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Search and Rescue on Sunken Ferry; Calming the Crisis in Ukraine; Three Militants Killed in Attack at Ukrainian Base; Interview with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut; New: Oil Slick Not from Flight 370

Aired April 17, 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: Thanks so much, Kate. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. This morning a CNN exclusive. We will take you under water so you can better understand what search teams are up against as they look for Flight 370.

Martin Savidge inside a submarine 50 feet below the surface of Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver, Canada. The visibility is limited, the quarters are cramped but Martin will joins us in just a moment live from inside that submarine.

But we begin with breaking news this morning out of South Korea. It is a race against time as police say they believe passengers, most of them teenagers, students, may still be alive, trapped inside that sunken ferry. Amazingly there was a plan to pump oxygen into the sunken ship in an attempt to keep survivors breathing until rescuers can reach them.

Adding hope to the mission today, parents of some of those teenage passengers say they've received text messages from their children coming from inside the ship. One message from a son to his mother reads, "There are a few people in the ship. We are not dead yet. So please send along this message. Can't see a thing. It's totally dark. There are a few men and women. Women are screaming."

A young girl wrote to calm her father, "Dad, don't worry, I'm wearing a life vest and I'm with other girls. We're inside the ship, still in the hallway, the hallway is crowded with so many people."

Another young man on the ship wrote to his mother to say, "Mom, in case I won't get to tell you, I'm sending this. I love you."

Back on land families of the nine confirmed dead are grieving while others are struggling for answers. One mother sobbing as she recalled how she encouraged her daughter to take that trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter said to me, mom, I don't want to go there because I went there again -- this time again. So I tell her, I think this trip will be very great experience for you, for your school days. So I'm very regret. I'm very regretting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Adding to the family's grief today, an unsettling report from a local news agency saying only one, just one of the ship's 46 lifeboats had been deployed. There are pictures of the life boats, you can see them. They're still on the ferry. They're inside those white capsule-looking things. This is a crucial detail that of course may have cost many lives.

CNN's Paula Hancock is live in Jindo, South Korea with more.

Hello, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. Well, that's certainly going to be the crux of this investigation. Maritime police saying that they're investigating why only one of those 46 lifeboats was actually deployed. Was it the fact that they couldn't be deployed, that they just simply weren't deployed?

And another thing that they're looking into, was there, in fact, as eyewitnesses and survivors say, a PA announcement on the (INAUDIBLE) on the ship saying don't move, it is dangerous to move, don't move.

There is an assumption that that could have claimed lives as well because people couldn't get to the deck and jump into the water where there were many ships, official vessels and also local fishing vessels ready to pluck people out of the water.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Beneath these frigid waters, nearly 300 people, mostly teenage students and their teachers, remain missing. The ship's captain with his head down telling police, "I'm sorry, I'm at a loss for words."

Overnight three bodies were recovered from the sunken ferry bank a resort island off the southwest coast of Korea. The miraculous rescue of a 6-year-old girl was caught on tape. Her parents and brother were not found.

Grief stricken family members gather at a harbor in Jindo waiting into the night, desperate for any information. A mother's anguish as she recalls encouraging her daughter to take the trip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I tell her, I think this trip is going to be a very great experience for you, for your school days. So I'm very regret. I'm very regretted to the death.

HANCOCKS: Dramatic video of the first 24 hours of the frantic rescue shows passengers clinging to guard rails and being airlifted to safety. Most of the clues about what could have caused the ship to sink have come from eyewitnesses who report hearing a loud bang and feeling the ship beginning to tilt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds like it hit a submerged object which caused the -- a gash in the haul which would allow a large of ingress of water.

HANCOCKS: If that's the case, the gash apparently was large enough to impact several compartments below and ultimately capsized the ship.

Also in question, the handling of the evacuation. According to passengers, they were initially told to stay on board. This cell phone video thought to be from inside the ship shows passengers all wearing lifejackets. Outside the ship, only one of 46 lifeboats deployed.

These instructions heard from the crew saying, "Do not move, if you move, it's more dangerous, do not move," could have cost many lives.

One of the ways relatives found out about their loved ones was through text messages. "There are a few people in the ship and we are not dead yet. So please send along this message." Another student texted his friend, "I think we are all going to die. If I did anything wrong to you, please forgive me. I love you all."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now the rescue operation has been severely hampered this Thursday by adverse weather conditions, very poor visibility under water. We know that divers at least six times tried to get inside some of the cabins that are submerged but they failed each time. There has been a very strong under water currents as well, very dangerous situation for these divers. On a number of occasions it had to suspend the diving. And of course, it is pitch black now. A second night for these families to be sitting at the side of the water just waiting -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So hundreds are still missing, frigid waters. You mentioned that the captain said he was sorry. So I would assume the captain got off that ship and survived. You also said one lifeboat was deployed.

Do we know how the captain managed to stay alive?

HANCOCKS: Well, that is the question. The captain is safe. We know that one lifeboat was deployed. And of course the captain is with officials at this point. He is the crux of this investigation. We have seen him on local news television. He has been bowing his head, he's been hiding his face with his baseball cap saying, I'm sorry, there are no words. I have no words.

But the fact is he made it off the ship safely. Almost 300 people are still unaccounted for. This is making families very angry. They want to know exactly what happened and what part he played in it. COSTELLO: Well, exactly, because that picture showed many of these students had lifejackets on. So somebody came out and instructed them to do something. But apparently no one put any lifeboats in the water. That's just disturbing.

HANCOCKS: Well, that's the thing. And they don't know whether or not it was a case that they couldn't get the lifeboats into the water, whether or not it was a case that the ship simply sank too quickly that they were unable to, whether they misjudged the situation and whether they just didn't know how quickly the ship was going to sink. They just simply don't know at this point. This is what they're investigating.

But of course the fact that the captain managed to get off the ship when almost 300 people are still unaccounted for is going to be a very crucial part of this investigation. At what point did he leave the ship and was he in charge of the ship at the time that it did start to sink and start to tilt and carried out that distress signal.

COSTELLO: And I know that they're trying to pump oxygen into this sunken ship, hoping that somebody, you know, underneath the water is still alive. Any word on how that's working?

HANCOCKS: Well, they haven't given us too many details about that. They're basically saying that they, as you say, are pumping oxygen general in. They're working under the assumption that there are still survivors. They're working under the assumption that there may be air pockets as there are -- there was at least one part of the ship that is still poking out of the water, it's a small part of the ship that they're working under the assumption there may be survivors.

And that's why they're doing that. So they're not giving us much technical information about this. We know within the coming hours we'll have three cranes coming down to this area. We're hoping within the next eight or nine hours. That's at least what the maritime police have told us. But it's still not clear whether or not they'll be trying to pull the ship further out of the water to get better access or whether they'll be towing it towards the coast.

We've heard reports on both counts. They're not being too specific on those details at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks reporting live from South Korea this morning.

For 41 days the families of Flight 370 passengers have been pleading with officials for answers in the plane's disappearance often at emotional forums like this one. Now a Malaysian delegation will soon head to Beijing for a face-to-face briefing.

That meeting comes as relatives desperate for information have posted a list of 26 questions online that they want answered, including black box specifics, the flight's logbook and the air traffic control recording from the night the plane went missing.

Also this morning we've learned that an oil sample from the Indian Ocean is not from an aircraft engine or hydraulic fluid. That means that rules that out as a clue. Early tests did rule out that possibility as I said, with no debris found yet or electronic pulses detected in a week the data from the Bluefin-21 becomes even more critical.

The unmanned vehicle finally completing its first full mission today, and with authorities cautioning there is still a long way to go, Australia's top air accident investigator says the cost of a prolonged search could reach nearly a quarter of a billion dollars if private equipment is needed.

We'll take you down under the water with Martin Savidge in the NEWSROOM a little later on. Also still to come, calming the crisis in Ukraine. Diplomats from the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union wrap up their meeting.

Diana Magnay live from those talks in Geneva.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And also Vladimir Putin spending four hours talking to the people of Russia, but any clues as to what he'll do next in Ukraine, not for now.

More on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The situation in Ukraine has taken a frightening turn. For the first time the Ukrainian military has killed three pro-Russian protesters. The violence escalating as diplomats struggle for a peaceful solution. A face-to-face meeting in Geneva is now over between Secretary of State John Kerry and leaders from Ukraine, Russia and the European Union. In fact, Secretary Kerry is holding a news conference right now. These are live pictures.

Well, I guess he's about to hold that live news conference. We'll be listening in for any new developments.

Now this presser comes just hours after 300 pro-Russian militants attacked a Ukrainian military base.

COSTELLO: In fact, Secretary Kerry is holding a news conference right now. These are live pictures, like he's about to hold that live news conference. We'll be listening in for new developments.

Now, this presser comes just hours after 300 pro-Russian militants attacked a Ukrainian military base.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: It's hard to happen but it happened in a seaside town less than 40 miles from the Russian border. When the fighting was over, those three protesters, those three pro-Russian protesters were killed by Ukrainian troops. The escalating tension here prompting worry Russia will unleash its fire power on Ukraine and perhaps the United States. As you know, a Russian fighter jet recently buzzed an American warship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians. We don't need a war. What we do need is a recognition that countries like Ukraine can have relationships with a whole range of their neighbors, and it is not up to anybody, whether it's Russia or the United States or anybody else, to make decisions for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Diana Magnay is in Moscow this morning.

Diana, Russian President Putin held a four-hour news conference this morning. It was epic. What was the takeaway?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't exactly a news conference. It was his annual call-in so that the people of Russia could send their questions into him. And apparently 2 million people did so, Crimea and Ukraine dominating the discussion.

One thing that I did come away with is the point that the president made that he was authorized to use force in Ukraine and he hopes that he doesn't have to.

Now, he repeated the points that he's made over and over again, this narrative that authorities in Kiev are illegitimate, that, in fact, the presidential elections, which are due to be held on May 25th are unconstitutional and that a constitution must be drawn up before that point, presumably a constitution which Russia has said in the past should be for a more federalized Ukrainian state.

Let's just take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): The presidential race is taking place in unacceptable conditions. We cannot recognize what is going to take place following the 25th of May. We cannot call it legitimate. How can it be legitimate where people are constantly being beaten up? What kind of election campaign, if they want the elections to be legitimate, then they need to change the constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAGNAY: You really got the sense here that he was trying to position himself as the voice of reason in this debate against the intransigence of Kiev and intransigence of the West, that it was him who was trying to push for a diplomatic solution, that he hadn't wanted to move into Crimea, but that the interests and the need to protect Russians there was such that he was forced to go in. He also, interestingly, referred to the people of East and South Ukraine in a little heard historical term calling them part of new Russia and saying it was only really recently that they had become part of Ukraine.

And you can see what he's trying to do there, he's couching the minds of the people of Russia, that he's out there to trying to make sure this situation doesn't inflame into violence, but that he will also safeguard the interests of Russian-speaking people.

He also talked about gas deliveries to Europe, saying that he can't guarantee safe transit if Kiev doesn't pay its debts and they'll have to pre pay their gas. There were various points that he made.

But Ukraine certainly no answers as to what he intends to do there at this stage.

COSTELLO: All right. Diana Magnay reporting live from Moscow this morning.

I want to bring in Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy now. He recently traveled to Ukraine and is concerned about the escalation and violence there.

Welcome, Senator.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being with us.

You make no bones about it. You think Russia is intent on invading eastern Ukraine. Why?

MURPHY: Well, I think for all intents and purposes, they already have. What we know there are Russian agents on the ground in eastern Ukraine. That they have been the provocateurs behind most of the violence that has happened there, and they are ultimately to be held responsible for the death and destruction that may occur between these so-called pro-Russian forces which are instigated by the Russians, sometimes made up of unmarked Russian troops and the Ukrainian military.

So, Putin is far from being a voice of reason here, to the extent there is going to be violence in eastern Ukraine, it's only his fault. It's up to him, ultimately, to pull his agents out of that region and to allow Ukraine to decide for themselves whether they want to orient towards Europe or whether they want to orient towards Russia. That's their decision as a nation, as a sovereign country.

COSTELLO: Are we wasting our time in finding a diplomatic solution in Geneva?

MURPHY: Well, I have low expectations for these talks in part because Russia is just lying to us about what is really going on. A group of senators -- we met with Russian ambassador about two weeks ago and he told us there were no Russian troops marshalling on the border of Ukraine. That there weren't Russian troops in Crimea, that those were Ukrainian private defense forces.

And so, I think we should have low expectations. But at the same time, President Obama is right, we have no interest in a military confrontation here. So, there's no reason not to talk to the Russians. Ultimately, I think, we have to understand that they're probably trying to buy time until they find a way to regain control of the government in Kiev.

I don't think that's going the happen, but that clearly is what they're trying to do here.

COSTELLO: On the subject of sanctions, President Putin said one of Russia's billionaires was unable to charge his wife's surgery on a credit card, does that mean the sanctions already in place are working?

MURPHY: Well, I think the sanctions are beginning to work. What we know is about $60 billion in Russian investment has already left the country. I met with one of the biggest U.S. banks last week. And they told me they have completely shut down all new business with Russia.

And so, the sanctions are beginning to work. But we still have enormous leverage in front of us. We have not begun to impose sanctions, direct sanctions on Russian banks. We haven't done anything against Russian petrochemical companies. If these diplomatic talks break down this week, then I hope our European allies are going to join us with very tough sanctions.

We haven't even begun to impose the most crippling sanctions on Russia that might ultimately change their disposition. The question has always been, will Europe join the United States? And I think Putin has become so unhinged here that even NATO allies in Europe have to be worried about what he might do next if he gets away with this incursion into Ukraine with no consequences to him and his economy.

COSTELLO: What do you mean by unhinged?

MURPHY: Well, I think he's living in just a very different reality than the rest of us here. There are enormous consequences that are going to come to Russia because of this action. He doesn't see that. There's going to be enormous pain to his people, and there is a solution.

I think the people of eastern Ukraine have a legitimate right of more self governance. We could have a dialogue with Russia about that. But they seem so intent and he seems so intent on essentially re- establishing the old Soviet Union, that he's not willing to engage in real diplomacy.

This is a guy that's impossible to talk to. He's lying to us on a regular basis. I think Europe has to be worried about that.

Angela Merkel said the same thing. She feels when she talks to Vladimir Putin that she's not talking to the same guy that she dealt with five years ago. COSTELLO: Interesting. Senator Chris Murphy, thanks to your insight. We appreciate it.

MURPHY: All right. Thanks.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, searching the ocean floor for any trace of the missing Malaysian airliner. Miguel Marquez is in Australia this morning.

Good morning, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there. The search intensifies over the water, under the water. We have news on the oil slick. Was it from MH370?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. They're still searching under water for the missing Malaysian plane. In fact, the Bluefin mini sub has completed the first mission searching the ocean floor for any sign of that missing flight. Technical issues cut the previous two missions short.

So, let's head to Australia and check in with Miguel Marquez.

On another topic, the oil slick in the middle of the Indian Ocean, did it turn out to be anything?

MARQUEZ: Unfortunately not. That will come as a great shock to the families hoping for some positive physical evidence that MH370 is actually under the Indian Ocean. The investigators and searches there say they got the oil from the slick they found all the way back to Perth. They tested it. It did not turn out to be aircraft oil or hydraulic fluid of any sort.

So, they've ruled it out as being part of MH370. That said, the Bluefin is down again for its fourth dive, a 16-hour dive. They are going through the data from that third dive to see if it proved anything, and it will continue to search this area.

This as we're hearing from both the transport minister in Malaysia and the Australian prime minister here, that if they don't find anything in the specific area in the next five or seven days or so, that they may have to go back to the maps to figure out where else to search and go to the next best location in this very large area that they're trying to look for.

Keep in mind that the P8s, the Poseidons, the U.S. Poseidons are still up every day as are the p 3s from Australians and from New Zealand, all of them looking on the surface of the ocean hoping to find debris, hoping to find some physical evidence that MH370 went down. But that search under the ocean really intensifying now that the kinks are worked out with Bluefin-21 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Is that sort of what the search team means when it says at some point they have to reassess the operation and turn to just concentrating on under the water instead of above?

MARQUEZ: It's not clear they would cancel above the water. They may go away. The part under the ocean, they are concentrating where they heard the longest and the best and the strongest ping that they got from what they believe is the aircraft. If that area proves negative, then they'll have to go back, refigure the math and figure out what other area to search -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez reporting live from Australia this morning -- thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the crisis in Ukraine takes a deadly turn with an attack on the military base. Nick Paton Walsh following all the developments from there will join us next with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)