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Rescue Operation Underway in South Korea Ferry Accident; Underwater Search Continues for Flight 370; Putin: Ukraine "On the Brink of Civil War"; Kerry to Attend Ukraine Meeting Tomorrow; Video Shows Brazen, Public al Qaeda Meeting

Aired April 16, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, desperate rescue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 450 people were aboard the ferry, 325 high school students.

COSTELLO: The huge ferry sinking into the frigid waters in just hours. The passengers being airlifted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the actual search area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is one of the search areas.

COSTELLO: Aboard an American supply ship in the hunt for Flight 370. CNN giving you access like no other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're here for the foreseeable future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a 24/7 operation.

COSTELLO: And breaking news from Ukraine. Armed protesters taking over a mayor's office. Russian President Putin saying the country is on the brink of war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This amateur video purports to show Ukrainian tanks and one local risking his life to slow their advance.

COSTELLO: America watching with laser focus.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are prepared if and when Russia escalates its actions.

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me. We begin with that dramatic rescue operation going on right now off South Korea for nearly 300 people still missing after a ship sank. At least four people known dead. Helicopter and boat crews have been on the scene plucking passengers from the frigid waters. Most of the people on board that ferry were high school students. One rescued student said he heard a loud thud and then the ship started to list. He said everyone was ordered to put on life jackets and jump into the water. Another student says he's afraid many of his classmates may still be trapped on board that sinking ship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): There was announcement telling us to sit still on the ferry, but the ferry was already sinking. Some of the students were not able to escape. The ferry started to list, so we asked if we should escape now. But the announcement kept telling us to stay still. I'm so worried about the other students in our rooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The ferry left from the port city of Incheon and was headed for the resort island of Jeju before going down in the Yellow Sea. Water temperatures in that sea in the 40s. CNN's Pauline Chiou has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULINE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A desperate rescue after a crowded passenger ferry suddenly began sinking off the coast of South Korea. More than 450 people aboard the ferry, 325 high school students from just outside Seoul on a class trip to a nearby resort island.

One student told the Korean news network YTN, he heard a loud bump before the ship started to sink. Shortly after the ship issued a distress call, helicopters and boats, including a ship from the U.S. Navy seventh fleet, scrambled to assist the overturned vessel, rushing to rescue the frightened the passengers clinging to railings, waiting for help.

These two passengers were lifted to safety in a helicopter basket, while dozens of others were pulled out of the frigid water by rescue boats. One passenger told YTN that they were told to jump into the sea as the ship began to sink.

Within hours, the ship was almost completely submerged. Only a small portion of the hull was visible above the water. The weather was clear at the time and authorities are still not clear on what caused the catastrophe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTEOLLO: That was Pauline Chiou reporting. Divers have been trying to get into the ship to search for survivors, but they are struggling against strong currents. We'll keep you posted. Right now the underwater search for Flight 370 once again under way. We're waiting for Bluefin-21 to come back up from the sea after a technical glitch forced the submersible to resurface briefly. That would be the second setback in as many days. The submarine scouring the ocean floor as analysis from the first shortened mission this morning finds no debris.

And today some 14 planes and 11 ships continue their efforts on the surface, including the Navy's Cesar Chavez, the only U.S. ship involved in the hunt for that missing plane. Miguel Marquez is on board that ship. He joins us live. Good morning, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. We got the exclusive access to the only U.S. ship participating out here as that search heats up both above and below the surface of the Indian Ocean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): An all-out push in the search for any scrap of debris from Malaysian Flight 370.

(on camera): That's the actual search area?

ROLLIN BELFI, CAPTAIN, USNS CESAR CHAVEZ: That is one of the search areas.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Captain Roland Dolfeis, skipper of the U.S. Navy supply ship Cesar Chavez, the only U.S. ship playing a role in the hunt for the missing plane.

(on camera): What like to be part of this mission that has gripped the world's attention?

BELFI: Well, first of all, we're proud to play a part. I mean, there's many moving parts on this mission.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Another moving part in this search for debris, the highly sophisticated U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance P-8, or Poseidan aircraft. New video shows the plane in action, capable of taking high-resolution pictures over enormous areas and detecting tiny pieces of anything floating.

Australia's HMAS Success is one of several ships investigating on the ocean's surface. what the P-8 sees from the air. Now, with the Cesar Chavez in play, the search both on the surface and even beneath it can continue non-stop.

(on camera): You're here for the foreseeable future. You're going to go back and forth.

BELFI: There's no talk -- we're here as long as we're tasked by seventh fleet. It's a 24/7 operation.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Like a massive floating 7-Eleven, the Cesar Chavez already taking on thousands of gallons of fuel and supplies, only hours in port here, before another 1,000 mile three-day journey to keep the searchers searching.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, aboard the U.S. naval ship Cesar Chavez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (on camera): And now that ship will be leaving the port here just south of Perth where it is now to head back out to resupply the ships, the Australian ships searching the surface of the ocean. It can easily switch direction and start assisting those ships that are searching under the water on the Bluefin that's gone down now for the third time. It is down under the water right now last we heard. We expect that if everything goes according to plan, they have had some problems with it, it will surface in the very early mornings here in Australia and then they will take about four hours to download everything they have there and see if they found anything. Carol?

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez reporting live from Australia this morning.

Joining me now here -- joining me now in the United States, Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the NTSB, and Rob McCallum, an ocean search specialist who led an expedition to the Titanic wreckage, diving some 12,500 feet in the process. Good morning to both of you.

ROB MCCALLUM, OCEAN SEARCH SPECIALIST: Good morning.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Mary, THE Bluefin-21 came up early today with technical problems, then went back down into the water to finish its mission. I assume all is well?

SCHIAVO: Well, we can assume so. The fact that Bluefin knows to come up when it has problems, and what we wouldn't want to have happen is that it damages itself in doing things it shouldn't be doing. So the fact that it keeps coming up and they retool it and send it back down, as long as it's working, that's a good sign. And they are getting pictures, so that's what they wanted. They want those sonar pictures so they can see what's down there. So far, so good.

COSTELLO: So far, so good, although the sonar pictures have shown nothing of interest so far. But let's talk about what it might see in the future. Rob, we know the water is deep in the search area. A geologist told Reuters that the sea floor is covered with an foraminifera (ph) ooze, in other words, a kind of sludge. And he says that's a good thing because any shiny object would show up clearly. Do you agree with that?

MCCALLUM: That's correct. The sea floor, for North American viewers anyway who have just come out of a winter, I would say it's very much like a hard-packed snow with a light dusting of powder on top. For sonar searching, what you're getting is you're throwing sound out into the water and it's being bounced back off objects and returned back to, in this case, the Bluefin. And depending on what the sound is hitting, it gives a different kind of return. So it will enable searchers to distinguish between the natural terrain, the mud if you like, and anything that's human made like aircraft parts.

COSTELLO: And it's no surprise to you, Rob, that not much has -- well, nothing has been found so far?

MCCALLUM: No. Obviously the search controller is very confident in these pinger locations. They are deploying only one asset and they're focused very hard on these pinger locations. So we'll see. It's a big area out there. The Bluefin is right at the edge of its operational limits. It's a wait-and-see game.

COSTELLO: Mary, the air, the search by air for debris, will soon come to an end, maybe come to an end tomorrow. Is there any real reason it should continue?

SCHIAVO: Well, at this point, anything -- any debris that did float has been so widely dissipated by the currents, it's far away from the location of the pings and, you know, there's no guarantee that they would find anything if they kept going on because there's just no way of knowing where it could be at this point. So it's taxing on all the assets, the resources and the personnel. And, soon, like I said, if Bluefin can find anything down there, this mission is going to change dramatically. And they need to be retooling and getting their assets in place to do that kind of a job, which would be eventually a recovery operation. So, no, I agree with Angus Houston. It's time to switch the focus and to concentrate on the under sea search.

COSTELLO: Rob, you heard what Mary said. The mission is getting taxing. In fact, it's been going on for 40 days now. The operation is also getting quite expensive. Listen to Angus Houston, the search chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGUS HOUSTON, JOINT AGENCY COORDINATION CHIEF: It's very expensive. And all of the countries that are contributing to this are running up big costs. And I think the world community should be very appreciative to those countries for their contribution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This will probably go down as one of the most expensive searches in history. At what point, Rob, do you think they should begin to scale back the operation?

MCCALLUM: You know, not for a long time yet. I think that you'll start to see a throttling back on the search for debris, but I think that the underwater search will continue for a long time because there's an intense drive to solve this mystery, both from an aviation safety perspective, on which the entire industry rests, but also because, as humans, we are mystified as to how this could happen. There's a lot of people watching this and a lot of people very interested in the outcome.

COSTELLO: Rob McCallum, Mary Schiavo, thanks for your insight, as always. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a country on the brink of civil war. Tanks roll through the streets of Ukraine and thousands of Russian troops wait at the border. Will the United States get involved, even more involved than it already is, as in troops? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The struggle between Ukraine and groups of pro-Russian supporters have the former Soviet republic teetering on the brink of civil war. That's what the Russian say.

Ukrainian troops have now been spotted in towns and cities near the eastern border of Ukraine and Russia, some supporting Ukraine. But this one was carrying flying Russian flags. This protester, rather, you see that flag? It's a Russian flag.

We've been getting in a lot of dramatic pictures, including these from a town in eastern Ukraine about 100 miles from Russia's border. This is a local risking his life to keep tanks from getting further into a town called Slaviansk.

This is amateur video. We can't confirm. It looks like the man tries to stop the tanks using his hands. Then you see him laying down in front of the tank. As far as we know, he's OK.

Now, Slaviansk is one of several towns seeing violence. Take a look at the map. Up risings are taking place up and down eastern Ukraine, all about 100 miles from where Russian troops have amassed at the border between eastern Ukraine and western Russia. You see it there.

Phil Black is in Ukraine. He has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Breaking overnight, Ukraine fighting back as conflict intensifies. According to the Ukrainian ministry of defense, two Ukrainian soldiers have been kidnapped by Russian extremists.

Ukraine's acting president saying they have begun an anti-terrorist operation aiming to stop attempts to tear Ukraine to pieces. For the first time Ukraine is using military force, retaking an airport in the eastern Donetsk region after a reported clash with pro-Russian gunmen.

The operation may continue here in the town of Slaviansk, where pro- Russian militants defied Kiev's demand to give back control over local government buildings.

This amateur video which we can't confirm reports to show Ukrainian tanks and one local risking his life to slow their advance. It's unknown whether Ukraine will try to reclaim government and police buildings in as many as ten towns in Ukraine, seized by pro-Russian militants.

New video shows pro-Russian protesters waving the Russian flag atop this government building in the Donetsk region and tearing the sign off the administration building.

Russian President Vladimir Putin now telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel the escalating conflict essentially puts the nation on the brink of civil war.

But now, NATO is upping military presence amid the threat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land.

BLACK: The U.S. still expressing concern about Russian's intention in Ukraine, says they're preparing a number of responses.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are prepared because of the authorities that we have in the executive orders the president signed to escalate sanctions and other costs if and when Russia escalates its actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Phil Black joins us on the phone right now.

How much farther can Russia escalate its actions, Phil?

BLACK (via telephone): Well, potentially quite a lot, Carol. Remember, NATO believes there are still tens of thousands of Russian soldiers pretty close to the border with Ukraine ready to move over. Russia has always spoken about its willingness to intervene if it believes that Russian-speaking people's lives and rights are at stake.

I think that's why there's some hesitancy from the Ukrainian military and the actions they haven't really taken so far in trying to stop these pro-Russian forces are steadily still establishing their own authority in towns and cities across the region. We are seeing a big military presence now from the Ukrainian military but they're not moving in, not confronting these pro-Russian militants and protesters because if they do, there's every chance it could escalate very quickly from that point.

COSTELLO: Phil Black reporting live from eastern Ukraine this morning.

As you can see, the crisis shows no signs of letting up. The situation could still deteriorate. That's according to retired Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET), U.S. ARMY: The word Ukraine means border, just like in Serbo Croat, the criena (ph) was the border area. This is his buffer zone, Putin's buffer zone between Russia and the West. He wants to restore that buffer zone. He doesn't want Europe up on the gates of Russia. It's that simple and the fact that the Europeans and the Americans are afraid to stand up to Putin I think in fact is going to cause things to be far worse than better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So, how do you stand up to Vladimir Putin?

Well, General Kimmitt says U.S. and European troops need to go to Ukraine as a show of force. It's the only thing Putin will understand, says the general.

But sending in American troops is not a popular option. According to a McClatchy-Marist poll, a majority believe Ukraine is in our national interest. But just 7 percent think the United States should send in troops. So diplomacy is still in the works. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the European Union.

Michelle Kosinski is at the White House.

Good morning, Michelle. Any word from the White House this morning on this situation in Ukraine?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

And the president is traveling today in the U.S. we're not going to have a briefing situation where we can ask those questions that we've been able to ask over the last few days. There have been many questions about exactly what you raise, what do you do here? And for the past many weeks, the U.S. hasn't wanted to do anything that seems too invasive into this situation -- anything that would be too provocative.

I think it was interesting that what we saw -- you know, we've been seeing this incremental moves and sanctions. And it's not lost on people out there that this is kind of a quandary. I mean, it's easy to say why don't we put people there in terms of troops there, but what would really be the point of that, especially when Putin has been making these outrageous moves?

Wouldn't that possibly escalate the situation even further? As you mentioned, it's a very unpopular move. So, then, what do you do? And what the U.S. has decided are sanctions basically. We've been seeing those escalating as Russia's moves have been escalating. But then the criticism becomes -- well, we're reacting to what we don't want Putin to do and that's what he then does.

So, what the U.S. is saying right now -- yesterday, the administration spelled it out further that we don't want to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine at this point, but we're not ruling out military aid in the form of things like gear, night vision goggles, other elements like that that the White House doesn't want to spell out at this point. They don't want to parse out publicly what they consider military aid and what they consider lethal aid, where they draw the line.

In terms of sanctions, the White House is now being more I would say possibly aggressive in saying that we are actively considering doing more. So what's the benchmark going to be? I mean, do we wait for Putin to make another move? Not necessarily. Diplomacy has been the way to go here. There is that meeting tomorrow. The administration said without sort of clearly spelling it out, let's see what happens tomorrow, let's see how engaged Russia really is in diplomacy before we see potentially more severe sanctions, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a new video shows al Qaeda's top brass in a bold public meeting, including the terror network's top global leaders there for all to see. How did the United States miss this? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A disturbing video has surfaced showing what may be the most dangerous mass gathering of al Qaeda members in years. The video shown first on CNN shows al Qaeda's top leaders in a brazen public meeting, including the terror group's so-called crown prince.

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers says the outdoor event shows just how brazen this group has become.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: The al Qaeda threat today is more diverse and more aggressive with more threats streams than we've seen since even before 9/11. And so, we think that they're feeling empowered. The less pressure you put on them, the more they take that as a victory, the more that they believe they can get away with. Plotting, planning, organizing as you saw there, finance, training, all the things they would need to do to strike a Western target, they're going through that process -- including, by the way, bringing very sophisticated people to devise new devices to try to get around security protocols at airports and other places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Barbara Starr broke the story. She joins us with more from the Pentagon.

Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

One hundred al Qaeda fighters out in the open. It sure doesn't look like al Qaeda on the run.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years, and the CIA and the Pentagon either didn't know about it or couldn't get a drone there in time to strike. U.S. officials will not say.

But every frame is being analyzed.

In the middle, the man known as al Qaeda's crown prince, Nasir al- Wuhayshi, brazenly out in the open, greeting followers. A man who says he wants to attack the U.S., seemingly unconcerned he could be hit by an American drone.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is quite an extraordinary video, the leader of al Qaeda on Arabian Peninsula, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who's also the number two of al Qaeda worldwide, addressing over 100 fighters somewhere in Yemen, taking a big risk in doing this.

STARR: In his speech, Wuhayshi makes clear he is going after the U.S., saying, "We must eliminate the cross. The bearer of the cross is America."

U.S. officials believe the highly produced video is recent, with some fighters' faces blurred, there is worry it all signals a new round of plotting.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: The U.S. intelligence community shouldn't be surprised such a large group assembled together, including the leadership, and somehow they didn't notice.

STARR: There is good reason to worry. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also known as AQAP, is considered the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate. The CIA and the Pentagon have repeatedly killed AQAP leaders with drone strikes, but the group now emboldened.

BERGEN: The main problem about this group is that it has a bomb maker who can put bombs onto planes that can't be detected.

STARR: That bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, is believed to be responsible for several attempts against the U.S., including the failed 2009 Christmas Day underwear bomber attack.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And that man, al-Asiri, the master bomb maker of al Qaeda in Yemen, is one man that doesn't appear in the video. He is believed by the U.S. to be very much in hiding and there is great concern what role he is now playing and what he maybe up to next -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. Thanks, Barbara.