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Rescue Efforts Continue for Sunken South Korean Ferry; Search Continues for Missing Malaysian Plane; Russian Separatists Still Active in Ukraine; Ocean Explorer to Live in Lab Under the Sea; CNN Hero Feeds Poor Children Pasta

Aired April 19, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of sunshine wherever you are, we're glad you're here. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 here on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

And we begin with breaking news. A drone strike has killed 15 people, 12 of them Al Qaeda suspects and three civilians. This happened in central Yemen.

PAUL: This is a stronghold of the extremist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And officials in Yemen say three of the people killed were senior members of that group. The terror suspects were traveling in a vehicle, and the three civilians were apparently in another car. But just recently, this chilling video that you're looking at here of Al Qaeda fighters meeting with their leader in this region surfaced on the Internet.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk more about the drone strikes. CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen joins us, he's on the phone. Peter, put this strike into context for us and talk about the importance. And is there anything that you know or you can tell about the, let's see, the three senior members killed in this attack?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (via telephone): We don't know who those people were, and we may not know for some period of time. In terms of the kind of the context here, President Obama has authorized around 100 drone and cruise missile strikes since he assumed office. There was only one drone strike in Yemen in the two presidential George W. Bush terms. So it really shows the focus used to be on Pakistan and Al Qaeda members there. The focus has largely shifted to Yemen. We're not seeing any drone strikes in Pakistan over the last several months, whereas we've seen eight drone strikes in Yemen since the beginning of the year, Victor.

PAUL: So, Peter, could this strike have been tied to the video that surfaced recently?

BERGEN: You know, I think that's very hard to tell. You know, we don't know for sure where the video was taken. Barbara Shaw, who broke the story, has been told it may well have been in an area not far from where this strike has happened but not exactly the same province where this strike took place. So there may just be -- that just may be a coincidence.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk more about the video and the potential implication for the U.S. I mean, does this indicate that there is a new round of attacks, or at least plotting for a new round of attacks by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by the U.S.?

BERGEN: The Obama administration position is before they can take a drone strike, they have to assess that the principal target of the strike is somebody who is posing some kind of imminent threat to the United States. Imminent threat doesn't mean that, necessarily, according to the Obama administration, that somebody is, you know, dispatching a bomber tomorrow. It means that that person has plotted against an American target in the past and is continuing to do so, and there's no good reason to believe he stopped doing so.

So any of these -- any one of the strikes we've seen this year, at least theoretically should be targeting somebody who poses some kind of imminent threat to the United States as the Obama administration defines it.

PAUL: Now, Peter, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I read, the U.S. is the only country known to have conducted, you know, drone strikes in Yemen. And if that is true, how is that received by leaders there?

BERGEN: Well, in Pakistan, where there's been, you know, hundreds of drone strikes, it's extremely unpopular. I think in Yemen, the situation is a little bit different. The present prime minister of Yemen, Prime Minister Basindawa, has actually talked to the "Washington Post" and appeared at the United Nations and actually defended the drone program, which is pretty unusual, because you don't hear a lot of defenders in countries where these programs are happening.

So I think in Yemen, it's a more mixed picture. But certainly, if you kill civilians, as happened in this strike, you know, that's going to generate resentment. You know, the Obama administration, you know, the position is they will go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, but we do see civilian casualties continuing.

PAUL: Yes, Peter Bergen, thank you so much. We appreciate you being here.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Peter.

Well, rescuers are desperately trying to find possible survivors in South Korea's ferry catastrophe.

PAUL: Here's what we know this hour. The death toll has really been climbing all morning. Right now the number we're getting is 33, and it could go much higher. And 269 people are still missing, and many of them are students who went to the same high school and were on a field trip to a resort island when that vessel capsized.

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of their parents have gathered on the island where they're watching the search for their children on these two huge video screens. They're also giving DNA samples to help identify anyone who's found. Some survivors say people on the vessel were told not to move for their own safety. And that sparked a lot of anger, lots of questions, also, with so many people missing now.

PAUL: The captain says that he feared passengers would be swept away in the rough waters, and that was his reasoning for giving that order. He and his third mate and a crew technician all made it off that ferry, and now, of course, are facing charges.

BLACKWELL: Prosecutors say the captain was not at the helm when the ship capsized. Both he and his third mate have been speaking out.

PAUL: Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, who's in South Korea there. So, Paula, tell us about the latest on the investigation and what both the captain and this third mate are saying.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, there are five charges against the captain, including negligence, abandoning boats, and causing bodily injury. If he's found guilty of all of those charges, all five of them, he could face anywhere from five years to life imprisonment.

Remember, he wasn't at the helm at the time of this accident. He said he wasn't even in the steering room. We do know the third mate was in charge of the ship, and she has been charged with three charges, including causing injuries leading to deaths.

The captain himself, though, has tried to justify not telling people to abandon ship whilst it was sinking, saying, as you were saying, he was concerned people would be swept away. He said there were no rescue boats, there were no fishing boats or other boats nearby, so he didn't feel he could tell them to abandon ship. Of course, he, himself, was rescued, and he did get off the ship along with the third mate. Christi and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Paula, I understand you got a good look at the search effort today?

HANCOCKS: That's right. We got within a couple hundred feet from the area where the sunken ferry actually is. Now, all you can see on the surface of the water at this point is two large inflatables, which mark where the ferry is. Otherwise, you would have no idea that a 6,800-ton ferry was beneath you. You can't see anything. They are very murky waters and we know the ship is sinking.

Now there a hive of activity when it comes to the diving. We saw a number of boats with divers on board, desperately trying to get inside the submerged ship at this point. They got to the third floor, we understand, and as the death toll is rising, clearly they are managing to recover some bodies. They're not finding survivors at this point.

We also saw four cranes, those large inflatable cranes at the area. They're not being used at this point, even though some divers say it is time to use them, because it's too difficult to get to the ship itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need cranes. If they could raise the ferry a little, the depth of the water would be reduced so we could conduct rescue operations easily and quickly. It is 35 to 40 meters deep. It will be hard to take them out even if there are survivors in the ferry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Of course, this is a very difficult decision to make, and officials say they will make this decision with the families' consent, because the assumption is, once you start moving the ship, that any air pockets that potentially could be inside could be disturbed. So, of course, once the cranes get involved, the question is, does it stop becoming a search and rescue operation and does it just become a search and salvage operation?

PAUL: We can see, Paula, behind you, the sun is down, it's night. What does that mean for the investigation and how are conditions right now?

HANCOCKS: Well, this is the fourth night in a row now that the many families behind me are basically sitting beside of the water looking out, wondering what is going to happen. Now, of course, the investigation is ongoing. They're trying to find out exactly why this has happened. The police have told CNN that they are looking into why there was this turn by the ship. Of course, we heard from eyewitnesses, they heard a loud bang. But whether or not they actually hit something is being questioned by officials. They say there is a low possibility that they actually hit a rock.

The captain himself says that there wasn't a deviation from course. He had planned the route before he left the steering room. So there really are a lot of loose ends to tie up. And the investigation is in its very early stages. And of course, it is going alongside the search and rescue operation, which, in the public eye, is definitely taking precedence at this point.

BLACKWELL: All right, Paula Hancocks there for you in South Korea. Paula, thank you.

PAUL: Meanwhile, the deep-sea search for flight 370 is intensifying as officials reveal when they expect the current phase of the underwater hunt is going to wrap up. We essentially have a timeline now.

BLACKWELL: You know the Bluefin-21 has provided detailed images of the seafloor never seen by human eyes, so we're seeing a new part of the world. But what about evidence of the missing jet?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We have breaking news overnight in the search for flight 370. The drone that's scanning the floor of the Indian Ocean should finish its work within a week. Again, that's the first time we've heard anything about a timeline here that's been set. And officials say the Bluefin-21 captured clear, sharp images of territory that has never been mapped. So far, though, it hasn't found any sign of the plane.

BLACKWELL: Malaysia's transport minister said the next two days could be crucial for search efforts. Today, 11 military planes, 12 ships are scouring a 20,000-square-mile zone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN ACTING TRANSPORT MINISTER: The narrowing of the search for today and tomorrow is at a very critical juncture, so I appeal to everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something over the next couple of days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Malaysia's transport minister there also echoing the Australian prime minister, saying that if the search doesn't yield anything in the next few days, officials may, quote, "regroup and reconsider their strategy."

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes and Bill Waldock of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. Tom, is it time to take this search back to square one? We're six weeks in. Is it indeed time to regroup and reconsider?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The transport minister should just stop making comments, which he has repeatedly done for 43 straight days which are not helpful, often contradictory, and do not provide any useful information about the investigation. I wouldn't put any stock in what he says until we hear it from Angus Houston, who's running the search.

PAUL: Bill, when you hear him say we are at a critical juncture for two days, what is so critical about the next two days, in your opinion?

BILL WALDOCK, EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: Well, I was quite surprised to hear him say that, because I don't see anything that's going to be really critical over the next couple of days. This sort of thing has only really been done a few times, and all of the times that we've used these AUVs, it takes a great deal of time to find what you're looking for.

BLACKWELL: You know, I also found that a bit interesting that the pingers are expected to be long dead by now, and they haven't heard a new one. So what was so important about these two days?

Tom, I'll come to you with this Malaysian aviation source told CNN the jet was still inside Vietnamese airspace when it deviated from its flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, that it climbed 39,000 feet after making that turn to the west. Do you see there's anything that can be gleaned from that statement? Some of this we knew for some time, but anything that you take from that, Tom?

FUENTES: Yet again, Victor, I guess I'm always Mr. Negative, but we don't know that that's true. And this back source type information that comes out is based on what -- whose radar -- I'd like to have the actual original sourcing. Whose data is it? Who analyzes it? Who made the determination that the plane went up in altitude, down, made this turn or that turn, went down to 4,000 feet?

You know, all of this type of information that comes out can't be really confirmed and probably won't be until the black boxes are recovered and they get the flight data recorder, which will say exactly the altitude, the direction, the speed, all of that vital information about that aircraft and the whole flight duration.

But I think that these kinds of statements come out, and then everybody spins in a circle about what that means and what was the pilot thinking. And I'm not certain it's accurate. And we know for sure that it's the truth.

PAUL: So Bill, let me ask you something. We talk about critical juncture in two days. Now they've also put a timeframe on the Bluefin saying within a week they should know. Are you getting a sense in any way -- since they're throwing this stuff out -- that perhaps they are closer to something that we -- they just aren't releasing that we don't know about?

WALDOCK: Well, I think there's a couple of possibilities. That's certainly one of them. They may be developing information that they haven't publicly released that gives them more confidence that they're going to find something in the next few days. And the other thing is it's starting to get more and more expensive the further they go.

BLACKWELL: Hey, professor, do you think that before -- if there is the decision that's made, the search crews move from this area to another that they should bring in maybe another vehicle, maybe bring in the Orion, which is towed behind a ship instead of sticking with the Bluefin?

WALDOCK: Well, the towed array sonars can cover much larger areas, but thinking back to Air France 447, they did four separate searches over two years. The towed array search was the third one. It was actually after they had regrouped and reconsidered where they needed to actually be looking that they went back to the last point of contact with the aircraft, and that's where they put the AUVs in the water, and they used three in that particular search. And it took them 18 different missions before they actually found the airplane, and it turned out to have been six and a half miles away from its last known position.

So I would expect there are -- this regrouping that they're talking about probably will happen if they don't find anything soon.

PAUL: All right, Tom Fuentes and Bill Waldock, thank you for sharing your perspective with us.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

WALDOCK: Glad to.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the scare on a Delta flight. Passengers, they were pulled off and questioned after a bomb threat was found. We'll tell you about that note, and we'll tell you what the conversations were about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We were just talking about this bomb threat that had to do with a Delta flight, and we want to go to Nick Valencia to get caught up on that story and some others.

BLACKWELL: Good morning, nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Good morning to you at home. Let's start in Colorado with some of the headlines here. A bomb threat written on a note prompted a security screening after a Delta flight landed in Denver. The plane with 157 people on board landed safely yesterday afternoon. The FBI did question some passengers at a remote airport location and then allowed most of them to go on their way. That story is still developing.

In Los Angeles, police have arrested a suspect who threatened to start shooting at the "L.A. Times" building. The man didn't work for the newspaper but for another company in the building. He said he had been depressed, didn't mind killing someone, and didn't want to go to jail. The building was under lockdown until the area was cleared.

A big piece of ice suddenly fell off the mountain. That's what a Sherpa who survived an avalanche said, an avalanche terrifying on Mount Everest. The death toll has climbed to 13 with three still missing. All of the victims are Sherpas. A group of about 50 people were preparing camps above 20,000 feet when the avalanche hit. Rescue teams are searching for the missing. It could be days before a decision is made on whether the planned expedition will go ahead. Victor and Christi, can I only imagine the fear that must have paralyzed those folks on the mountain as it came barreling down on them, so scary there. And some are still missing, so we hope they're found safe.

PAUL: Good point.

BLACKWELL: Nick, thank you.

VALENCIA: You got it, guys.

PAUL: Thanks, Nick.

Speaking of, gosh, disasters, we've been watching this ship in South Korea, and you have to imagine the grief that's turning to frustration and anger for all of these families. These moms and these dads are in excruciating limbo.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they're wondering if their children are dead or alive. We'll have the latest on the ferry disaster. Plus an expert will tell us why South Korean parents have a unique relationship with their children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 27 minutes past the hour right now. So glad to have your company. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. We're following the search and rescue efforts in the horrific ferry disaster off South Korea's coast.

PAUL: The death toll's been rising all morning, now standing at 33. It could go much higher. And 269 people, many of them teenagers, are still missing three days after the vessel sank.

BLACKWELL: The captain, who was among the 174 people rescued, faces nearly a half dozen charges, including abandoning his ship.

PAUL: His third mate, whom prosecutors say was at the ship's helm when it capsized, is also charged, along with the crew technician.

BLACKWELL: Some parents are at a gymnasium watching these big TV monitors showing latest on the ferry's search, and it's hard to imagine their anguish. You don't have to be a parent to sympathize here. They're waiting, watching, wondering, and fearing divers might find the bodies of their children.

PAUL: And some -- I mean, emotions, they get to the surface, and look at this, see the guy on the left-hand side of the screen taking his emotions out on coast guard officials. Of course, any mom and dad, you know they're beside themselves in a nightmare situation like this. We want to talk about the parent-child relationship in South Korea. And Steven Noerper is senior vice president of the Korea Society, live with us from New York. Thank you so much, Steven, we appreciate you being here.

STEVEN NOERPER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, KOREA SOCIETY: Thank you.

PAUL: Help us understand this unique relationship between parent and child in this country.

NOERPER: Yes, certainly. Well, first, our hearts really go out to the Korean people with such a tragedy. But that relationship is unique in a few senses. One is that in South Korea you have one of the lowest birth rates in the industrialized world, only 1.2 children per woman. So that is very low. And that means that many families only have one child, possibly two.

And secondly, a tremendous amount is put into their upbringing. Some 55 percent of household income goes to their education. So the parents give everything during that period. And it's just so tragic to lose all of these young students, perhaps it will be 300 individuals, and just a terrible time.

BLACKWELL: So why do these families likely only have one child? Is that an economic decision?

NOERPER: It's an economic decision that's accompanied South Korea modernization. We know South Korea is in a real lead now regionally, it's made tremendous gains in two generations. It's gone from war and poverty to being one of the world's economic leaders. But with that modern economy, women are working and the necessities of economics, the high cost of education, high cost of life in Korea, not dissimilar to the United States, means that families do limit the number of children they have.

PAUL: You know, let's talk about this culture of obedience, if we could, real quickly.

NOERPER: Sure.

PAUL: Because we know there are a lot of questions about why some of the students stayed put when crew members told them not to move while the boat was tilting.

NOERPER: Sure.

PAUL: I'm assuming it's because they have been taught that you respect your elders and you do as you're told. Is there any point you see them just saying, I've got to go with my gut here?

NOERPER: Sure, Christi, very good point. The students are taught -- it is a Confucian society, and you are taught, as you pointed out, obedience is a level of commitment and expectation, whereas in other countries, in a similar disaster, people have fled more rapidly. But that is the way they're raised.

That Confucian expectation also comes into play as we're watching the expressions of grief, dissatisfaction with some of the public officials, and a great anger over the captain and the expectation that he should have been on board. Perhaps that's a common expectation, but certainly in a Confucian society there are level of duty and levels of expectation. But it did keep the children, sadly, far too many in the cabins, and that's probably resulted in a real increase in the loss of life.

BLACKWELL: You know, there's that report that the school's vice president committed suicide, and we've heard from some of the parents standing there on the shore or in this gymnasium, said I want to jump into the sea. How can I live? How can I eat? Is there a genuine concern that is warranted based on this culture that many of these people will commit suicide?

NOERPER: Well, it's a society that has seen tremendous tragedy. It's quite sad. It has been divided now for over 60 years. It had a horrible 20th century where it was occupied for the first 35 years, and then it was divided and has lived with that tragedy since. There's a Korean expression called Hahn, or grievance, often felt by the Korean people, a certain sadness about being victims in modern history after very long period of strength and unity.

And so, the expressions of grief are very real. And the suicide of the Vice Principal Kong is a tragedy on tragedies. Again, that has something to do with the expectations of duty in a Confucian society, and he felt apparently from the suicide note as reported, a sense of failure, result of the expectation. It's just very, very sad all around, and certainly those expressions of grief are just heartbreaking. And I know we really care very deeply and extend our deepest condolences.

BLACKWELL: As do we. PAUL: Steven Noerper, thank you so much for helping us get a real sense of this and an understanding of what this means to all those folks there. And of course, we echo the sentiments, thoughts and prayers with these families. Thank you, Steven.

NOERPER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

Let's also talk about the war of words now between the U.S. and Russia and this crisis in the Ukraine. It's heating up. Why a Kremlin spokesperson is slamming the west for hypocrisy and defending the country's military buildup along Ukraine's border.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Secretary of State John Kerry says the next few days in Ukraine are pivotal. That's what he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday. The two spoke over the phone just one day after meeting face to face in Geneva.

PAUL: Yes, and they reached a diplomatic agreement there in Geneva, calling for militants to lay down their arms. Here's the thing. Pro- Russian separatists remain defiant. They refuse to leave seized buildings.

BLACKWELL: And Russia, for its part, is defending a decision to put some 40,000 troops near Ukraine's border.

PAUL: So let's bring in former foreign service officer for Ukraine Monica Eppinger, and former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker. Thank you both so much for being with us. Kurt, let me start with you. What does Russia need to do to show the international community that it's serious about the Geneva pact, or are they?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, that's just it. I don't think they're serious about it at all. I think that they're playing two sides of a game here. On the one hand, they're saying, oh, we're Russia. We have nothing to do with this. This is a domestic and indigenous uprising against the government of Ukraine. What can we do? And saying within our own territory, of course, we have the right to put troops wherever we want to put them. So they are doing that on the international side, trying to portray a helpful role or a neutral role, when in fact Russia's actually actively supporting these groups in Ukraine. They, I'm sure, are being organized and led by Russian special forces, as we saw in Crimea. And Putin is reserving the right to intervene in Ukraine, as he said in an interview the other day, if, in fact, the violence escalates.

So these groups will hold their ground. The Ukrainian government is hamstrung a little bit by this agreement, feeling that it has to be careful about how it reestablishes control. And if there's any outbreak of fighting, Russia is poised to go right back in.

BLACKWELL: Monica, you lived in Kiev as a U.S. official for several years, also went back as an anthropologist for another year. How much of this ongoing conflict is part of a daily fabric of life in Ukraine? Are you surprised by this escalation?

MONICA EPPINGER, FORMER FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER FOR UKRAINE: I was surprised by the invasion of Crimea. I am surprised that the Geneva agreement doesn't speak about the invitation of Crimea or the seizure of Crimea, and that the order in the -- in the Geneva agreement doesn't address Russian troops or Russian officials leaving Crimean buildings or Crimean land. So I've been surprised by all of that.

In terms of daily life, people who live in cities and towns near the border of Russia have woken up every morning for the last six weeks wondering if they're going to hear Russian boots outside their door. So there are people in eastern Ukraine who have been living on a knife's edge, and in some of the small towns in the cities where these so-called separatists have seized buildings, people there are longing for a return to normal life on the whole.

In Kiev, there's a more distant sense of the crisis, but people are volunteering for self-defense units, even in Kiev. So there is -- across the country, there's a sense that the nation is in crisis.

PAUL: Let's talk about something that I think alarmed a lot of people when this happened this week, these leaflets that began showing up in eastern Ukraine ordering Jews to register themselves and document their property with the pro-Russian militia. A lot of experts were saying the pamphlets were bogus, used to antagonize citizens. Let's listen real quickly to National Security Adviser Susan Rice and something she said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The president expressed his disgust quite bluntly. I think we all found word of those pamphlets to be utterly sickening, and they have no place in the 21st century. And we have conveyed that view very forcefully to all concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Monica, how accurate are those leaflets in reflecting feelings of people in the Ukraine?

EPPINGER: I mean, the Jewish community leaders in Ukraine have said that there is not a problem with state-sponsored anti-Semitism or with widespread anti-Semitism. As in any country, including our own country, there are incidents of hate crimes, and I don't want to downplay that, because there is a problem with hate crimes. But there is not a problem of widespread anti-Semitism as a matter of state policy or even as a matter of citizen involvement with each other. My Jewish friends in Ukraine echo what the Jewish community leaders say, which is they feel unrestricted in how they live their lives, the choices that they make, the relationships that they have.

BLACKWELL: Mr. Ambassador, I want to ask you about something that Monica just said about this pact. Why wasn't the presence of those 40,000 troops referenced here, Crimea, as well? I mean, has the U.S. written off Crimea and walked away from its commitment it made to Ukraine in the '90s? VOLKER: Right, right, this is an excellent question. And Monica makes excellent points about what is not in that agreement as opposed to what is. I think the two reasons that explain what happened are, a, the Ukrainian government itself apparently was willing to go along with this, because they were part of those discussions. So how can we be more Ukrainian than Ukrainians would be an argument the U.S. would make to itself.

Secondly, I think the priority that the U.S. had going into this discussion is try to get the Russians to commit to a path of de- escalation. And if this begins that path to de-escalation, they're probably willing to go forward with it. But I agree with Monica. I think these are glaring omissions that we don't talk about Crimea, we don't talk about Russian forces on Ukrainian territory today. We don't talk about Russian agitators. We don't talk about Russian support for them. We don't talk about the troops across the border. There's a whole lot that should be in there requiring Russia to back down that is not in there.

BLACKWELL: We'll see if actually these pro-Russian militants who are still in eastern Ukraine actually leave these government buildings. Monica Appinger, former ambassador Kurt Volker, thank you for speaking with us.

VOLKER: My pleasure.

EPPINGER: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, both.

Switching gears, a big part of the search for flight 370 has shifted. It is now truly underwater. We'll talk with an explorer who knows the ocean floor better than most about the pictures we're getting that are showing us a whole new territory we've never seen. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We think we know so much about the world, and then we see what we've been going through for the last few weeks. The ocean covers 70 percent of our planet, and we know so little about it, especially in parts that we need to know about now. So we're seeing firsthand in two of the biggest stories this morning that very truth, the continued hunt for flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean.

BLACKWELL: Also the search for survivors on the South Korean ferry that capsized on Wednesday. At least 33 people dead, 269 still missing. Let's bring in Fabien Cousteau, an ocean explorer who is planning a record setting 31-day mission at the bottom of the ocean called Mission 31. He's also the grandson of famed ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau. Fabien, good to have you back.

FABIEN COUSTEAU, OCEAN EXPLORER: Good to be back.

BLACKWELL: Why do we know so little about the ocean?

COUSTEAU: Well, a number of things. First of all, just to correct your first statement, although we do talk about the surface of the oceans being 72 percent, 73 percent, we're neglecting the third dimension. If you talk about the third dimension in the conversation, all of a sudden the oceans represent 99 percent of this planet's living space. So it's a huge volume. It's really difficult to get to many places, as we've seen, with some of the previous reports. And the resources are just not there. They're not being funded.

PAUL: OK, so, as I understand it, only three humans have ever ventured to the deepest parts of the ocean. Is that because technologically we're just not ready to go there, or we just don't know enough about it to prepare ourselves?

COUSTEAU: Well, the materials are there and ready. It's a matter of assembling and of course finding the funding to do so. You're right, there have only been three people that can call themselves the deepest people of the sea, including James Cameron and, of course, the expedition in the '50s. But the reality is over eight tons per square inch of pressure at those depths it's extraordinarily difficult to get to.

BLACKWELL: So we know that although they have not found any evidence of flight 370 using this Bluefin-21, they have taken photographs -- well, not photographs -- they have images, rather, of this portion of the ocean. Talk about that value.

COUSTEAU: Well, it's of huge value for future exploration, because we start seeing a topographical map that's much more accurate than what we've been able to work with in the past, at least for that localized area. Beyond this, of course, they're using all the resources that they have at hand that haven't been allocated elsewhere to be able to map the area and hopefully find evidence of this plane. That's not to say that it's going to be done in short order. It may take a long time.

PAUL: So let's talk about the ferry in South Korea that capsized. How difficult do you think it's going to be -- not a recovery system, but a rescue possibility? I mean, do you think there are any survivors in that ferry?

COUSTEAU: Well, you know, as opposed to the Malaysian airlines, we know exactly where the boat is here. And recovery efforts or rescue efforts are underway as we speak. I do believe that there's a good possibility that there will be survivors, but as time ticks on, air supplies or oxygen supplies dwindle, and the fact that hypothermia and other factors may set in to those folks who might be in those remaining air pockets definitely come into play.

BLACKWELL: We mentioned right at the top that you've got mission 31 coming up, some experiments there. And I guess part of it is understanding what that environment does to the human body.

COUSTEAU: Well, absolutely. So I'm taking a team of six will-be aquanauts, down to the world's only undersea laboratory which is called Aquarius, and it's owned, run by FIU, and we're going to be based in there just like you and I would be in an apartment or house, except that our commute is out in the ocean column for eight to ten to twelve hours, and we'll be testing just like the astronauts do in outer space what it does to our bodies, our psychology, and, of course, what it is we can discover out there.

PAUL: It's like the real-world deep ocean.

(LAUGHTER)

COUSTEAU: That's a great point. One of the beauties of this particular platform is for the first time we're able to connect with the world in real-time through these little devices, as well as tweeting, Facebook posts, and so on, so forth. So we'll be able to Skype in the classroom, for example, to a school in China.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

PAUL: Fascinating.

COUSTEAU: We can talk to the space station. It's going to be exciting.

PAUL: All right, we're so excited to watch it. Thank you very much, Fabien Cousteau. We appreciate it.

COUSTEAU: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: If you're heading out this weekend, plan accordingly. Thunderstorms could be headed your way. The Easter weekend forecast is next.

PAUL: But first, their children one step away from being homeless. We're talking about motel kids. Families can only afford cheap motels, they can't afford a decent meal. For nearly 10 chef Bruno Serato has been serving free pasta dinners to hungry kids in California, and now this CNN hero has reached an impressive milestone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Please join me in honoring CNN hero Bruno Serato.

When Bruno was honored as a CNN hero in 2011, he was serving pasta to nearly 200 low-income children a day in Anaheim, California.

BRUNO SERATO, CNN HERO: The pasta's ready.

COOPER: Since being rewarded, Bruno's program has grown significantly.

SERATO: Who likes pasta?

Now, we are 1,000 kids a day every single day, Monday to Friday.

COOPER: Reaching kids in three more cities in orange county.

SERATO: Each time I prepare a meal, each time I serve a kid, I know I give security to a little kid who has a full stomach before he goes to bed.

You like pasta?

COOPER: But Bruno does more than just filling their stomachs.

SERATO: I request one item, to share the table together. Emotionally, as a family, eating together, eating pasta together.

COOPER: Bruno's group has gone beyond food. He's helped move 55 homeless families out of motels and into their own apartments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it, thank you.

SERATO: You see the life completely, change their life completely.

COOPER: With no plans to slow down, Bruno's meal program will be in its fifth city this summer.

SERATO: My goal is to be all over the nation. How can I stop when children are starving? The day the children are not starving, I will stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: If you live in the southeast, you're probably waking up to April showers this morning. Take a look at this. This is out of Miami earlier today, thanks to our affiliate WPLG. You can see lightning striking in full force.

PAUL: Meteorologist Jennifer Gray, how dangerous is it out there now? That was earlier.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that was earlier. It is all pushed offshore. In fact the sun already back out in south Florida. That's how quickly the weather changes down there.

But we are seeing a very different picture, especially for the Carolinas, and this rain is going to stick around over the next couple of days. Your Easter Sunday is pretty much going to be a washout. If you are right around the outer banks, we're going to see a lot of rain in Raleigh, Norfolk, as we head through the next 24 to 48 hours. It is tapering off points west. Atlanta's tapering off for you. Charlotte, we're going to see a little bit more rain as we go through the rest of the afternoon and then clearing out.

The best place to be on Easter Sunday will definitely the northeast as well as the deep south, guys. They're going to see a lot of sunshine and some mild temperatures. Places in New York running 15 degrees above normal.

PAUL: Nice!

GRAY: Very nice.

PAUL: Jennifer, thank you so much.

All righty, so happy Easter all of you who celebrate, and go make some great memories.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely. That'll do it for us today.