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Ferry's Death Toll Jumps to 87; The Captain's Duty on a Sinking Ship; Bluefin-21 on Ninth Mission Scanning Seabed; Biden to Meet Ukraine Lawmakers, Unveil New Aid

Aired April 21, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And so this is really, really amazing the fact he could survive. We are talking about a runaway situation. He told the FBI at the airport in Maui that he got in an argument with his family and decided to pull this stunt -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Eighty below zero in there, just a bizarre story. Dan Simon, thank you for that. And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

Good Monday morning. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being here with us. We're following a busy morning of news crisscrossing the world. In South Korea, the death toll climbs in the ferry disaster and about to surge even higher. Officials tell us that divers have found a number of bodies clustered in that sunken vessel.

Target al Qaeda. The U.S. launches a massive offensive against high level terrorists and officials tell us the operation is ongoing.

And what may be the most important and most emotional Boston marathon ever. This hour, one million people are en masse along the route enduring tight security, but refusing to allow last year's ruthless acts of cowardness to define this iconic tradition.

And we begin in South Korea where divers have found, quote, "a bulk of bodies" on board that submerged ferry. The victims will be added to the death toll as the bodies are recovered and returned to shore. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Jindo, South Korea, with the latest developments. Hi there.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Pamela. Those are bodies are returning to shore now and we have been hearing an official on the loudspeaker behind us in Jindo Harbor announcing the gender of the victims and the height, the weight, what clothes they were wearing with family members crowded around listening to see if they could recognize what is their child so it is a very heart breaking scene here. The death toll now 87 and, of course, the investigation and the search continues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: This morning, the investigation into what went wrong is ramping up. Four additional crew members arrested overnight as the country's president blasts the ship's captain directly calling the actions, quote, "akin to murder." He is now charged with negligence though he was not at the helm. His third officer was. Prosecutors still accuse him of failing to slow the ship down, causing the ship to make an excessive turn.

Newly released calls between an unidentified crew member and boat traffic control shed new light on exactly what happened. Our ship is in danger, he says. The ship is rolling right now. By that time, the ship had already tilted too far for the majority of passengers to move or to deploy lifeboats.

Five minutes later, boat traffic control urged the unidentified crew member on the radio to prepare for evacuation saying, please put on the life vests and get ready as people may have to abandon ship. Then, after 30 minutes, boat traffic encouraged the captain to take charge and make the final decision to escape. The crew member questioned the retreat asking if passengers would immediately be rescued and now, the grim task of retrieving the dead continues as families angry and anguished wait for news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: One official says this is still a search and rescue operation. They are still working under the assumption that there may be survivors under the water. The official telling CNN that even though they haven't found air pockets, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that there are air pocket because the ship has simply not sunk any further. It is about 30 to 50 below the water now and keeping that same depth and not sinking to the bottom of the sea -- Pamela.

BROWN: The death toll as you said, 87 and climbing. Paula Hancocks, thank you for that report. With criminal charges piling up and even South Korea's president firing off that blistering indictment of the crew one question is almost muted by all the outrage. What's the captain's duty when disaster strikes? CNN's Alexandra Field has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The captain of the sunken South Korean ferryboat under arrest. Lee Joon-Seok is facing charges and fierce criticism.

JACK HICKEY, MARITIME TRIAL ATTORNEY: The real question is why did he not stay on board and go down with the boat and supervise until every accounted for passenger was off the vessel? That is a crime under Korean law and that is arguably a violation of international law.

FIELD: Among the captain's charges, failing to do the right thing to guide the passengers to escape. Yes, there's the old maritime adage that the captain goes down with the ship, but it doesn't always happen. Captain of the Costa Concordia is standing trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Thirty two people died after the cruise ship slammed into rocks off a Tuscan Island.

CAPT. RICK SMITH, SUNY MARITIME COLLEGE: I don't think you can rely on the training necessarily of the people on board. But rather, those in charge of directing the people on board.

FIELD: Captain Rick Smith trains cadets on a 565-foot long vessel, "The Empire State." He says when disaster strikes saving lives depends on quick thinking and clear communication from the captain and the crew.

SMITH: Bottom line, I think where you find people are amazed how quickly things escalate or how fast a ship could sink.

FIELD: Women and children first was the evacuation order first heard on the sea back in 1852. The command referred to now as the Berkenhead drill coming from the captain that went under with it. And most famously on board the "Titanic" where 1,500 passengers perished. So did the Captain Edward Smith who never left the supposedly unsinkable ship. Alexander Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And still to come, time is sticking away in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Up next, we'll look at the high-tech underwater robot scouring the ocean floor and who officials will do if it can't find the plane's wreckage. We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Right now, a high-tech underwater robot called the Bluefin-21 is scanning the ocean floor for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for the ninth time. It's been 45 days since the Boeing 777 vanished and search crews have been unable to recover a single piece of debris despite weeks of exhaustive searches. At least ten planes and 11 ships are helping to search an area more than 18,000 square miles today.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin joins us live from Perth, Australia with the latest on this story. So Erin just looking ahead here, how many more times will the Bluefin-21 go down, do you think? It's on the ninth mission as we said earlier.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pamela. That's unclear. I think it really depends on how long it takes for the Bluefin to continue searching or finish searches, rather, this very narrowed area that's really critical to rule in or rule out this current search area because it's been identified by officials as the most likely place that they're going to find the black box based on the albeit very limited information that they have.

They're focusing in on the second ping that was picked up by that towed pinger locater on April 8th. It was the strongest of the four signals detected so what they're doing right now is scanning a 6-mile radius around the point of that detection. We know they have searched about two thirds of that area so far. Australian officials saying that it could be within the next week that they complete that search.

But that's dependent on the Bluefin-21's performance. It's also dependent on the weather and we know that there is a cyclone named Jack currently to the north of the search field making the way south although forecasters say they expect it to break up before it hits the search field, but it could lead to heavy winds and rain and not seeming to have an impact on the Bluefin-21's operations today. As you mentioned, it was on the ninth mission and still waiting to get more information on if it found anything today -- Pamela.

BROWN: About one third of that area is still uncovered, but what will happen if the Bluefin doesn't find debris? What's the plan "b"? Do we know?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, something that officials in Australia and Malaysia are already starting to talk about and said once this search area is completed, if no signs of the missing plane are going to stop and reassess and talk of broadening out the search area along that so- called arc between the half hand shake between the plane and the Inmarsat satellite before it presumably crashed into the sea. Broaden out that search area, perhaps introduce more underwater submersibles, but the search will continue --Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Erin, thank you for that report. Joining us now to discuss the challenges of this high tech deep see search, CNN analyst and ocean search specialist, Rob McCallum and CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo.

Mary, I want to start with you. We just heard Malaysia's acting transport minister say the outcome over the next few days may force officials to regroup and reconsider the search. What do you expect the next phase to look like?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think the next phase probably won't be the search phase. They'll finish up in this area because these were the best leads they had so far and they still do have a significant amount of work to do here. I think they'll then regroup in terms of needing to expand the search area, bring in different equipment, equipment that can go deep beer the water, maybe different capabilities and then, also, decide whether they need to search in areas beyond this. Not just an expanded area here, but look further up and down the arc that the satellites predicted that the flight might have traveled.

BROWN: Of course, much larger area. Rob, in your opinion, how many more times do you think search crews should deploy the Bluefin-21 in that specific area and how do they determine it's done all it can do and make that determination?

ROB MCCALLUM, CNN ANALYST: Well, it's an interesting question because, you know, in this business it's actually as important to know where you have searched and where you can rule out as it is to know where you have left to search. They'll be wanting to look at the data they have collected so far from the Bluefin-21. They will have gone through that data after each deployment. They'll now go through it again to make sure they haven't missed any places, any places in the -- where the Bluefin turned. Sometimes you can miss data or canyons or overhangs. You can miss data. So they'll be wanting to check that and once they have done the entire area, it is time to pull out about another week. BROWN: And the search is really honing in underwater. The focus for crews but Mary, up to ten planes, 11 ships participating in the visual search today. Do you think it's possible search crews find floating debris or officials are wasting resources?

SCHIAVO: Well, I don't think it's likely they'll find floating debris in the area where they're searching for the emergency -- or excuse me, the black boxes. Were the pings were, I think now with so many days, wreckage is far removed and they search and something else freed up, break through, come to the surface and the air search is a much broader search than the underwater search for the black boxes and looking in areas where it might have floated so I don't think there's much hope for finding floating wreckage at this point.

BROWN: And Rob, the Bluefin-21 on the ninth mission as we said. Are you surprised not a single piece of debris is found or is this to be expected?

MCCALLUM: You know, this is the first time that I can think of where no debris at all has been found. And debris is very, very important to anyone that wants to commence an underwater search for the definition of an area. We have no tangible evidence at all to deal with and makes it very, very difficult for the search controllers.

BROWN: Right. You think about Air France. They had debris of the wreckage to kind of give them an area to search and I believe it took four extensive searches over four years to find the wreckage at the bottom of the ocean. Mary, want to go to you now and talk about the emergency locater transmitters on the plane. They're designed to show the plane's location in the event of a crash and now learning that none of those four ELTs activated. How unusual is that?

SCHIAVO: That's right. Well, it's fairly unusual, but it's not unheard of because even small planes have these devices on them. Planes, you know, small planes go down in the mountains or Bermuda triangle and sometimes when they go off, they are not picked up. Battery operated. The planes delivered to Malaysia I think in 2002. So we need to know when they changed the batteries. Were they ever upgraded? Where did they store the batteries?

Also, some of these ELTs sent the signals up to certain satellite systems not monitored or no longer operate also we would want to know which satellites they were sent to and monitored and sometimes the plane down and under very quickly, it would be so far under the water you wouldn't pick up the ELTs and reasons why the signals weren't picked up, but 4 for 4 is unusual.

BROWN: Certainly curious. All right, Mary Schiavo, Rob McCallum, thank you so much for offering your insight and perfective.

Still to come, right here, Vice President Biden touches down in Kiev as a top European mediator meets with pro-Russian separatists over the growing conflict. Live reports from the White House and Ukraine when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Vice President Biden is now in Kiev as tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate. Biden set to meet with top lawmakers including the acting Ukrainian president and unveil a new round of economic aid and the visit amid a new round of deadly shootings in Eastern Ukraine. A gun fight at a roadblock manned by pro-Russian forces.

Let's bring in White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski in Washington for us. So Michelle, first op, tell us about the aid package and what it involves?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. just now we got word from the administration that there will be an announcement of this additional aid, not necessarily meaning more U.S. money going to Ukraine, but more in the form of technical assistance in four different areas. Security, governance, more energy independence for Ukraine, a real worry, not only for Ukraine but the region since most of the natural gas comes from Russia, and also, the economy.

And the administration also said that already there's some Treasury Department staff on the ground to help in that process. Also, though, we know that this very high profile visit to send a message not only to Ukraine, but to Russia that the U.S. is continuing serious commitment and support throughout this crisis for Ukraine.

Also, we know to urge the immediate implementation of the agreement signed in Geneva last week that Russia signed to de-escalate the situation, but there's no sign they have done so. You mentioned the escalation and violence just yesterday. But right now the administration is saying that they themselves don't have enough information coming from the ground because that information has been hard to come by.

It's difficult to get monitors in there. As usual, each side is blaming the other. That's something the U.S. wants to know more about, as well. Also they're working on the same kind of indefinitely time frame coming days they say before the expansion of sanctions that we know have been prepared against Russia -- Pamela.

BROWN: Michelle, Biden isn't the first U.S. official to visit Ukraine recently. It appears that diplomacy is still the focus but what happens if a resolution isn't reached with diplomacy? What's next?

KOSINSKI: It looks like sanctions are really the only method on the table now to punish Russia, to send a message and to try to work as a deterrent. The administration has made extremely clear, repeatedly stating that there is no military solution in this. They feel that there should not be a military solution. That said, they've also supported what Ukraine has done militarily.

Even though that's been on a small scale and there hasn't been violence or battles breaking out, thank goodness the administration said at this point, but we did see a visit by CIA Director John Brennan to Ukraine and then rolling tanks and the U.S. said that was necessary and appropriate, but there is no military assistance even on the table for the U.S. toward you at this point -- Pamela. BROWN: Michelle, thank you.

Still to come, Yemen and the U.S. joining forces to go after one of the world's most dangerous terror groups and a massive and unprecedented assault is not just limited to airstrikes. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the sound that struggling to save a small delta town. Decades ago, the music was born out of fields and plantations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It used to be cotton country. Now it's blues country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To get a firsthand history lesson, I'm meeting up with blues legend. You have probably seen Clarksdale change a lot. What was this like?

JAMES "SUPER CHIKAN" JOHNSON, BLUES MUSICIAN: Shoulder bumping on both sides of the street. So many people out here. All of the shops were open. It was a town that was alive, went to sleep. Woke back up again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think is keeping it afloat, keeping it going?

JOHNSON: The blues. The blues. If you got the blues you can make it through anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, restaurants, record stores and blues museums are trickling in and the tourists including me are lining up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get it? Awesome, lady. When super chicken isn't on the road, he is home often jamming at the blues club which opened in 2001.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Upper west side Manhattan New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's owned by the mayor and Morgan Freeman. This business was one of the first to spark the town's economic rebirth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on the Clarksdale revitalization board and our motto is keeping it real. We are right on the cusp I think of it going real big now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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