the pain they're going through. As we said earlier it's sort of a flip-flop of emotions.

I want to bring in Jeff Gardere now, and deep ocean explorer, David Jourdan. Jeff, day 23, the families are being told by the transportation minister here "We are praying and we will continue our search for possible survivors." There are some big ramifications for this. And your concern for the families is not through any fault of their own that - GARDERE: Right. That they are becoming even more emotionally unstable or even delusional. We know now that their family members who have placards, who have signs, they're demonstrating and saying that their loved ones, their sons, their daughters are still alive being held some place in a secretive place. For their sake I hope it's true, but I think as we're using common sense with this the more and more this becomes a cold case, if you will, the less the chances that there are survivors. I'm just afraid the emotional let down if they find out that in fact everyone is dead or there are very few survivors. These people are going to have severe emotional burnout, severe emotional breakdowns.

And I think a lot of it is because not just the inconsistent messages, Don, that they've been getting, but also the way that the information has been delivered, the way that they've been treated. And I think the lack of expertise in dealing with the mental health of these family members.

LEMON: And also I want to talk to Mr. Jourdan, David Jourdan, you have some experience in dealing with catastrophes with families like this. You heard what Dr. Jeff Gardere just said, he is concerned that the families are becoming more unstable and possibly a bit delusional right now. Listen, not and this isn't to say anything bad about the families, understandably they are under really high stress and high pressure situation right here.

JOURDAN: Absolutely. This is reminiscent of the mystery of the Israeli submarine (INAUDIBLE) that disappeared in 1968 with 69 sailors on board. For 30 years they searched for that ship before we found it in 1999. During that whole time there were family members that still believed their loved one might be alive say in a prison in Egypt. There was rumors of conspiracies, some complicity between Israel and Egypt over this. Crazy things.

And it's very reminiscent about the tragedy of the moment leads to this tremendous outpouring of emotion and hope false or otherwise. And the government also had to deal with this sort of thing. And, you know, I'm sure they had the same kind of challenges. Even for decades the emotions persisted. And the minute that we found the submarine and could verify what happened and confirm that the fate of their loved ones, it was a sense of joy.

It's hard to imagine these families feeling that at this point, but after so long that closure is so important. They said that their lives began again after the closure was there for them. But no one can provide that at this time. The government or no one else. We just don't know.

LEMON: I want to go quickly to Dr. Jeff Gardere because I think that's an important point. They have no finality right now.

GARDERE: That's right.

LEMON: There's no finality. And the question is you said they're possibly becoming, you know, more emotionally unstable. I spoke with someone last night, his wife is on the plane. And he says for him the best thing - and he believes maybe even for other people, is to get back to his life, to get back to some normalcy. He is not in the search area. He's not in the area where the plane originated from, he's not in Kuala Lumpur, he's not going to Asia, he's not in Perth. He said I want to get back. I want my daughter to go back to college, I want the mother, my wife, to see us getting having a normal life. Is that - it doesn't work that way for everyone but is that the best advice (INAUDIBLE) a strong reality check? What do you think?

GARDERE: It depends on the individual. And I think for this individual, he's not the only one. There have been others who said you know what, we're going to get back to our normal routines. But the whole irony here is you have grief counselors, but how do you even begin the grief? And just imagine the guilt that that individual is feeling who says he wants to get back to his normal life.

LEMON: That he's abandoned his loved ones.

GARDERE: That he's abandoned his loved one even though it's the healthiest outcome for him, he's going to have to live with that guilt for a long time to come.

LEMON: Some sort of betrayal.

GARDERE: Exactly.

LEMON: And that's the worse. Betrayal is one of the worst emotions. Thank you. We appreciate it. We're going to talk more about this. Obviously this is our special coverage of missing Flight 370. And the families of the passengers on that flight aren't the only ones who feel Malaysian authorities are mishandling this investigation. One ex- Malaysian Airlines official, well, he does too. What he has to say coming up, next. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Developments are coming in at every moment for flight 370. This is just-in from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. We told you at the top of the hour the search is going to resume.

Maritime authority in Australia just released a statement saying search activities for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will continue today weather permitting in an area about 1850 kilometers east of Perth, about 1100 miles there. The search will continue, they say, the focus on that area that's about 319,000 square kilometers that's based on the refined analysis by the international air crash investigators.

Remember, they moved the search area a little bit further up closer to land and waters that are not as bad and with not as much wind and not as many waves. So they're going to do that 319,000 square kilometers is about 198,000 square miles. Ten planes are planned to be involved in today's search. That first aircraft, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force IL 76 due to depart for the search area at 0900 AEDT which is 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

So again, they're going out now weather permitting and we should be seeing something very soon during these hours here on CNN if we get more information. Of course we're going to bring that to you as soon as those planes get in the air and if they find anything we'll also update you on the new debris they have found just today. Not sure, new objects I should say. Not sure if it's connected to that flight. But they did find some objects.

In the meantime some relatives of missing passengers believe Malaysian officials have lied to them. Earlier this week Malaysia Prime Minister declared Flight 370 ended in the Indian Ocean and no one survived. Well today Malaysian official suddenly changed their tune saying search for survivors would go end. Some aviation experts say Malaysia's performance has been incompetent.

Now senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is tracing the missteps that began even before Malaysia Flight 370 took off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three weeks ago these two Iranians traveling on stolen passports triggered Interpol's investigation of Flight 370's passengers. Now in a statement surprising for its frankness the international law enforcers are lambasting Malaysian officials for lax controls.

The truth is that in 2014 prior to the tragic disappearance of Malaysian flight MH-370, Malaysian immigration department did not conduct a single check of passengers' passports against Interpol's database. The agency said in a statement, and they are not alone in their criticism.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The idea that somehow governments don't want to quarry the Interpol databases because it takes too long is frankly just plain absurd.

ROBERTSON: Opposition politicians here are also heaping on their criticism.

R. SIVARASA, OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: It's quite clear that the impression given earlier by the government that it's not practical, it takes too long to check the database is obviously not an acceptable answer.

ROBERTSON: It comes as Malaysia's government is increasingly taking heat for their entire investigation.

HUSSEIN: I don't think we have done anything different from what we've already done. And I think, like I said in our earlier press conference, no matter what has been thrown and labeled at us, history will judge us as a country that has been very responsible.

ROBERTSON: But still there are unanswered questions, a lot of them. For instance, the transport minister wouldn't disclose the altitude of Flight 370 over the last six hours. Despite acknowledging it flew faster earlier in the flight. Key because it could indicate if someone was in control of the flight. And while the Australian government said it was immediately shifting the search location based on the new speed data, the Malaysian government spokesman said it would continue to review all satellite imagery, especially debris identified by French and Thai satellites spotted hundreds of miles away.

JIM HALL, FORMER NTSB CHAIRMAN: The Malaysian government is incompetent to handle this investigation. And so you have to ask when any of this information comes out what's the factual basis behind it?

ROBERTSON (on camera): One former Malaysian Airlines executive told CNN while he is proud of Malaysia and proud of the airline, the investigation is tarnishing the country's image and could have and should have been handled in a much clearer way.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nic, thank you very much. Make sure you join CNN tonight. At 6:30 Eastern for "Flight 370 The Final Hours." It's a half-hour special that takes a detailed look into what we know about the flight's last hours. Make sure you join us tonight at 6:30. My colleague Kyra Phillips is hosting that, 6:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

You know, tempers are rising among the families of Chinese passengers. They say they're being held hostage by Malaysian authorities. We're going to take a look at that situation. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Lots to report as they begin the search on a new day of the search planes and ships covered as much of the search area as they could today, but still they came up with nothing conclusive.

One Chinese navy ship scooped up some objects floating in the water. There's a look at those objects right there. No words yet on what those things are or if they're part of the airliner that vanished more than three weeks ago.

Can you believe it's been three weeks? Unbelievable, unbelievable.

In China though, passing time is just making the grief and anger deeper for relatives of the missing passengers. Many of them furious that the Malaysian government declared the airplane lost without any physical evidence.

And in Malaysia today the country where that mystery flight originated the acting transportation minister met with some family members telling them his government will continue the search as long there's even a remote chance of a survivor.

CNN's Sara Sidner in Kuala Lumpur right now.

Sara, I want you to tell us anything more about that meeting today between the Malaysian officials and family members. We're having a little bit of problem with Sara. As soon we'll get to her in just a little bit. As soon as we get her -- the issues fixed up, the technical issues we're having. So, now, why don't we talk to Mary Schiavo, the former U.S. Department of Transportation official, also ocean explorer David Jourdan, and clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere.

Mary, you have seen the pictures of the objects out there. What does that tell you? We're saying that it's objects. It is possible though that it is plane debris. We just don't know at this point.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. And it's too impossible to say. I couldn't say whether it was or wasn't. It doesn't strike me right off the bat as anything, but when they get it to Perth and the experts there will examine it, you know, they'll have a better idea. It's just hard to get an idea from the screen. But hopefully the number of items will increase as the days go on.

LEMON: OK. Mary, I want to talk to you about this because according to our correspondent Will Ripley in Perth, he's saying there are now ten planes and ten ships. Is that added resources?

SCHIAVO: That's a few more. They have had -- I think they had eight planes and that's more ships. But, yes, certainly that is more. And that's good because I thought that there were too few to cover the vast amount of area -- vast amount of ocean that they have to cover. I think more is better. I heard one gentleman say earlier today that, you know, it's going to get close quarters and they'll run into each other.

No, not in that space they won't. And it's pretty easy with today's communications and avionics to stay adequately separated. So, I don't think there's any danger of them running into each other. And, frankly, I think they could use a few more ships because once they start getting things, it's hard to haul this stuff, harder than people think. You spot it in the water and go to get it and it floats away. It's harder to get it on board than people might think.

LEMON: David Jordan and Jeff, I'm going to get you in a moment. But I have Mary Schiavo here, I didn't her at the top of the show. And I want to get this.

And, Mary, remember our conversation last night. We're were talking to David Mayers (ph) who said, listen, if they were working 24 hours a day nonstop it would take at least 680 days, he believes, to find something. He said possibly two years.

And not to dash any hopes here, but maybe we are a little bit anxious about finding debris. You said the average investigation and to find debris from planes and black boxes and so forth, the average is about 3.5 years. Are we getting ahead of ourselves here?

SCHIAVO: Well, that's the average. Not to find it, that's the average investigation and case. It takes about three and a half years.

This is a long time though finding the actual crash location. That is true. But it can take a very long time to bring in all the debris. And then once they find the crash location, it takes longer than that even on the search for human remains because you have to be so respectful and so careful, as one should be.

So, the whole thing from the crash through the investigation, through the conclusions, through the hearings about three and a half years. So, it's a long way before the families will ever be done with the investigation and the case. But it still this is now three weeks before they have even found the crash location, that's a long time.

LEMON: OK. Mary, standby. Everyone standby because we have our Will Ripley up who is our correspondent there in Perth, Australia, right now.

Will, thank you for alerting us of new information, because I read the information from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority they said 10 planes are planned to be involved today. But you're saying there's an increase in asset and you have some new information for us. What do you have?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this news is mixed, Don, because as you mentioned, there are more assets moving into this area as we speak.

We will have 10 planes in the area today over the search area, also a total of ten ships by the end of the day today. Four of them in place right now, six of them are on their way getting closer to this area. So, that's the good news. Ten planes and ten ships searching this area, looking for objects and retrieving them.

Here's the bad news, weather conditions have changed. The forecast has changed. And they are now expected to deteriorate. The weather is expected to get worse throughout the day today.

I flew over this part of the Indian Ocean in a P-3 last week. And I can tell you from personal experience you can have great visibility one moment and then literally snap your fingers, you look outside and there are low clouds, rains coming down, the waves get bigger. And it's hard to see anything. And if there is any sort of current change, this obviously affects the ship's ability to see the objects and retrieve them. It could also move the objects around that are spotted by these planes.

So, a sense of urgency, planes will be taking off within the next hour or so, hour and a half or so. The first wave will start going out over this area. They want to try to take advantage of the clear weather while they can because the search will continue even though the weather conditions are expected to deteriorate. But we saw what can happen. Sometimes they have to stop mid-flight if things get too dangerous. We're certainly hoping that doesn't happen today.

LEMON: Will, quickly, I want to get back to the panel, but why this increase in resource there is? Is this a natural progression? Or was there some reason they added more?

RIPLEY: We're seeing more countries take part including now the addition of the Malaysian air force. They're actually bringing in some planes. You know, we saw them at Subang air base in Kuala Lumpur. Now, those planes are down here in Perth, the heart of the search operation. It's good to see Malaysia adding their resources into the mix.

This truly is an international effort, so many different countries. China, of course, spearheading this in many ways in the sense that they have the greatest number of assets, the greatest number of ships, a lot of planes. They're leaving earlier often and searching for longer than some of the other countries. You can understand why, they have so much invested with more than two-thirds of the passengers on Flight 370 being Chinese.

LEMON: Right.

RIPLEY: So it's an international effort and that's why we're seeing more planes.

LEMON: All right. Thank you. Will, we appreciate it. We'll get back to you when we have more information. We'll see will throughout the evening on CNN.

David Jourdan, what do you make of this? More countries taking part, more mixed news according to our correspondent, more assets devoted to the search, but, you know, the weather is providing a problem as we have seen throughout the search.

DAVID JOURDAN, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, NAUTICOS: Well, the weather has two problems. One is obviously the difficulty they're having in searching for anything. But once they locate this debris, and if they can identify it and we can know where they found it and the time they found it, now we have a problem of figuring out where it originated.

And that depends on the weather, not just right now but the weather that has been occurring since the time of the crash. That's not just the winds but also the sea currents. And most people may be surprised to know that we know almost nothing about the sea currents in this area.

Just gross computer models, large-scale currents but no individual area currents. So that will make it also a very difficult problem.

LEMON: Still though mixed news for the families once again. The yin and the yang we have here. Good news mixed with bad news.

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. At this point the family members are hoping that whatever's found in the water most of them is not actual debris from that plane because now they really, many of them, believe that their family members may still be alive. And many of us think that is false hope at this point.

LEMON: All right. Thanks to my panel. Thanks to Will Ripley. We'll get back to all of you in a little bit.

It's called an AUV and could be the technology that makes a difference in the search for the Flight 370. Our Rosa Flores is going to join me next with an inside look at the unmanned, underwater probe that could be used to locate deep on the ocean floor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Back now with our special coverage of the mystery of Flight 370 on CNN. When a likely crash site for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is identified, once it is identified, the next step will be to send sophisticated pieces under water of underwater equipment to the ocean bottom.

And Rosa Flores joins me now to explain how one of these expensive machines could help map the debris field.

What do you have, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, I'm going to talk about an AUV, first of all. It's an autonomous underwater vehicle. And we have video of this, it's important for you to see. It looks like a probe. It's kind of like a missile.

But what this does is it uses eye scan technology to map the ocean floor. That's kind of what you're looking at right now. And what it does is it looks for oddities in the ocean floor, Don.

So, it goes through and in a grid pattern goes back and forth. Now, there are crew members in a control room that program this particular probe and tell it what to do, where to go. So, in the case of MH370 once that debris field is narrowed, then it would look through that debris field.

Now, what we're looking at right now is an actual deployment by a dock. You'll see that it's launched into the water. And in this particular case it will float. It will stay there. At that point in time would be when the people in the control room would program this probe. Now, here's one of the very important things about this. Information comes back in real-time, Don.

We know that in the case of MH370 time is of the essence.

LEMON: Right.

FLORES: We need information real-time. So as soon as this probe would be launched into the water -- now, this one is owned by CNC Technologies, but in the Indian Ocean then they'd start getting a real-time map of the ocean floor.

Now, once that probe does what it's supposed to do and goes through its particular mission, it comes back. It's plugged into a computer and then a high resolution picture of the ocean floor.

LEMON: All of the images. OK, great.

FLORES: Correct. And it's also equipped with a still camera. So it would be able to take pictures.

Now, here's the other very important thing. So as it's looking at the ocean floor, it's going to be marking anything that looks like something that's not natural for the ocean bottom. So, for example wreckage, it will mark that. A professional that's on the boat in the control room then looks at it and can reprogram this particular probe to go back and maybe take a still picture of what that is.

LEMON: Right.

FLORES: In the case of MH370 it would be looking for the wreckage.

LEMON: Be very helpful. Very helpful. Thank you. Great information, Rosa Flores. We appreciate it.

We need to tell you that there's also another big story we're following today, that deadly mudslide in Washington state. Up next, a live report on what's happening with the search right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAT CASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From New York to London, World Tennis Day has gained momentum on the global stage.

JUDY MURRAY, ANDY MURRAY'S MOTHER: It's wonderful. It draws attention to our sport.

MIKE BRYAN, 15-TIME GRAND SLAM DOUBLES CHAMPION: I think it's a great platform to just spread the gospel for us and the game.

CASH: What started out as a Big Apple-only event has expanded to include more than 70 countries worldwide. Promoter Jerry Solomon has been behind the idea from the beginning.

JERRY SOLOMON, PROMOTER: The idea is really to do all of this all around the world on one day to where we sort of galvanize the entire tennis world to celebrate the sport.

CASH: Organizers are hopeful that this fledgling event will find a permanent place on the tennis calendar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.

We're tracking dramatic twists in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Earlier ships retrieved some objects from the search area. Right now, those objects are being analyzed.

Search planes will return to the skies in just over an hour. And we're going to continue our coverage of the search for the missing plane. But right now, we want to get you caught up on other major stories that are happening.

And first up, it has been a week since a deadly landslide slithered down a hill in rural Washington state. Cascades of mud demolished the Snohomish County towns of Oso and Darlington. And this morning, at 10:37, the exact time the slide hit, people stopped for a moment of silence to remember the 17 victims confirmed dead. Officials say that number is going to rise because there are many still unaccounted for.

Our Dan Simon is in Arlington, Washington, right now.

Dan, how meticulous is this search? Have rescuers found any more victims?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, first of all this is no surprise. But unfortunately, we're dealing with typical weather for this region. It's rainy, and it's cold. And it's just making things miserable for folks out there in the field trying to recover these bodies. Now, the people in the field they also observed this moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. and then they went about their work.

It's really tough going for these people who are there around the clock. And I'm told that the rain is just making things all that much more difficult. Even one seasoned fire commander told us that now we're a week since the event, he still can't fathom all the devastation that he's seen.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MASON, SNOHOMISH CO. FIRE DEPT: What you have out here is you have houses that have been picked up and like run through a blender and dropped on the ground. Then you have another house that the cars are still parked in the garage. The house is been pushed all the way across. It's not livable, but it's still somewhat in tact. So you have everything out here.

So, we've had to go piece by piece through the debris piles and also piece by piece through each house to make sure we look for everything that we can find.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Right now, Don, I'm told there are about 100 people working through the debris trying to recover bodies.

I'm also today that cadaver dogs are being brought in today to also help. And that's going to be a crucial component in trying to recover more victims as things stand now the death toll officially is at 17, as you said. But we know that that number is going to continue to rise.

A press briefing is expected to occur in a few hours. And hopefully we'll get some updated numbers -- Don.

LEMON: Weather conditions, can you talk more about the weather conditions? We hear there's lots of noise going on behind you. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but talk to us about the weather conditions, because geologists are monitoring another potential landslide and they want to protect those teams.

SIMON: Well, first of all, the noise I think somebody is doing some target shooting just off in the distance. But as far as the weather is concerned, it is a big concern. And you have actually some instruments that have been placed in the ground by some of the fire crews to actually monitor any movement that may occur.

Obviously, they don't want to put themselves in harm's way, so they're basically watching things around the clock. They feel like they got a handle on it now in terms of being there. They feel like they're safe. And if there is sort of anymore movement with the earth, they have contingency plans to evacuate, Don.

LEMON: Dan Simon, Dan, thank you very much. Stay safe out there, Dan. We appreciate you. We'll get back to you throughout the evening here on CNN.

We want to get back now to missing Flight 370. Even if debris in the ocean is linked to the jet, there are still so many unanswered questions about why the plane went down. But families of passengers are learning or leaning -- learning more about a way they can eventually find out what happened aboard that plane. We're going to tell you about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Here's a question for you, do the passengers of Flight 370 try to send texts, e-mails or any kind of messages before the plane went down? That's a crucial question for families and for investigators. Those might help determine what happened in the plane's final moments.

Here's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Weeks left his wife and two sons at home in Australia to start a new job and boarded Malaysia airlines flight 370. Now, his family and others are left wondering if their loved ones tried to use their cell phones to send a message before the plane went missing.

But so many questions still unanswered. Texts and e-mails could provide crucial details about what happened to flight 370 and all of that information could possibly still be retrieved.

CHAD GOUGH, PARTNER, 4DISCOVERY: Absolutely. I'm sure there's test messages. I'm sure there's drafts of e-mails. I'm sure there's video testimonials that people made.

ROWLANDS: Chad Gough is a partner at 4Discovery, a computer forensics company in Chicago. He says even after several weeks or even months in the ocean, unsent texts, e-mails and videos can still be retrieved from electronic devices.

GOUGH: It's a matter of finding the devices, determining what kind of damage was associated with them and handling them properly. ROWLANDS: Handling them properly is the key just like retrieving a flight data recorder, a cell phone or computer would have to be kept in water until it's ready to be analyzed. Even if a device has been smashed, as long as the data cards are intact, the information is still there.

COUGH: It's getting them out of the saltwater but actually keeping them wet and putting them in special solution that would dissolve the minerals in there, dissolve the salt and clean off the components.

ROWLANDS: Finding the devices will likely be the most difficult part of the equation. It took two years to locate the flight recorders off the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean from air France flight 447 which crashed in 2009. No cell phones were recovered. But if Flight 370 wreckage is found over the next few months, passenger texts, e-mails and videos could possibly help solve the mystery of what happened on board, while also providing some grieving families a final message from a loved one.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)