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Shot Down: Malaysia Flight 17; Crisis in the Middle East; Ukraine Accuses Rebels Of Removing Bodies; Flight 17 Debris Covers Several Miles

Aired July 19, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

A lot going on in the world: Chaos at the crash site of a Malaysian plane blown out of the sky, reports of gunfire and explosions near that scene. Pro-Russian rebels accused of destroying evidence and looting bodies.

Malaysian officials saying today the crash site should be off limits, but it's not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The integrity of the site has been compromised, and there are indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what is being done to secure remaining evidence? CNN is at the crash scene.

Plus, new details on the 298 people onboard -- among them a Malaysian actress, her husband and baby; 80 children in all on that plane; and a man considered one of the most influential figures in HIV-AIDS research.

Meanwhile, bloodshed as a battle between Israel and Hamas intensifies. Israeli troops firing on animals they say are carrying bombs. What a spokesman for their military is telling our Wolf Blitzer.

We want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world.

Just moments ago we learned, Malaysia is sending a special disaster assistance and rescue team to the crash scene in Ukraine where their plane was shot down. This comes as Germany is urging Russian president Vladimir Putin to pressure the rebels to let the investigators in. Malaysia airlines just issued the latest list of 298 people from 11 nations all onboard that flight when it was shot down in the sky over eastern Ukraine. We've learn that 80 children are among the victims as well as HIV-AIDS researchers, students, a real estate agent and a vacationing family. Dutch authorities have sent a team of at least 80 police to visit with the families, and gather DNA, dental records and other information.

International observers at the crash site say they've been hearing gunfire and explosions near the scene today. And witnesses say some human remains are being put in body bags, and moved to the side of the road. The Ukrainian government is accusing pro-Russian rebels of removing more than three dozen bodies and destroying evidence.

And now word of more clashes only 60 miles or so from that crash site, a cruel reminder that these innocent victims went down in the middle of a war zone. It makes any attempts at dignity for these victims that much more elusive.

Chris Cuomo, co-host of CNN's "NEW DAY" joins me now from the site. So Chris -- a devastating scene there and it's also dangerous not just for investigators on the ground trying to get there but for journalists trying to get the story?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's fair to say, Fred, everything you said makes perfect sense. This is the worst combination of circumstances. You know, this is our job. And right now it's actually very valuable, because if photographers weren't here preserving the scene with their picture, I don't think that investigators would have much to work off of because it's changing so quickly because of it's being contaminated and uncontrolled.

And I also think that the media presence here is actually helping by shining a light on the situation and creating some international pressure in a situation that should not be this way.

There are two points that are really important. The first one is, Fred, we're showing you the tail section of the plane -- ok. This live shot is really about what we're not showing you. So much of this is still so raw and unpreserved. I've never seen anything like it a couple of days into a tragic scene like this.

You know, we throw that word around, "tragedy" -- this is the definition of it. Bodies are starting to be moved, as you reported. You're 100 percent right, but it's taken so long and we don't know where they're being taken and how they're being handled and there are many still that are out there. So the practicalities here are really terrible and the reason for them are also very obvious.

This is an ongoing civil struggle here. I know people don't like that term because of all the political overtones of whose fault this is, but the local militia, or whatever you want to call them who's here, they're using their weapons firing in the air to move photographers. I mean they're very much into show of force.

The law is pretty clear. Ukraine should be in charge of what's going on here. The problem is Ukraine is not in charge of this part of the country. There is no Ukraine presence here, no Ukraine military, there are no police -- it's just the local militia. So you have this circumstance that needs so much dire attention, Fred.

And you used the right word, "dignity". The people who lost their lives, their possessions, their families back home needing that sense of closure, none of it is happening and it just doesn't have to be this way -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And we're looking at the images of body bags moved to the side of the road. And talk to me about what kind of temperatures we're dealing with there, and the decomposition of remains that are scattered about. And, you know, how this further contaminates the scene, the criminal investigation, if you will, as well.

CUOMO: The criminal investigation is going to be compromised. It just will. I mean you just have to hope that the rationale for what happened to the plane is so obvious that it doesn't need to be bore out in the forensics. People have definitely taken things from here. I don't know if they moved them somewhere else and cataloged them. But unfortunately I've been at crash sites like this before and you do see the personal effects of people, the trappings of their lives, their cell phones, their wallets.

None of the valuable things are here. Only things that are destroyed and unvaluable (ph), except to the families, why they need to be preserved.

The temperatures are a problem. I think everybody's common sense will dictate that when it's hot outside and you're dealing with people who are no longer alive you're going to have a problem, and it could be addressed, Fred. This is not the middle of nowhere. We are remote, but they have ways of dealing with this. There are major farms and stuff in the area that have refrigeration.

But they're not just doing it because it's more important to show force and control than it is to show respect for these people in my opinion.

WHITFIELD: And then what about citizens? Folks who live on those farms that you speak of? Are they staying away or have they also been by this area? Are they trying to assist or at least observe? What's happening?

CUOMO: We spoke to some miners who volunteered to come and look for bodies. Now, they're not qualified to do that but they were willing to do it, they wanted to help. There are many good people here who are caught up in a military situation.

I have seen, on our ride out here, I haven't seen trees stripped by artillery the way they are around here in a long time. It reminds of the Balkans -- meaning really heavy shelling is going on. There are check points. People are dug out trenches and they're laying there. This is active warfare that's going on here. And that just complicates it further, because people are afraid to come out.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Cuomo, thank you so much. We're going to check back with you momentarily. And we know this is just adding to the agony that so many loved ones are feeling already trying to get some answers as to why this happened, how it happened, and what's next.

Meantime, the U.S. intelligence community is going on a working theory that the Russian military gave the pro-Russian rebels the missile system that took down this plane. I'm joined now by CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo and retired U.S. Army General Mark Hertling, the army's former commanding general for Europe and an expert on Ukraine.

All right. General Hertling, to you first. You know, that Russia likely supplied this missile system to pro-Russian rebels, in your view, does that mean training, guidance or even orders to shoot down this plane could have come from Russia?

GEN. MARK HERTLING, FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL FOR EUROPE: Well, let me be perfectly clear, Fredricka. This is a very complex system. It takes a lot to train the four-member crew to operate this to conduct a shoot-down. This is not something you pick up in a very short period of time or that you get from a couple of experts who are showing people how to engage and pull the trigger.

This is something that takes a very long time to do. But once you have the expertise in this system, it is a devastatingly deadly system. It has anywhere from a 70 to a 90 percent probability of kill on the rocket. And that's against military aircraft or cruise missiles which have techniques to spoof the missile system, the civilian airliner did not.

So, again, it takes a lot to train a crew. They had to get this training from somewhere, or someone else had to do it, but once the people pull the triggers that are inside this four-person platform, it is devastating. And that's what's occurred.

WHITFIELD: And this type of system often works in threes -- right? There's a trio of apparatus, for its highest efficiency, and reportedly, it's likely that there were three, which means one of them would be able to pinpoint the target, be able to really thoroughly examine what it is, identify that this is a commercial airline?

HERTLING: Well if it was working in three, in a three platform, as we call it, a battery of air defense systems, there's going to be one radar and a couple of shooters, which also have their own radars.

That's still under contention. I know General Breedlove, my good friend who's currently the NATO commander and the head of European command, is gathering up evidence to see exactly what they can find happened on the ground -- if there are other European allies who saw anything from intelligence platforms. But that's still a long way off and he's gathering that intel now.

If it did shoot as part of a battery it could have known what it was shooting at. But I suspect it was probably an independent launch, that's my contention. They did not know what they were firing at, and they hit what they thought was a military plane filled with Ukrainian soldier, and instead they got a whole lot more than they bargained for.

That's why I think you see the confusion on the ground with these pro- Russian separatists trying to figure out what do we do next? It is more than they bargained for. WHITFIELD: So then, Mary, to you that's why we're seeing kind of a

hovering over the crime scene now by these rebel separatists who are protecting, if not removing, vital evidence?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, yes. I mean it's the criminals actually guarding the crime scene that they helped to commit, and the problem is they don't know how to do the crime scene. They don't know how to preserve the evidence. They don't know how to handle the remains. This kind of an effort to draw comparison to Pan Am 103 it took a team of about 1,000 people. And I think we're just seeing evidence destroyed willy-nilly and I don't think that's accidental. I think it's intentional and they want to control it.

WHITFIELD: And so what kind of evidence, because if it's already very clear it was taken down by a missile, and it likely broke, you know, on its descent into many pieces. We've seen photographs of it, and we're looking right now, large pieces of fuselage. We know that there are body parts some intact, and some that are not. What's the kind of evidence that investigators need to further conclude what happened here, why and how? And why does the removal of any of that evidence on the ground make a difference?

SCHIAVO: Well, you have a very real example and I relate it back to the shoot down of KAL-007. In that case, of course, the Russians then the Soviet Union tried to declare that the plane was still in Russian airspace when it was shot down. That it did not communicate, that they fired warning shots, and all that information would be recorded on the cockpit voice recorder, because it records sounds in the cockpit and also on the flight data recorder. And, for example, without those, there will be tremendous amounts of disinformation put out by the criminals who shot down the plane, and most likely by Russia.

WHITFIELD: Mary, and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, thanks so much. We'll check back with you later on this hour and pick up our conversation from where we just left.

All right. 298 people onboard Flight 17 and now family members and friends are remembering their lost loved ones. We'll have some of their personal story, coming up.

Plus -- secret tunnels and bomb-carrying donkeys? The Israeli military reveals new information about what it says it is uncovering in the fight against Hamas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Here's what we know right now in the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military says they have found and targeted 13 tunnels they say Hamas is using to get into Israel from Gaza. Take a look.

In this video you can see Israeli soldiers setting off explosives to close those tunnels. Palestinian officials say more than 300 people have been killed inside Gaza and the Israeli military says another Israeli soldier died in the fighting. Today CNN's Wolf Blitzer talked to the Israeli military spokesman who said Hamas is using animals to carry bombs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, ISRAEL MILITARY SPOKESMAN: They have explosive donkeys that they're using now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: What does that mean? An explosive donkey -- explain that.

LERNER: They take an animal. They load explosives on it and they send it in the way of the forces hoping that it will explode near the forces.

BLITZER: And that happened today?

LERNER: That happened -- it was late last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Atika Shubert is live for us along the Israeli-Gaza border, what are you seeing right now today?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing really is a lot of movement of tank units. In fact this, you can see probably behind me, the (inaudible) series 3 tanks. We've been seeing a lot of them moving up and down here really getting into position for more activity inside of Gaza. This is all up and down the Gaza border.

But you mentioned those tunnels. And in fact, earlier this morning there was an infiltration of several Hamas militants into Israel using just such a tunnel. They were encountered by, apparently an Israeli forces patrol and they were driven back. One of those militants were killed but carrying a number of weapons so a lot of concern about whether or not they were going to attack communities in this area.

But this is exactly what the idea is, says they are fighting against. We're waiting to see now if that operation is going to be expanded further into Gaza possibly tonight or tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LERNER: Well, indeed the idea of activities that commenced last night in ground mobilization are primarily to deal with the tunnels. As we go into the Gaza Strip, cross into the fence, clearly, the tunnels that are utilized to infiltrate Israel in carry out devastating damage and death and carnage, they are primary targets.

I would point out that over the last 11 days we've had about 1,600 rockets launched from Gaza. So those would be a secondary target as well. These are the type of threats we are up against.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: That was Peter Lerner, the spokesperson for the Israeli force. You just heard there, the focus so far has been on the tunnels. But we also understand from the idea that they are now looking to have staging areas inside the -- inside the Gaza border area, possibly to expand operations so that they actually have urban combat inside the cities of Gaza. That hasn't happened yet, but clearly they're mobilizing for some action soon, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted on that. Atika Shubert, thank you so much.

And we're learning more about those who died on Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. Straight ahead, stories of the brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers onboard.

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WHITFIELD: Flight 17 originated in Amsterdam with 298 people onboard and more than half of those passenger was from the Netherlands. In all, at least 11 countries had citizens onboard that flight. They're all being remembered by relatives and friends who are trying to cope with this tragedy. Here now is CNN's Alexandra Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NOAH SNEIDER, FREELANCE JOURNALIST: As you walk to the fields and you see the bodies you see, you know, a man with his cracked iPhone sticking out of his pocket.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thinking about those people being knocked out of the skies, it's pretty tough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unbelievable. It's -- not really real yet.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sister Philomene Tiernan, an Australian nun, a beloved teacher at a Kincoppal Rose Bay School was heading home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's been a great mentor and she's also a personal friend. So -- we're just devastated. The shock has been incredible. She very much brought love in all her interactions with everybody.

FIELD: Nick Norris was traveling with his three young grandchildren.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just gentle, clever, beautiful kids.

PAUL GUARD, SON OF MH 17 PASSENGERS: Most magnificent parents to us as kids -- my sister and my brother David and myself. And just generally the most wonderful people and we're absolutely devastated losing them.

AMANDA KOOPMAN, DAUGHTER OF FLIGHT 17 PASSENGER: Mum, we love you, and we love you so much and we're going to miss you so much.

FIELD: Families in pain, now turning to prayer from Malaysia to Moscow. In Amsterdam and Ukraine --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clothing everywhere. Most of it is kind of ripped off by the air. There are some suitcases and stuff.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their deaths are an outrage of unspeakable proportions.

FIELD: Quinn Lucas Schansman is the only American to be identified so far. Karlijn Keijzer was a Dutch doctoral student and a rower at Indiana University.

SNEIDER: People had been flying, listening to music, watching movies. So they've been finding lots and lots of --

FIELD: Glen Thomas the spokesperson for the World Health Organization about to celebrate his 50th birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His twin sister says he died doing what he loved.

FIELD: Joep Lange, a leading AIDS researcher on his way to an international HIV-AIDS conference.

OBAMA: These were men and women who have dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence.

FIELD: They leave burning questions behind. What if? What for?

Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And still to come, the plane crash scene in Ukraine is also in the middle of a war zone. Our Chris Cuomo is there and we'll take to you that scene, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today a pro-Russian separatist leader in Ukraine held a news conference denying that rebels shot down Malaysian Airliner MH17. Ukraine says pro-Russian rebels are to blame. Ukraine also accusing them of destroying evidence at the crash site, which is now an international crime scene two days after the plane carrying 298 people went down.

Bodies are now being removed from the crash area near the Ukraine/Russian border. Observers from the OFCE, European security body visited the site for a second day and once again, they were denied access to some of the areas by armed men, while gunfire and explosions could be heard nearby.

And earlier CNN's Ivan Watson spoke exclusively to the country's prime minister who said he wants bold action from leaders worldwide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARSENIV YATSENYUK, UKRAINE PRIME MINISTER: What we know for sure is that this missile system was located in the area that is fully and entirely controlled by Russian-led terrorists. That this is not no drunk pressed the button. This is someone well trained. Someone who knows how this Russian machine works.

Someone who has experience, and we together with the international community will find out all responsible for this international crime, and those who supported them. This is the crime against humanity and the building of International Criminal Court is very big.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is your government right now negotiating with the separatists for access to the crash site?

YATSENYUK: We sent a number of rescue teams to the crash site, and they arrived yesterday. They were allowed to investigate the crash site only for one hour and then separatists, Russian-led terrorists, claimed that if they don't leave the crash site, they're going to make them hostages. After the MH17 disaster, this became an international conflict, a global one.

WATSON: And as a result, what would you like to see from western allies in the wake of this disaster?

YATSENYUK: Joint, strong, bold and decisive action against terrorists and those who support and supply them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now word of more clashes only 60 miles or so from the crash site. A cruel reminder that these innocent victims went down in the middle of a war zone. It makes any attempts at dignity for these victims that much more difficult.

Our Chris Cuomo, who is CNN's "NEW DAY" co-host joining me live on the telephone now. Chris, out of respect for viewers and respect of the loved one it's of the victims from this plane crash, you are choosing to join us by phone because behind you there is the removal of bodies and remains. And we do want to impose that kind of dignity that all of them certainly deserve, and so no live camera is rolling.

CUOMO (via telephone): Yes. That's right. It's not being done in way that I think would be something we want to show the audience, but here's the good news. It is being done. There was an interesting moment here where the local militia left, and all of a sudden we believe Ukraine authorities came in and local miners came in with helmets, very identifiable, starting rounding up the bodies in their trucks and loading the body bags on to the trucks and transporting them out. So it's a difficult thing to watch, but it's really important that it's happening.

WHITFIELD: And so, Chris, it sounds like the picture you're painting for us, this is not an issue, or an example of trying to hide evidence, but this -- this is the only means they have, and these local miners, perhaps, really feel they're doing the right thing by assisting, by moving these bodies that are decomposing. Maybe not as mindful about what is needed at an investigation site that would -- that authorities would --

CUOMO: I think a spin on this, no, I don't see people who seemed to that understand the investigation. There's a lot of arguing on one of the men who was dealing with the body bags, had some type of seizure, wound up in an ambulance and they were treating him. The miners, however I believe, may be part of the recovery teams, and they may have some training in this, but all they're doing is loading the bags right now.

And that was something that really need to be done, though, Fred, because the bodies have been out here too long. It's done crudely and not being put in refrigerated or any type of vehicle that are meant for this. They are being taken out of the ground. They are being put on to the trucks and they are being taken away. I don't know where. We're trying to find out.

But it does mean the best impression of this is that local militia ceded ground and allowed Ukraine authority to come in and do this job. Hopefully the next step, getting investigators in here. It would have been very helpful if they were here when the bodies were in place to understand everything.

WHITFIELD: Right, because they traditionally like to mark the placement of the bodies as that crash site, but not this time. Chris Cuomo, thanks so much. We're check back momentarily as news there permits. Thank you.

And as you just heard Chris say, the debris field in that crash of Flight 17 is enormous and all of it does indeed tell a story. The clues into the investigation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: When Flight 17 crashed, it left debris scattered over several miles, in fact, one observer is calling the biggest crime scene in the world. CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, joining me now. Chad, this is scattered because of, when it was struck and then, of course, the plane dissipated and broken up in so many different areas. So we are talking four to six square miles you tell me?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. When I knew this question was coming to me today, I sat and I thought, how do I say this as appropriately as possible, not getting too reality of what really happened up there, but I think we just have to say what happened. The plane lost integrity. The fuselage came apart and the rivets ripped apart.

As the plane tumbled because it's no longer one piece anymore, it began, the lighter parts falling first. Heavier parts with more momentum going a little farther. That's as easy as, as simple as and as truthful as I can get to what happened to this plane, flying at 33,000 feet. Almost 500 miles per hour.

Losing integrity of the aircraft, it will begin to pull itself apart almost like a zipper will pull itself apart as the rivets pop. You heard about the chicken coops in the distance. The plane, as the pieces came down through here, flatten this out and draw it for you.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of about four to six miles from here through the chicken coop area and all the way back down here, missing a couple of towns that really weren't all that far away, but through here as they draw across. Measure it one way and the other way about four to six square miles, which means that this didn't land in one piece and pieces get thrown around.

This landed in so many pieces because the plane literally came apart in the skies, and rained down different pieces, different densities going farther, heavier densities going a lot farther. The lighter pieces like the wing and tail that we've been seeing from Chris Cuomo's shot, not going quite as far.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's incredible. And such an incredible task by those investigators once they get on the ground, in which to try and cover all of this ground. Chad, thanks so much. You're going to stick around and be part of our conversation.

I'm joined again with CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo and retired U.S. Army General Mark Hurdling, the Army's former commanding general for Europe and an expert on Ukraine.

So Mary, let's talk to you first, because you've heard in Chris Cuomo's live report a moment ago, joining us by phone, because in large part there was the removal of bodies taking place while he was talking to us, and he said Ukrainian authorities were there along with local miners.

And so when you hear that, none of them are necessarily trained for this kind of investigation, but what happens this is just their, you know, best effort, to try to remove these bodies, just to kind of give these victims some sort of dignity, but give us an understanding as to why for the investigation of this crime scene, why this is potentially damaging to move these bodies and remains without proper markers being put in place first?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. Proper tests on the bodies as well because the bodies themselves contain evidence. This particular type of missile would have put out pieces of metal that would have pierced the plane. It would have also been able to have tell-tale traces on the bodies as well, but when in an orderly investigation, and in an investigation done under both civil and criminal protocols, this would have been done quickly.

They'd have had the area gridded and mapped. Remember, the NTSB has a go team that's imperative to get on that jet and go to the site immediately. So they would have already been removing bodies, but I think this development here says, because after all, there have been so many treaties and agreements broken.

The flying nations sign treaties as to how things will be treated in the event of a disaster. And at least someone on the ground got the message that if they don't allow the Ukrainians in, and others in to start processing this site, the United Nations does have power to take over because treaties have been broken.

WHITFIELD: So General, is that at least encouraging to you, to hear Ukrainian authorities are there or at least have gotten to this location where our own Chris Cuomo is, and talk to me about remaining concerns because this continues to be a hostile area.

HERTLING: Well, it's good that the authorities are there. But you've got to remember, these Russian pro-separatists are there because they want ferment chaos. That's what they're trying to do in that part of the country. They've done that. The Ukrainian military, which I was honored enough to work with for so many years, is trying to grow in their professionalism, but they can't go into that area, because then it's a direct concentration to these pro-Russian separatist, who have the backing of the Russian government.

So I think anytime you see the government from Kiev pushing forces or elements into that area, it's going to cause more chaos, but, again, there are a lot of things going on there. Not only from the flight, but also just from the conflict that continues to merge. The best thing that has to happen is that these pro-Russian separatists need to move out. They've got to get out of that area, let the government of the Ukraine take over, but it's going to be difficult to do.

WHITFIELD: And the conditions have been very difficult. Chad Myers back with us in this discussion. So many different phases of this investigation, of, you know, this post-crash scenario. We saw our Chris Cuomo and others in the area yesterday, a heavy downpour. Today it's brutally hot. What are the conditions that they can look forward to?

MYERS: Kind of the conditions that created the crash in the first place. There was a series of thunderstorms down here in the original flight plan. So they filed a new flight plan before they left Amsterdam, and that flight plan took them farther to the north. Almost 200 miles north where they were going now, the past five or six weeks, going down here, through the NOTAM area we put out here. That's irrelevant.

As they were flying through here, in a different area than they'd been before. Obviously, this had something to do with the misinformation where that plane actually was. A question for Mary Schiavo. If you remember what we did for TWA 800 and every single piece we could find reattached, reassembled and put in a hangar. Do they have the technology to reassemble this plane to really figure out what happened?

SCHIAVO: They could. Remember, TWA 800 was the most inexpensive investigation in history. It took about $40 million to $45 million to do that. A tremendous team of workers, but they did eventually recover almost the entire plane and I've seen it in the hanger. It's used for educational purposes. It could be done here. So much more is destroyed than that, and already, given the way that the scene is being handled, it's probably not going to be reassembled, but it's always possible, given enough teams in there to do it. Sure.

MYERS: Fred?

WHITFIELD: And General, you know, Malaysian authorities said this this morning, saying, this is just, coming off Chad's discussion there about the route that this plane took. While this plane followed a route that was set out by the National Aviation Authorities approved by euro control and used by hundreds of other aircrafts, it was flying at an altitude that was set and deemed safe by that local air traffic control.

Why was there still no concern by international carriers about flying over a hostile region, even if it was deemed safe or even it was deemed safe or even if it was endorsed by euro control or even their airline?

HERTLING: Well, again, Fredricka, I can give you my conjecture on that. The NOCAM in place in the area, as I understand it, went up to 32,000 feet. The plane was above that. And I think, you know, the common understanding of separatists movements or insurgencies or rebel forces on the ground, by most civilians, they think guys with maybe shoulder-fired weapons, AK-47s, they would certainly not expect something like an SA-11 shooting above 32,000 feet.

So I think it was a risk that the airline took. Let's fly over that area. They certainly aren't going to shoot down a civilian airplane, and unfortunately, that risk turned into a gamble, and the plane was shot. These are not pieces of equipment, the SA-11, the gadfly as we call it, are not pieces of equipment that you normally associate with rebel forces. This is highly technical, a kit, that someone had to be trained to use.

WHITFIELD: General Hertling, Mary Schiavo and Chad Myers, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

In other, a little bit more detail about some of the others that were on board, an Indiana University student was on her way to becoming a chemist. Her life cut short by the Malaysian plane crash. We'll learn more about the extraordinary efforts by this young woman, gone too soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: One of the victims in the Malaysia Airlines crash was a Dutch citizen who was studying at Indiana University. Fellow students say she left a positive impression everywhere she went. Here's CNN's Ted Rowlands.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, Karlijn Keijzer might have been a Dutch citizen, but she made a tremendous impact here in the United States especially here in the Chemistry Department at Indiana University.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): The 25-year-old Karlijn Keijzer seems to have made the same impression on everyone she met.

DOUG CRANDELL, FRIEND AND CLASSMATE: Her smile, she was probably the happiest person. She could brighten anybody's day. She's just so full of energy and so bright and thoughtful and kind. ROWLANDS: And talented. A former remember of the rowing team and fourth-year doctoral student at the Indiana University was studying Computational Chemistry and teaching undergraduate chemistry, which Department Chair David Giedroc, says she was fantastic at.

PROF. DAVID GIEDROC, INDIANA UNIVERSITY: She was very outgoing. She straightforward. She smiles a lot. She smiled a lot.

ROWLANDS: The Dutch citizen was taking a few weeks off from her studies to visit family and travel. According to her friends, her father posted the news on Karlijn's Facebook page saying our brilliant, lively, beautiful daughter, Karlijn was in the plane that crashed together with her boyfriend, Lawrence. We grieve for three reasons. For her and Lau and for the splendid future they had together.

RACHEL WEIGLER, FRIEND AND FORMER ROOMMATE: One of the best things about Karlijn, she's such a genuine person, you don't really meet people like that anymore. She always was honest with you even if it was something you didn't want to hear. But she -- you could always tell that she cared very much.

GIEDROC: This, to me, is an act of cowardness and terrorism. I mean, it's crazy. You don't expect to go into an airplane and get blown out of the sky as a civilian. It's unbelievably stunning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: People are still in shock here not only because she had such a wonderful future ahead of her. She was supposed to graduate with her PhD next year, but also because of this senseless way that she had her life cut short -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Ted Rowlands, thanks so much. We will check other stories making news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We will get back to Malaysia Flight 17 and those developments in a moment. But first, other stories we are also watching.

One month after the death of legendary radio personality, Casey Kasem, his body is missing, that's according to his daughter, Kerry, who says she believes Casey's widow has moved it and won't reveal where. Jean Kasem says the body is not missing. Law enforcement officials say there is an ongoing investigation. Casey Kasem died in June after a long illness.

Fire crews in Washington State are still fighting four huge wildfires. Officials say wildfires have burned through 170,000 acres and driving hundreds of people from their homes. About 80 homes have been destroyed and cell phone services has been knocked out in the area.

We have much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.