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South Korea Ferry Sank; Boston Marathon Bombing A Year Later; A Good Night's Rest with Sleep Apnea; Better than Bluefin-21?; Mystery of Flight 370; Drone Strike in Yemen

Aired April 20, 2014 - 17:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Don Lemon today. And a very Happy Easter to you. Thank you for joining us.

It is already dawn in South Korea, Monday morning there, where millions of people are desperately clinging to the slim chance that by some miracle someone is still alive in that sunken ferry. Realistic hope, however, is clearly fading.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

SCIUTTO: Five agonizing days have passed since the ship tipped over and sank with hundreds of people on board. Most of the passengers, teenagers. on a high school trip. The new figure today, 59 people have now been found by rescue divers, none of them alive, 243 are still inside that ferry.

I'm about to play for you the frantic audio conversation between the crew of the ship and both traffic controllers on shore. This is what was happening when the ferry started listing to the side and someone had to make the call abandon ship. Have a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JINDO VTS: Sewol. This is Jindo VTS, do you copy? How is the flooded condition?

SEWOL: If is listed more than 50 degrees to the port side and people are not able to move from left to right.

JINDO VTS: We've alerted the crew members to wear the jacket and wait. It is impossible to confirm whether or not they wore. Crew members are at the bridge and are unable to more. Please hurry.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: You can sense the panic there. People who survived the sinking say by that point the ferry tipped so sharply that the lifeboats have become useless. Now, just eight minutes later, controllers were urging the ship's captain to order everyone off the ship.

BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) JINDO VTS: The captain should make decision to make people escape. We do not know the shutdown so captain make final decision on passengers escape.

SEWOL: That's not what I meant. If passengers escape, can they be immediately rescued?

JINDO VTS: Patrol ship should arrive 10 minutes.

SEWOL: Ten minutes?

JINDO VTS: Yes, 10 minutes! Ten minutes!

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Of course, part of the tragedy is that that message to abandon ship never got to the bulk of the passengers. Searchers have not found any survivors since Wednesday.

And as Will Ripley shows us, crews face big charges of their own in the search.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another day of searching. Another day of grim discoveries. Body after body from the sunken "Sewol" ferry. We watched as several bodies were pulled out of the water. The dive teams going out in groups and teams and they enter in the ferry using five different entry points.

Hundreds of divers, ships and dozens of aircraft are searching. We know the divers face very grueling conditions right now. The underwater currents are very strong and they're constantly shifting, plus, visibility is really limited partially because there's a big oil slick coming up from the ferry. There is also equipment here that will be used for salvage operation including a very large crane that could actually help pull the boat out of the water.

But that crane, that salvage equipment is not being used right now and it is only the divers. Because these families do not want anything done to disturb the ship and potentially disturb an air pocket if there's a slim chance that somebody may still be alive under there.

But sadly, as we see each new body found, it appears that this search mission is turning more into a recovery mission but still they're holding out hope.

Will Ripley, CNN, Jindo Island, Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Now, each time searchers bring a body of a ferry victim on board as you saw in that picture just there, families must identify their loved ones and with many of the dead high school children, the effort is taking the toll on everyone, even veteran emergency workers.

Kyung Lah is live in Jindo, South Korea.

Kyung, you know, clearly, the biggest heartbreak for the families, the parents there, we have seen the anguish, but for these veteran rescuers, they must not have ever had a rescue mission like this before.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one, especially when you consider who we're talking about, because these are high school sophomores. And there is clearly the sense of hope almost disappearing.

Jim, in the last few days we have been talking, we have always pointed out that there are families here at this dock waiting holding vigil looking out at sea. Today, there are very few families left. What we have seen instead, as they are heading to the tents to identify their own children. The death toll so far, 59 and it is something that we have seen over and over again now. The bodies returning in white body bags, the families going to the tents to identify the children.

It is a small dock here and you can hear their piercing pain as they positively identify their children and it's something that is as you point out affecting all of the search crews. You see the medical examiner breaking down and crying, all the police officers here are weeping and sobbing as the bodies go by. So, it is an extraordinary scene and it is impacting everybody.

SCIUTTO: The painful for everyone.

But what changed today? Because we talked yesterday about the danger of divers to go inside that ship to pull bodies out and seems that the pace picked up now in terms of bringing bodies ashore. What changed?

LAH: What did change is that they were able to figure out how to penetrate the ship's hull. There was a lot of concern that if you did penetrate the hull you would basically suck out the air, any air that might be inside.

It appears that they're not that concerned about that anymore. That they're breaking through the glass. They have several entryways into the ship's hull now. There are a total of five that we last heard that they can get in, look at each cabin and pull anybody out. And so, that's really the big difference is that they now have an organized path, several of them into the ship.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Sadly, they come back with sad news.

Thanks very much to Kyung Lah. She is live in Jindo, South Korea.

And now to the hunt for Malaysia flight 370. Families are furious after today's special briefing with a brand new committee that was designed to help them. Family members say the meeting in Kuala Lumpur was totally useless in their words.

I want to read to you part of the families' letter. Quote, "not a single one of our questions was answered. No experts capable of answering technical questions were even present."

Malaysia's deputy foreign minister responded with this statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMZAH ZAINUDDIN, MALAYSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: (INAUDIBLE). They say we're hiding something. Which, I mean, that's the facts of the matter we have given from day one and today. It's still the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Now, the plane disappeared 45 days ago and right now the Bluefin underwater drone is on the eighth mission scouring the ocean floor for clues in that search area. The underwater robot has finished scouring about half of it. The next air search is set to begin in about 90 minutes as the sun rises in Perth, Australia.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the boxer whose career was cut short after being wrongly convicted of murder has died. We will have a look back at his remarkable life right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Boxing's "Hurricane" has died. Rubin Carter was 76-years- old and many people saw the middle weight fight in the ring but even more learned about his story in the 1999 movie "the hurricane" starring Denzel Washington. Bob Dylan as well wrote the song "Hurricane" about Carter who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in the 1960s. A spokesperson said Carter died from complications from prostate cancer.

Nick Valencia joins us now with more about the Boxer's life.

Nick really, an incredible like story, an incredible movie about that story and inspiring, as well. So a real loss today.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was a very inspiring man, Jim. You got that right. And he said in the recent interview with CNN that his greatest life accomplishment was resisting that frustration and bitterness that overcame in after being wrongfully convicted. His friends and family say that was a sentiment that he held on to until the very end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUBIN "HURRICANE" CARTER, BOXER: I did go to jail. My career was stopped. I didn't get out until 20 years later. Those are facts.

VALENCIA (voice-over): He grew to prominence as a Boxer and died fighting for those who couldn't fight for themselves. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter passed away on Sunday in Toronto, complications from prostate cancer.

CARTER; We realize that the privatizations of prisons turned the prisons and capital punishment turned them into assembly lines of death.

VALENCIA: In 1960s, he was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey and spent 19 years behind bars. A judge ruled Carter and a co-defendant didn't receive a fair trial. And in 1985, their convictions were overturned.

Over the next three decades, he used the media as a boxing ring, an activist for the wrongly convicted, Carter was the first executive director of the association of the wrongly convicted. Here he is in 2004 on CNN lobbying for an inmates' clemency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Do you say that with 100 percent certainty that Mr. Cooper murdered these people?

CARTER: I can say with 100 percent certainty that there's volumes of evidence that has not been put before a jury.

VALENCIA: As passionate a fighter in the ring as outside of it, Carter was portrayed in the 1999 film "Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington. More than 20 years earlier, Carter's legacy was immortalized in a sorry by Bob Dylan.

The folk song became an anthem for his racial injustice. Carter never got a world title as a Boxer but to his supporters, he didn't need a belt to call him a champion. He was 76.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Speaking of Denzel Washington, we just heard from him. He released a statement to CNN saying, quote, "God bless Rubin Carter and his tireless fight to ensure justice for all."

So many fans and so many people that followed his legacy. And he meant a lot especially to those who were fighting to overturn the wrongful convictions. He will be very much so missed, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Sure. Great story about turning a life around.

Thanks very much, Nick Valencia in Atlanta.

A so-called Easter truce in Ukraine, shattered by gun fire. What does it mean for the peace option there? We'll explore right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Important update from overseas. A second deadly air strike targeting Al-Qaeda hit Yemen today. Suspected drone strike killed at least a dozen people including a number of suspected Al Qaeda militants in a southwestern province there. That's according to a Yemeni government official.

Yesterday, another strike in a neighboring province killed ten suspected Al-Qaeda members. A source tells CNN at Saturday strike targeted three well-known operatives linked to a terror training camp. Three civilians were also killed in that attack.

And now to Ukraine where it was hoped to be a quiet Easter Sunday has instead been marked by deadly violence. A gun fight on a country road in eastern Ukraine left several people dead. Pro-Russian groups say one of the roadblocks came under attack early this morning. The government in Kiev said two groups fought over the check point and the incident is still under investigation.

Russia, however, immediately seized on the clash as proof that Ukraine cannot keep the peace there. Two burned out cars were still at the scene this afternoon. One of them riddled with bullet holes. The shooting is the second deadly incident in the last four days in eastern Ukraine.

And I want to bring in now Eugene Rumer in Washington. He is senior associate director of Carnegie's Russia and Eurasia program.

Eugene, some sobering developments over the last 24, 48 hours. This clash, a deadly clash yesterday and the day before. Clear signs that the pro-Russian militants that occupied the buildings and supposed to vacate them under this peace agreement agreed to in Geneva on Thursday refusing to do that, perhaps even consolidating their gains. What does this tell us about a diplomatic way out of the crisis there?

EUGENE RUMER, DIRECTOR AND SENIOR ASSOCIATE, RUSSIA AND EURASIA PROGRAM: Well, if the diplomatic deal facing a struggle to begin with, with the Geneva cords, I think the odds of it being implemented are even worse now because it doesn't seem to be anyone who is in a position to implement this deal.

The government of Ukraine does not seem to control the situation. Certainly, we don't want the Russians to go in and control the situation there either and the United States and NATO are not in a position to do that. So you have something like a vacuum of power in the part of the country. And the militants, as you said, are consolidating the position. So why would they stop now?

SCIUTTO: Well, of course, Russia, the big player in terms of influence there. I want to play you a comment earlier today from the Ukraine's prime minister. He was on NBC's "Meet The Press" speaking about what he believes Russia's intentions are. Have a listen to this.

RUMER: Great.

SCIUTTO: Actually --

RUMER: I can't hear it.

SCIUTTO: We may not have that sound but I can paraphrase for you. His comments were, This is the Ukrainian prime minister, he said that Russia is deciding to restore the Soviet Union. This is something that I have heard other analysts say.

Do you think that that's true, that they're trying to claw back some of this territory from former soviet states in a modern Russia? Is that their intention? They did it in Crimea. Might they have the same intention in eastern Ukraine?

RUMER: Well, I don't know if they want to recreate the soviet union. What I think is that they want to restore a sphere of influence. They want to have Ukraine in their orbit as a satellite, probably restoring Ukraine to Russia as was the case of Soviet Union is too much of a burden for Russia to carry. And I suspect they don't want the economic, the financial responsibility of rebuilding Ukraine.

But having Ukraine in Russia's orbit as a satellite is a country that looks over its shoulder before it makes major foreign or domestic policy decisions, I think that is part of the goal.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. So disrupt it just enough so they have the influence there.

I want to ask you now about the U.S. reaction. "The New York Times" story today talking about the Obama administration's intention in effect a new containment for Russia making Russia a pariah state and the Obama administration given up on making Russia a partner and moving forward with the intention of containing it. Do you think that's the right way forward?

RUMER: Well, I think it is really perhaps the only way forward for us to proceed at this point because the breakdown in the relationship has gone so far that some aspects of it resemble the cold war.

Now, whether it's really containment ala the way it was conceived of early on after World War II I'm not sure. But clearly, you know, the relationship is on a downward slope and we'll see further deterioration in probably days and weeks to come and beyond and something here for a long time with us.

SCIUTTO: It's a shame to hear all the efforts over the last two decades after the fall of the wall to bring Russia into the international community.

You mentioned earlier that one of the challenges in bringing a peaceful solution to the crisis there right now is who's going to implement it. There are OSCE monitors on the ground there, that's the organization for security and cooperation in Europe. They have been trying to get in for some time. And of course not armed but they are monitors. Is that a possible path to monitoring a peaceful diplomatic solution to this problem?

RUMER: Well, it's a welcome step and a much-needed step. But as you said, they're unarmed and you need someone to be able to actually enforce the truce. And so far it doesn't seem like anybody's willing or able to do that.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's a thing. You did have some officials calling for peacekeepers but in fact I suppose it's hard to see that prospect certainly for European or U.S. forces.

Thanks very much to Eugene from Carnegie Institute in Washington.

It's been a little more than a year since the Boston marathon bombing. This year's race is tomorrow with bigger crowds than ever before and more security, as well. We'll take you live to Boston right after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

Rescue divers in South Korea will try again today to reach the interior of the sunken ferry, not giving up hope that someone could still be alive inside. Five days since the vessel went down. The fate of 243 people is still unknown but rescuers have found only bodies so far, 59 of them.

Relatives of the missing people are providing DNA samples to help emergency crews identify the remains of victims eventually brought out of the ferry. And today we heard recordings of radio chatter between water traffic controllers and the ferry as it was quickly sinking.

Have a listen.

(AUDIO CLIP PLAYING)

SCIUTTO: You can really hear the panic there.

I want to bring in Jim Staples. He is a 20-year captain in the Merchant Marines. He also knows those waters in South Korea very well, He has personally sailed giant ships there.

Captain Staples, a number of questions listening to the recording because this recording, this warning from ship to shore went out very soon after it took that turn and began listing. It took this ferry two and a half hours to sink so that there was ample time there had the captain ordered the ship evacuated to get the bulk, perhaps many or most of the people on board off. You're an expert. How much of a failure was that? And do you think had the captain immediately said abandoned ship that many more lives would have been saved?

CAPT. JIM STAPLES, CARGO SHIP CAPTAIN: Thank you, Jim. This was probably a failure of the grandest type. The captain's delay caused -- will eventually cost the loss of the lives of all these children. Unfortunately this is an incident because of his decision and not making a quick decision to get these people off the ship but we see such situations happen.

And again, as we saw with Captain Schettino with the Italian Coast Guard was telling the captain to get back on the ship and to evacuate and help evacuate the passengers, we see the same thing with the captain leaving the vessel and leaving the passengers stranded.

One of the things that we're trying to do in mandating and training with the Maritime Institute in Baltimore is to set the course, to set a new type of training out there with simulation training such as the airline industries do.

As you know, airline pilots, you have to go through simulation training where they have to sit in a simulator and go through stressful events. Landings, takeoffs, bad weather. We're trying to do this in the maritime industry but it's not regulated, it's not mandated, it's only voluntary that someone comes in and uses a simulator.

But we're trying to set the course to set this type -- a new type of standard of training where a captain will have gone through an event like this with either do an emergency type drill, a navigational skill type drill or any other type of evacuation that may need to be done so when the time comes that something like this has happened he'll already been in a high-stress situation and it's amazing some of the results we're starting to see.

SCIUTTO: It's a great idea because you do think of how often pilots go through that kind of thing but I wonder, I mean, is there any reason why a captain would tell the passengers to stay on board and wait for rescue? Does that follow any regulation, any standard operating procedure whatsoever or was that just a bad call, a fatal call from the very beginning?

STAPLES: Well, I believe it just comes down to indecision. The man could not make a decision at the time because probably the high stress he was under. His reasoning was probable, yes, the water was very, very cold and the current was very swift and the probability of people being carried away could have happened but not to put the life rafts into the water was a grave mistake.

That was the first thing that he should have done and then he could have -- he would have had more time to get people evacuated and gotten them to those life rafts and we would have seen probably a lot more survivors than what we're seeing now.

SCIUTTO: Well, if only he'd made that decision quickly as you say.

Thanks very much, Captain Jim Staples. We're going to bring you back in the next hour to talk more about this tragedy and what can be learned from it.

Now after tragedy struck one of the most famous marathons in the world, world watched wondering if Boston could ever recover and boy, did it ever. Boston has proven it is strong and this year's race promises to be stronger than ever.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin joins me live now from Boston.

And, Brooke, it's so good to have you there because I know you were there for days and weeks after the event. You went back and you talked to survivors. So now that you're there a year later, just tell us what the energy is like and the kind of commitment for Boston to remain strong and come back. How does it feel to be there today?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It feels wonderful. I am honored to be back in Boston. I have lost count of how many trips I have been up there and I love coming every single time.

Can you see, Jim Sciutto, the beautiful blue sky over me? I mean, I am in beautiful Boston Common and people are out and about. I took a little jog this morning. I think it's the closest I will ever come to running a marathon being out with some of the marathoners, getting a couple of miles in before tomorrow, being of course the big day. Race starting at 10:00 in the morning in Hopkinton and it ends as we all know where that finish line is.

I was down around the finish line earlier today on Boylston Street. Let me just show you some pictures because this is when you know, when you feel this excitement and energy in the air, people are walking around, the 36,000 by the way runners who will be running tomorrow morning. They're out and about here in Boston, they are proudly wearing their Boston marathon jackets. They're ready to roll in the morning.

Thirty-six thousand, that is 9,000 more than last year. That includes many of them who either did not finish last year, many of them who were injured because of those bombings and that includes one man I met earlier today who actually -- he ran Boston, that was his first marathon last year. He was running it for his friend Brad who has leukemia and, you know, he made this commitment at Mile 17 that he wanted to do it again and then there he was crossing the finish line, barely remembers it because he was there when the blast went off. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID FORTIER, BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING SURVIVOR: All of a sudden everything changed. It was this huge flash, incredibly loud noise. You know? I felt my foot get knocked sideways. I was pushed sideways. And it felt like I had been hit by a truck. And as I turned, I turned to my right and I look back to where I had just seen a whole lot of people standing there cheering and it was just complete devastation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: You know, Brooke, it's amazing how sporting events can be so --

BALDWIN: But Jim --

SCIUTTO: So therapeutic, you know, after big tragedies. And New York has its marathon after 2011. You have New Orleans Saints after Katrina. I remember just as a New Yorker because I ran in the 2001 marathon here after 9/11, I just remember how important it was.

BALDWIN: Good for you.

SCIUTTO: Of course in this case, it was a sporting event that was struck so particularly important for Boston today to get -- to get all those runners out there again.

BALDWIN: Yes. And I think, you know, let's mention the team here in Boston. The Boston Red Sox, right? Remember of course their story going from worst to first, and I mean, it's through and through the season after the bombings. You'd think of David Ortiz saying this is our bleeping city. It was sort of this big rallying cry and they -- they hung that, you know, jersey 617 in the dugout and there's a pregame ceremony and David who you just saw and a number of in their dugout. And I should mention tonight there is pregame ceremony so David, who you just saw and a number of others who survived the blast, they will all be honored tonight for an hour for that pregame ceremony before the big game at 7:00. So go Sox from a lot of people here in Boston but really incredible, incredible stories. Boston Strong.

One million spectators, Jim Sciutto, are expected along the city streets tomorrow morning.

SCIUTTO: Incredible. Well, it's great to have you there. I know we're going to have you back in the next hour and I just want to remind our audience not to miss CNN's coverage of the race. Brooke is going to be there live at the starting line.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Bright and early tomorrow morning, maybe we'll even see her run the race for us.

As we speak, the Bluefin-21 is scouring the Indian Ocean for any sign of Malaysia Flight 370. But can it dive deep enough or send back pictures that are clear enough to get a better look? We'll explore next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Time now for this week's "Human Factor." Here's our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): Super Bowl Champion Aaron Taylor's job as a guard was to be big and strong to defend. First at Notre Dame, a two-time all-American, and then for the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.

AARON TAYLOR, SUPER BOWL XXI CHAMPION: I waking up more tired than I thought I should have been, waking up feeling like I was hung over. I had a headache, my throat hurt. I had trouble concentrating. I was irritable.

GUPTA: While he had a family history of sleep apnea, a potentially life-threatening illness caused by structural obstruction of the airway during sleep, Taylor never thought it would be something he'd have to deal with himself.

TAYLOR: Bigger guys with bigger necks like myself are typically the demographic that can get it. It's not certainly solely a big person's disease state, but throughout the night, 20 times per hour for 20 seconds per time I wasn't breathing.

GUPTA: Once he was diagnosed with sleep apnea, he made working out and eating healthy a priority. And Taylor started using a breathing device called a CPAP to help him overcome it. He says it took a while to get used to the device but it was worth it. TAYLOR: It pressurizes room air and delivers it through an interface through my nose while I'm sleeping. That basically keeps my throat open so that I can breathe continuously uninterrupted throughout the night.

GUPTA: Today Taylor found success again in football, this time as a college sports analyst on the road calling games around the country.

TAYLOR: There is a lot that's required not only physically for me to be able to do my job but from a mental capacity. If I'm undernourished or under rested from a sleep standpoint, I can't do my job. I've just seen the difference that it's been able to make and it has been drastic.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Right now the Bluefin underwater drone is scouring the ocean floor for any sign of Malaysia Flight 370. The Bluefin is on its 8th mission and has covered at least half of the current search zone. So far the Bluefin has not found a shred of evidence linked to Flight 370, though.

Here with me now correspondent Rosa Flores.

Rosa, so when you look at this tool. We talked about it a lot. Is this the right -- is this the best tool for the job in what is an extremely challenging job?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that question has been asked before. And so I went to the source, I went to the U.S. Navy and asked, why the Bluefin-21.

Well, here's what they explained to me. They said when searchers asked the U.S. government for an AUV, the Navy looked at its fleet of AUVs and this was one deepwater AUV that was available and so they sent out the Bluefin-21.

So what we did is we went on a search for an AUV that could go deeper than the Bluefin-21 and here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): This World War II era plane crashed off the coast of Massachusetts in 1947. For more than 50 years, it remained lost on the bottom of the ocean.

Over a decade ago, an AUV, an autonomous underwater vehicle, discovered the missing plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up.

MIKE MULROONEY, FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIAN AT HYDROID: Having the right tool is always the best case that you're looking for.

FLORES: Hydroid makes the REMUS family of AUVs. This is the REMUS 600. A larger AUV, the REMUS 6000 found Air France Flight 447 in 2011. Mike Mulrooney was a senior field technician on that mission.

MULROONEY: At the end of the day we knew what we were doing was to try to help people answer questions about what happened to that flight.

FLORES: So if the Bluefin-21, which is currently being used in the search for Malaysia Flight 370, can't find the missing jet, searchers could call upon the REMUS 6000. It can navigate in waters almost 5,000 feet deeper than the Bluefin- 21.

MULROONEY: It will basically be able to be operated in most of the world's oceans.

FLORES: When searchers asked the U.S. government for an AUV, the Navy said the Bluefin-21 was the only deepwater vehicle it had available.

After the REMUS AUVs use side-scan sonar to map the ocean floor, they usually come back with what's called low-frequency images. These are pictures it took of the submerged plane in Massachusetts.

MULROONEY: And this shows up as different from the surrounding area, indicating that there is something on the bottom for us to go look at.

FLORES: But take a look at these images taken at a higher frequency.

MULROONEY: You can clearly see the body of the plane, the two wings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An SB2C --

FLORES: Here is what it looked like in its glory days. These AUVs also have still camera and video capabilities, giving investigators perspective and a better picture of the bottom of the ocean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: So one thing I've been wondering and I'm sure a lot of our viewers have been wondering is what do the pictures look like that the Bluefin sends back? Because they're not perfect photographs and I know you brought some of those early scans.

FLORES: Yes. And I think this is a perfect example because this is a low res picture. And you would ask, why low res? And the reason is, is you're able to scan a larger area. And right now, the goal is to get as much of that area scanned as possible. So this is a low res image. So you look at that and you say, OK, there's something there.

SCIUTTO: That could be -- I think that could be anything really.

FLORES: That could be pretty much anything.

SCIUTTO: Yes. FLORES: But to the trained eye, they would look at all of the area around it and it's mainly sand so that would be something that stands out. So now let's show the high res picture. There you have it. And then --

SCIUTTO: OK. And that's clearly an airplane. Yes.

FLORES: You can clearly see the fuselage, you can see the wings. And so I asked these scientists, I said, what are you looking for? And they said, right angle. Mother Nature has curves.

(LAUGHTER)

It's the way that they put it.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. Interesting.

FLORES: So you see rocks and the -- the rounded. And if you look for right angles, they said man makes right angles.

SCIUTTO: Right.

FLORES: Mother Nature does not.

SCIUTTO: That's interesting. A trained eye. And I guess -- and you cleared up one point for me is you start low res because you could get a much bigger area. If you see something that's worth looking at again then you go to the high res and take a second look.

FLORES: You send the AUV back again. Correct, correct.

SCIUTTO: OK. All right. Thanks very much, Rosa Flores, as always taking us underwater for this very difficult search.

Coming up, the families of passengers aboard Malaysia Flight 370 demanding answers again and more details on the search. We're going to bring you the latest right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We want to bring you all the latest developments on the hunt for Malaysia Flight 370. Right now the Bluefin underwater drone is on its eight scanning mission. The Bluefin has scoured about half of the current search zone and is due to finish the whole job within a week. The plane disappeared, you'll remember, 45 days ago now.

Heartbroken relatives of Flight 370 passengers are furious after a special briefing with a brand new Malaysian committee designed to help them. The families say, however, that none of their questions were answered.

So with me now to discuss all the latest, we have aviation analyst Michael Kay who's with me here in New York, former British Royal Air Force, aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, she's former inspector general with the U.S. Transportation Department, and ocean search specialist Mike Williamson, he's founder and president of Williamson Associates. Mary, I want to start with you, just going to what was really a disastrous meeting between the families of victims on board that plane and Malaysian authorities today. They say there's been no mention of an interim payment to them. It's been more than six weeks, 45 days now. In airline scenarios, accident scenarios you've dealt with before, is that unusual to have that much of time, that long of a wait?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, yes, it is unusual. I mean, this was certainly an unusual accident. But in the United States and other Western countries usually what happens is the airline makes an initial payment, supposed to be no strings attached for $25,000. And then that will help the families get through the times. And of course since they've issued death certificates they could make claims and they could, you know, go forward with some type of negotiation on how they want to resolve it.

But that initial 25,000 is very, very helpful just to get them through all the crisis and the travel and the things they have to do.

SCIUTTO: Just imagine an acknowledgment of the accident as well there. And that's one thing families appear to be looking for.

Michael, another complaint from the families is that there has been no independent review of all the data involved, the radar, the air traffic control tapes, engine ping data that we've been discussing a lot. Is that a fair argument? Do they have a fair argument that this should be released more publicly so that others can take a look at it?

LT. COL. MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I take sort of more -- a traditional view on this, Jim, in terms of making sure that we and the experts have the right conclusions to the data that they're analyzing at the moment. And I don't think we're quite there yet. I still think even the experts, because of the nature of this mystery, because this is unprecedented in aviation history. I still think experts will be reticent to release that information because we're all still trying to figure this out.

I mean, if we look at it, we've been 45 days plus on this and we're still no closer to really identifying where the wreckage is. I mean, it's a big mystery. Until I think experts would be nervous in releasing that information when they're using the spoken unique analysis like the Inmarsat analysts, for example, to actually try and corroborate where this area is. I mean, and there's still lots of conclusions about the radar tracks, as you mentioned.

All this information that's out there, it still needs corroborating. It still doesn't quite add up. And if I was an expert and if I was the independent investigator in charge and if I was a representative of the AAIB from the U.K. or the NTSB or Angus House, I'd be wanting really just to firm up this information.

SCIUTTO: Almost a danger of adding a lot more noise to have more analysts out there piping in.

KAY: Absolutely. Yes. SCIUTTO: Mike Williamson, it's great to have you on board being an ocean search specialist. The Bluefin now halfway done with this search area which Australian officials and others have said they're very confident is the right place but they haven't found anything yet. They're talking about rebooting the search if they haven't found anything another five to seven days.

Should we be concerned at this point based on fact that they haven't seen anything, that they may be looking in the wrong place?

MIKE WILLIAMSON, OCEAN SEARCH SPECIALIST: Well, on the Air France, the debris field was only about one mile in diameter. So it could be a fairly small debris field. And until the area is completely searched, I don't think we should be giving up hope, but they obviously have to be looking forward to the next step if it doesn't find it.

SCIUTTO: That's right. Still a lot of square miles for them to search. Hundreds, in fact.

Thanks very much to Mary, Mike and Michael. Please stick around because we're going to talk to you again shortly.

And still to come in the meantime on NEWSROOM, a taste of the unexpected. Anthony Bourdain will give us a sneak peek of his travels to, quote, "The hidden side of Las Vegas."

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SCIUTTO: Anthony Bourdain rolls the dice and heads to Las Vegas in this week's "PARTS UNKNOWN." From the opulent hotels and casinos to the old nostalgic haunts, Bourdain has nothing but love for Sin City.

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ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN ANCHOR, "PARTS UNKNOWN": In Las Vegas, no matter what you feel about it, like the casinos, these massive pleasure domes, what's the most overused word in the English language? I believe it's awesome. They are, in fact, awe-inspiring. I mean, they're enormous. How do they work? How do they grind in all of these people in and out, relieving them so happily of their money?

Instinctively it would be so easy to sneer at all this, to find it obscene and horrifying. Even if you can pretend successfully to hate this, and frankly that's a very difficult thing to do, off the strip old-school Vegas, who could hate that? Now where's my damn toga?

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SCIUTTO: That all new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.