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Erin Burnett Outfront
Bluefin's Tenth Underwater Search Mission Ongoing; Divers Now Searching Cafeteria On Sunken Ferry
Aired April 22, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next, exclusive new details about the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The underwater search could be completed in hours. So what is next?
Plus, the sun just coming up off the coast of South Korea. Divers in the water, racing against time to find survivors in the capsized ferry. They may have a major breakthrough tonight.
And we're learning more about the 15-year-old stowaway who officials say flew five hours inside the landing gear of plane. We looked into this today. How exactly did he survive? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the major setback in the hunt for Flight 370. Ten underwater missions, no plane. The location dubbed, quote, "the best lead" turning up nothing. Tonight officials scrambling to regroup and CNN has exclusive new details about what officials plan to do next.
At this moment, we're waiting for the breaking news from the Bluefin's 10th mission. Did it find the plane today? Well, the odds obviously are against it. Officials say they're about to stop searching the area where the most promising pings have been detected. The air search of course also has turned up completely dry.
Search planes are taking off at this hour again, but it's looking unlikely they'll find anything. So now search officials are trying to figure out what to do next. We begin our coverage tonight with Miguel Marquez in Perth tonight. Miguel, what are they going to do next?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going to regroup, literally. They're going to -- if the Bluefin can't come up with anything in the next couple days in the search area that it is searching. You know, keep in mind though, they do know the plane is down there, it's just a matter of where it is.
If they can't come up with it in the initial search, they may expand that search out. They may decide on a different area that may be more promising, given that they had four pings, two of them really good. They may be able to get some better information on that. Failing that, there is the possibility that they will literally shut things down for a day, perhaps more.
And then they will redeploy resources and try to do a much broader search, whether that's with towed devices, whether that is like in Air France 447 where they had several devices, several autonomous underwater vehicles going all at the same time.
While that is going on, the countries are also considering how they move forward to deal with the debris, to deal with the remains of anybody who is -- that they are able to bring up from MH370. All of that under discussion right now. Clearly, this is going to be a much longer term project than they had hoped it would be just a couple of weeks ago -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Miguel reporting live from Perth. In just a few moments we're going to be joined by Sara Bajc. Her partner, Philip Wood, was on Flight 370. She has been coordinating the families. I have this list here tonight, 26 questions they have submitted to the Malaysian government. They want answers to these.
I want to bring in first Arthur Rosenberg and Jeff Wise, our aviation analyst along with Richard Quest who is covering the story in Kuala Lumpur tonight. Let me start with you, Arthur and Jeff, because your here with me in the studio. So you hear what Miguel saying, look, the most promising single best promising lead has so far turned up nothing. There could be a miracle.
This hour we get the results, do Bluefin find anything. We might find out in the next 10 minutes that they found the plane. But we're probably not. So here is my question to you. Do they know they're searching in the best place? They say this was the best ping. The others weren't that good. If some weren't that good, might they all not be good?
ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Here is the bottom line. It's not just the pings. It's also the Inmarsat satellite data. It's the radar data and it's the pings. Three separate analyses, which all coalesced in this particular area. The way I look at it is the pings are a microscope that give us a more probable location for the airplane.
But even the pings define a large area which has to be surveyed with sonar. So I believe that they're looking in the right place. I would not be surprised if they found the record soon. If they don't, they're going to regroup. Not start from the beginning, and move on to the next area.
BURNETT: Now Richard, on this issue of the Inmarsat data and how crucial it is in terms of whether they found the right place, I'm going talk to Sarah in just a moment. One of her questions, what is the statistical probability of the Inmarsat calculations being accurate? There are still a lot of questions out there that all this backup data has not been released. It is what is fuelling the fire for family and other skeptics that look, you've looked in the most promising area. You haven't found it. Maybe it's not there.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: All right, I think it's time for a moment of reality on this, Erin. And it really comes down to this. You're suggesting or it's been suggested that somehow Inmarsat did a calculation, came up with a place and everybody said let's head off down there and have a look at it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
My understanding of this is Inmarsat did the data. The NTSB has reviewed the data. The AAIB did its own independent calculations. A variety of other satellite companies have looked at this data and they've all concluded that, yes, this is valid and offers the best opportunity and the best hope. Now, if they are misguided or if as Arthur says even looking for it in that water, it's not like looking for it at the bottom of a bathtub. This is 4,000, 4,500 meter deep.
BURNETT: Almost three miles.
QUEST: Exactly. So I think to sort of suggest, well, they haven't found it in nine searches. It must all be wrong. Let's head off home. I think that's simply not realistic and it doesn't adapt common sense.
BURNETT: So Jeff, what is your take on this? Look, that's a fair point. Air France on the flight 447, they had debris and it still took them years to find the plane. They didn't have pings, but they had debris. So it can be very difficult even though they've searched. They have indicated that once they're done searching this promising area, and they're almost there. Tonight the news we got a few minutes ago, 80 percent of the way done.
JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right.
BURNETT: That they may broaden it. We don't know exactly, but they may move to something else.
WISE: Well, I disagree quite strongly with Arthur and Richard. The ping data was never very convincing to begin with. The Inmarsat data only allows you to perform an analysis into which assumptions can be fed and the authorities have been refining the assumptions. But still you're just basing your end point only comes from your beginning assumptions. We've look at the bottom of the ocean. It's not there. Therefore, the assumptions were incorrect. If the plane is not found in the next few days, it simply is not there.
BURNETT: And you're saying -- Richard, OK, go ahead, Richard. You're fuming in Kuala Lumpur.
QUEST: No, Jeff is -- I am, I am. It's early morning here. It's already humid and I'm getting hotter under the collar with Jeff. We haven't searched the bottom of the ocean yet. They are searching the most promising area, which we'll have to widen and there may be inaccuracies that has to be searched. But stop looking for certainty when all you're dealing with is the best information that you've got. And to suggest, Jeff, that somehow this data is incomplete or inaccurate or not wrong simply ignores the number of people who have looked at it. This is not one man's calculations on the back of an envelope.
BURNETT: Jeff?
WISE: It absolutely is. You can have as many experts as you want, but they're all just making guesses and there is no certainty in the outcome, except if you look at the bottom. Listen, one thing I want to remind you, the towed pinger locator has a range of one mile. If you look at an they're is ten miles across and it's not in that area, it simply does not correspond to a black box pinger.
BURNETT: Go ahead, Arthur.
ROSENBERG: I said it last night. As much as it pains me, Richard is right on spot. And Jeff, you're just --
BURNETT: Not only are you not only agreeing with Richard, you're ganging up on Jeff.
ROSENBERG: It's just wrong. You're wrong because the analysis, it's not just the Inmarsat data. It's three separate analyses, which get you to this area. That's either an incredible coincidence.
BURNETT: What are the other analysis?
ROSENBERG: You have Inmarsat. You have the radar data, which they pumped the performance of the airplane.
BURNETT: Well, Sarah is going say in a few moments though we do not know speed of the plane. We don't know levels of the plane. So how can you know where it went down if you don't have that information?
ROSENBERG: Because three separate analyses led you to this place and they were verified by the pings.
BURNETT: The ping is the hardest thing to overcome.
ROSENBERG: The pings are independently verified by the Inmarsat data, that final half handshake which gets you to this area. It's either an incredible coincidence or a reasonable explanation. What Sarah is going to ask for, and we're going to talk about this, is the release of information.
BURNETT: Yes.
ROSENBERG: Which I wholeheartedly support. These people don't have wreckage. They need something. They must release some of this hard scientific information.
BURNETT: All right, well, thanks to all three of you. And OUTFRONT next, Sarah Bajc is going to join us. Her partner, Philip Wood, was on that plane. I have a list of questions of what she is asking for including what about this Inmarsat data? There are 26 questions, some of them crucial. We're going to be joined by Sarah in just a couple of moments.
Plus, we're also going to be talking about the latest about the ferry. We have breaking news in terms of a possible breakthrough of finding how many people may be in the cafeteria, are there still survivors. And we have exclusive access to the lab that could be finding -- a key to solving the mystery. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Exclusive new details tonight about the next phase in the search for Malaysia Flight 370, officials today hammering out on agreement on what to do if the current search fails. Tonight that is looking like a very real possibility. The Bluefin-21 underwater drone now almost done searching the most likely area where the plane may have gone down. Ten missions, no debris.
We are waiting any time in the next few minutes news of this latest mission, whether there possibly could have been something found. Meanwhile, family and friends of those on board are waiting for answers on what happened to their loved ones.
Sarah Bajc is one of those pressing for information. Her partner, Philip Wood, was a passenger on Flight 370, and Sarah is with me tonight from Beijing. Sarah, have I your list here of the 26 questions that you have written in incredible excruciating detail about all kinds of things with this -- with the plane's disappearance. What is the most important question that you have right now for authorities?
SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF PHILIP WOOD, AMERICAN ON FLIGHT 370: So the most important overriding question we have is why there is such a total lack of factual information being surfaced. You know, in any criminal investigation, the investigating officers are obligated to identify indisputable facts and to document those without necessarily making judgment on them. Just documenting the facts. And to date there has been not a single fact surfaced for a third party evaluation.
So, you know, I've used this phrase before. The FOX is in charge of the hen house here. We've got the major liability holders in this situation, which is the Malaysian government, Malaysian airlines, the Malaysian military, Boeing and Inmarsat. These are all liable parties. And they're the only people who are giving us anything. That's just broken.
BURNETT: And Sarah, on that -- on that comment you said about the companies and the governments controlling this, one of your questions, what is the statistical probability of the Inmarsat calculations being accurate.
At this point, right you have been given nothing, no backup data, no information on to the Inmarsat data which is fair to say is the single most important information they have used they say to determine where this plane is.
BAJC: Well, it's not just the Inmarsat data. All the facts are missing there is no -- there is no cargo manifest.
BURNETT: Right.
BAJC: There is no audio from the air traffic control which should be public record, right. So audio both before and after. There is no history of the Inmarsat data. So if they're looking at just the sequence of the pings, they haven't looked at the days before. That same flight is a regular flight. So there should be comparable Inmarsat data on equivalent pings to do comparison to. But none of that information has been disclosed. So we just have to trust what they tell us and that's just not acceptable.
BURNETT: And, you know, Sarah, the Bluefin-21 obviously, as we were reporting, it's almost done. In the single most promising areas, they described it themselves, 80 percent of the way done, unless there is some sort of shocking news in the next few minutes when the headline comes out that they put out daily. They will have found nothing again. You've had very serious concerns that officials are looking in the wrong place. You have talked about that on this program where. Where do you think they should be searching next?
BAJC: Honestly, I don't have an opinion because I don't have any data on which to make the opinion. So I would never presume to allocate the kinds of resources that they have allocated to searching an ocean area when that ocean area has not been proven to be the place.
I mean, if they're so certain that they're searching in the right place, why do they have only one device down there? I mean, there is dozens of underwater searching devices around the world that could be deployed in this. So, you know, if they're really certain it's there, they should not be just dragging it drip by drip, you know, day by day, they should be focusing the resources. But they're not doing that.
So all of the things that we see in terms of behavior of this investigation point to the fact that they're buying themselves time, right? They're putting forth the appearance of a search to keep everybody distracted from perhaps something else happening.
BURNETT: And what is that something else, do you think?
BAJC: I don't know. I mean, there's got to be 30 or 40 different paths of discussion that each has some amount of credibility. I mean, this -- this is such a phenomenal and extraordinary situation that any path at this point could have possibility to it, right?
But the reality is we can't even begin to understand what that is until we have access to all of this preliminary data. When you start on a trip, you know, if you know you're going from point a to point b, but the first ten steps that you take are from point a to point c, then by the time you realize you're -- by the time you're halfway through your trip, you're going to be nowhere near b. You're going in the totally wrong direction, perhaps. And you wouldn't know that if you didn't go back to the beginning and figure it out from the start.
BURNETT: Sarah, thank you very much. It's good to talk to you again. Sarah has been leading many of the families. She has come up with all of these questions, 26 of them, of the fax and information that she wants to get. We appreciate you taking the time again, Sarah.
Now OUTFRONT next, finding the black box would be just the first step. The real work would be analyzing the date too to find out what Sarah needs to know. What actually happened? Why did it happen? Who did it? Tonight an exclusive look inside the lab to find the mystery of flight 370. Plus, nearly 200 people are still categorized as missing after a ferry capsized. Tonight we're going to go on board a boat at the scene where the frantic search is still underway. And our guest believes, yes, someone could still be alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight we're standing by for news on the Bluefin's tenth underwater search mission. Official says this part of the search could be completed in just hours. They've been scouring the area where the most promising pings were detected.
Now, if searchers are able to find the missing plane's black boxes, it would be an incredible breakthrough. But experts are ready to analyze the data. So what are they going to find? Are they going to hear silence, or are we going to find the answer to the mystery more easily than that?
Michael Homes is OUTFRONT with an exclusive look at a lab that could actually be the one to look at the black boxes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a nondescript government building in Australia's capital, Canberra, the secret of Malaysia flight 370 might one day be unlocked.
What is this room, Neil?
NEIL CAMPBELL, AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT SAFETY BUREAU: Well, this is our audio laboratory. It's a specially designed screened room so it's shielded.
HOLMES: From electronics?
CAMPBELL: That's right. And outside signals. And as well it has good soundproofing.
HOLMES: Inside the Australian transport safety bureau where Neil Campbell and his team forensically examine data recorders not just from planes, but also trains, even ships.
Now, the reality is there are a very few countries in the world, if not handful of them, who have the technical knowhow to work out what is inside one of these things. And this lab someone of those places.
Boxes from other investigations torn apart, burned, damaged in many ways suggest a tough assignment. But here they say the story of what happened is usually found.
CAMPBELL: A lot of our work is with un-damage recorders and it's very easy to download them, not as so ordered USB image.
HOLMES: But even with really damaged one, your success rate in getting information is off good?
CAMPBELL: Yes. We've always been able to recover the information from the recorders we have received.
HOLMES: He is a measured, cautious man, prerequisites for a job that involves not just knowledge, but patience, lots of patience.
CAMPBELL: From the flight data recorder, we obtain a raw data file.
HOLMES: Just ones and zeros.
CAMPBELL: Which contains just ones and zeros.
HOLMES: The boxes contain a wealth of information up to 2,000 separate pieces from the data recorder alone. High technology built into a waterproof, fire proof, shock proof shell.
At the end of this complex train of information and analysis can be this, an animated representation of a tragedy. This one from a 2010 training flight. Two dead after a simulated engine failure went wrong.
CAMPBELL: A lot of the symmetry which couldn't be controlled and the aircraft ended up impacting the terrain, unfortunately.
HOLMES: And you're able to recreate this thing from the black boxes?
CAMPBELL: That's right. This is based on flight data recorder information.
HOLMES: The size of the boxes is deceptive in some ways. The vast majority of it containing technology that supports the brain buried deep within. Surprisingly small, but containing everything Neil Campbell needs on a handful of computer chips.
In a box this big, that's what you need?
CAMPBELL: Yes. That's the crucial.
HOLMES: But they have to be found first. Malaysia not a country with the technical ability to decipher the boxes. Nothing is being decided, but it is highly possible if they're found, they will end up here, where Neil Campbell and his team say they are ready to attempt to unlock a mystery like no other.
Michael Holmes, CNN, Canberra, Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And then of course the question will be, especially on that cockpit voice recorder. It only records every two hours and records. Will there be silence? And what will that mean?
OUTFRONT next, breaking news. The race against time for divers looking for survivors of the capsized ferry. Could there still be an air pocket with the survivor.
And new information about the teen who flew to Hawaii inside the landing gear of plane. We thought it sounded absolutely incredible. Well, it is. A doctor who treated another stowaway comes on OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news as we speak: teams of divers right now more than 100 feet of water in almost complete darkness. They're now searching the cafeteria, a crucial area of the ferry that capsized off the coast of South Korea.
This is where authorities believe many of the students were waiting for help as the ship sank. So far, divers have recovered 128 bodies. They have not found anyone alive, but 174 passengers are still missing, and families of the missing are continuing to hold out hope that there could be a miracle, that the divers making their way through the cold, murky water will find a survivor deep inside that ship.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT near where the rescue operation is under way off the coast of Jindo, South Korea.
Kyung, where are they focusing the search right now?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The focus of the search is in the area that you were talking about, the cafeteria. They have been able to work their way into the third floor and the fourth floor cabins. That's where so far they have found many of the students, many of the passengers, and inside that cafeteria that you're talking about, Erin, are a lot of people that were having breakfast at about this time a week ago when this disaster began to unfold.
And just take a look at the search right now. What you're seeing over here, and we're getting quite a good view of it. Now you can see the divers in the orange inflatable rafts. That's where they go in, right in that area. And a little bit beyond, they're almost like a manila- covered buoy, there are two buoys that mark the spot.
That is where divers use their guidelines to go all the way down. The ship now is submerged approximately 65 feet. This is very difficult work. They have to feel around with their hands because they can't see anything in front of them.
It is dangerous work. There have been a number of the divers who have been injured because it is so deep and it is so cold.
So, Erin, all of this taking place at a freakishly fervent pace that we're told by the divers. They're trying as hard as they can, because even though we're a weekend, they still want to believe that there may be survivors aboard -- Erin.
BURNETT: And, Kyung, I know two more crewmembers have now been arrested. Now, you have nine crewmembers on the ship arrested. It doesn't surprise some people who say, look, there were no lifeboats. Only two deployed.
And what was happening on the ship? But what are the crewmembers saying about what happened? LAH: They're giving us a couple of explanations. And you mentioned the lifeboats. One of the crewmembers, as they were arrested and making some comments to the press, they were led out in handcuffs -- what they told the press is that they could not hit the lifeboat button. The button that would deploy the lifeboat because the ship was already listing too much. Now, the obvious question follow-up for that is, why didn't you hit it sooner? That's going to be a part of the investigation.
And they also said another crewmember is saying that the ship had listed too much. They felt that the balance of the ship was all wrong -- Erin.
BURNETT: Kyung Lah, thank you very much. Reporting, as you can see, from Jindo, South Korea.
I want to bring in former Navy SEAL Cade Courtley now, also the founder of SEAL Survival.
So, Cade, authorities are saying it's still a search and rescue operation. Obviously, so far, they have only recovered bodies. It's a week now that this happened.
How much longer could someone survive inside the ferry, if there was a pocket of air?
CADE COURTLEY, FORMER NAVY SEAL: OK. So, the science behind the air pockets, if I'm in a room that's 10 feet by 10 feet, I will have about three days of oxygen to breathe. But that's not the problem.
After about a day and a half, the carbon dioxide levels become poisonous to me. That's just me in a ten foot by ten foot, relatively calm. So you can see that doesn't paint a very pretty picture as far as a week later with that many people. You know, it's tough.
BURNETT: Even in larger space, there might have been more people in a larger space. Do you think there would have been any possibility if in some gathering area, then more means of egress, right? So, less chance of it being airtight.
COURTLEY: Right.
BURNETT: Do you think there could be some kind of a miracle?
COURTLEY: I got to be honest with you, I don't. I'm very optimistic person by nature. But I also used to be a team leader, and I asked my guys to do very dangerous stuff that was our job.
So, if I was in charge of this rescue mission, I need to do a risk assessment, say to myself, it is still after a week worth the dangers I'm putting these divers through to try and find somebody who may or may not be alive. And based on hypothermia, hypoxia, you know, what's going on with dehydration, no, I don't think it's worth it.
I hate to say that, I would love to come on tomorrow and say I was wrong. But the risk assessment to me, it's time to pull the divers out of the water and it's time to start thinking about basically a recovery mission.
BURNETT: You mean, it is -- you got to get give your honest assessment.
But what about how this happened, Cade? We're finding out the distress call, and I don't think a lot of our viewers know this, it may be new information to many covering this, the first distress call actually came from a passenger. One of these children was the first person to call emergency services.
He's the first -- got on the cell phone, called. First call that they got. Didn't come from the crew. Didn't come from anyone in charge of the ship.
How could that happen?
COURTLEY: Poor training, poor leadership, very poor decision making. It's almost as if they didn't want to believe what was going on with the ship was going on with the ship. I mean, at the very least, you get the people on the deck, so you have an option to get them off.
It really -- it was literally just a series of terrible errors in judgment and terrible decision making.
BURNETT: All right. Cade, quickly, before we go, just a question. If there is a miracle here, someone is found in a room and the room is airtight, by definition. If someone were to find them, water would come into the room. How would they be able to rescue them?
COURTLEY: See, almost the impossible situation. In order to access the room that may have an air pocket, you're going to lose the watertight integrity of that room to access it. So it would have to be really quick decision making. A diver hopefully is able to realize air pocket that looks like that's somebody and immediately get them supplemental air.
But, again, based on visibility being that, it's just such an impossible task. It's heartbreaking. It really is.
BURNETT: It's heartbreaking.
All right. Well, Cade, thank you very much.
COURTLEY: No problem.
BURNETT: Now, the question is mounting about the conduct of the crew and why they ordered the passengers to put on their life vests and stay put. Not come to deck, stay put. It's that order that could have cost nearly 300 people their lives.
Rosa Flores is OUTFRONT live at a ship simulator in Ft. Lauderdale.
Rosa, I know you're going give us a simulation of what that ferry captain may have been facing.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, we are at Resolve Maritime Academy. And this is a full-blown ship simulator. And Brad Boldt is here to tell us about what we're look at. So, tell us what we can see here.
BRAD BOLDT, RESOLVE MARITIME ACADEMY: Everything you would see on the bridge of a modern ship, Rosa -- radars, everything else.
FLORES: Now, we can actually feel we're actually on a ship. And you can see the waves. I can blow the horn here.
BOLDT: Yes. The radar, electronic charts, all the control systems for the vessel.
FLORES: Now, one of the other things we can do is we can list this ship. Let's start doing that slowly.
BOLDT: Sure.
FLORES: As we take a look at that, look at the horizon. You can really get a sense of what this feels like. At this point you would think OK, the ship is in trouble.
BOLDT: Yes, if the vessel is stuck like this, you know something is wrong.
FLORES: Now, we got a very rare look at what could be happening below deck. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES (voice-over): On a ship, this is the universal sign of trouble. Inside this model ship haul, instructors from Resolve Maritime Academy train crew how to prevent a deadly disaster at sea, like the sinking of the passenger ferry in South Korea. Investigators say the nearly 7,000-ton ship sank in about two and a half hours. Four hundred and seventy-six people were inside when a boy on board made the first call for help at 8:52 a.m. local time.
The ship's crew made a distress call about three minutes later at 8:55.
The crew's response is critical to preventing disaster.
In this scenario, water is rushing in from an unknown source.
(on camera): Water is starting to rise. What do you do?
PETE DONLON, TRAINER, RESOLVE MARITIME ACADEMY: Main thing is just to get away from the damage. Get outside. Let the crew know if you did find damage. Make sure the crew knows about it.
FLORES (voice-over): They use anything they can to plug the holes.
(on camera): How much time do you really have to get out or to assess the situation when water really starts just gushing in?
DONLON: Well, it all depends on the scenario, how deep the hole is inside the water. Naturally, the deeper the hole in the water, the more water pressure is going to be pushing in.
FLORES: If I'm a passenger that is on a ship and I'm not very familiar with the ship, what do you suggest that I do to get to safety?
DONLON: The best thing to get to safety is follow the walls. Follow them, get to a ladder, get outside. I always recommend getting to the main deck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: And so, why would you want to go outside? Of course, because the lifeboats are there.
Now, also joining us is Joe Farrell. He is the founder and CEO of this company now.
What do captains need to do? What training do they need to do to be at the helm of these ships on a regular basis?
JOE FARRELL, JR., CEO, RESOLVE MARITIME GROUP: It's a time and a rate situation. You spend so much time at sea and you get different qualifications and graduate to a captain's level.
The irony of training at this point in time around the world, there is no requirement for recurrent training, believe it or not, Rosa. From the time this guy's got a captain's license or girl, they don't have to go back to training.
This simulator is built for some of the training the cruise ship lines and operators that are doing it on their own. They're starting recurrent training.
FLORES: Yes, which is a great point, because, Erin, that's the whole reason why to have simulator likes this so you can practice those drills that can take people to safety -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to you, Rosa.
And still to come, new details about the teenaged stowaway. How did he survive a nearly five-hour flight with basically no oxygen and 80 degrees below zero temperatures? You would think it would be impossible. Well, guess what? We found a doctor who treated a man who spent more than seven hours in a wheel well on a 747 and survived.
And as the White House delays sanctions to Russia, an NBA player has other ideas. Big business and Putin and Hooters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: New details in the incredible story of the teenaged stowaway who survived a five-hour flight from San Jose to Maui. Official says the 15-year-old made that trip inside the wheel well of a 767 jumbo jet.
All right. At the altitudes we're talking about here, 35,000 plus feet you would basically have no oxygen, temperatures dropping below negative 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The teen told the FBI he was trying to get to Somalia to see his mother. Apparently, he picked the plane randomly in San Jose. We do not know why he picked a plane that said Hawaiian on it if he was trying to go to Somalia. We don't yet know the full story.
Hawaii's Department of Health and Human Services said the stowaway is resting comfortably. But how he survived is a huge mystery.
I want to bring in Dr. Armand Dorian OUTFRONT, a Los Angeles doctor who treated the survivor of a similar stowaway attempt back in 2000, and CNN aviation analyst Les Abend.
All right. Great to have both of you with us.
Let's start with you, Dr. Dorian. Your patient traveled from Tahiti to Los Angeles. That's a 7 1/2 hour flight in the wheel well of a 747. What kind of condition was he in?
Because I just want to compare it to this current stowaway. He is already talking to the FBI. What was the guy like that you treated?
DR. ARMAND DORIAN, TREATED AIRPLANE STOWAWAY SURVIVOR IN 2000: Completely different. I mean, when he actually was brought into the emergency department, he was almost cartoon-like frozen. His arms were stiff. He was moaning. He was unconscious. He was as critical a patient as you can have.
We literally had to attack the patient and do as much as we could as fast as we could to save his life.
BURNETT: So this whole idea of being able to talk to people must be shocking to you.
DORIAN: Look, the fact that the one I treated in 2000 survived was shocking. This is just remarkable. I can't believe it.
The guy we took care of in 2000, we had to put chest tubes in his chest and pour warm fluids to warm his core temperature. I had to intubate him and we had to put catheters in basically every orifice to try to bring his body temperature up. He was in the critical care unit for over three weeks up to a month.
BURNETT: So, I mean, how does this work? The oxygen, I mean, the FAA did a report talking about stowaways. They said the oxygen is below the oxygen level required to support brain consciousness. So, anybody who is in a wheel well stowaway they said will lose consciousness from hypoxia.
So, let me just ask you. Could -- some people are saying he could have gone into a state of hibernation. Could that explain how this kid survived?
DORIAN: Yes. It looks like there is two things happening here at the same time. One is that as the plane ascends, the atmospheric pressure decreases so the concentration of oxygen decreases and the amount of oxygen decreases.
It's kind of like a chokehold. If somebody chokes you out, after a minute of being up there, you will pass out. Along with that, the temperature is dropping. As you mentioned, you know, 80 below, or maybe even lower. And that is kind of putting the body in a frozen state. It's kind of analogous to things we do in the emergency department, when somebody hearts stops. We actually try to cool the body to buy some time because it slows the body's metabolic rate and oxygen demand or need.
Having said that, this was a five-hour flight. We had no medical units surrounding the person. And, hey, by the way, he's unconscious, the landing gear is coming down. Why isn't this guy falling off? How has he stuck or propped himself up there where he's unconscious and still hanging on?
BURNETT: Now, of course, I want to emphasize -- Les, you have flown this many times. OK, so, I mean, thousands of thousands of hours.
Some are saying, look, I mean, I know the FBI (INAUDIBLE) is it possible he was in the cargo compartment or something where it's slightly better than a wheel well, where he could walk around.
But let me ask you this -- the landing gear itself 3,000 pounds of it, you said yesterday -- is there some way that it would warm him in some way, the rubber retains heat -- I mean, is there anything?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I mean, we talked a little bit about this last night. But it's 30,000 psi of hydraulic pressure that forces that gear up.
Yes, to answer your question, if the airplane taxied for a while from the gate, the brakes would be used and the brakes create heat. And there are large trucks, is what we call them. So there might have been some residual heat, but for how long? It just --
BURNETT: Five hours, I mean, I would imagine -- I'm not a --
ABEND: No, I mean, I'm asking, the temperature between those cities to be somewhere minus 40, minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
BURNETT: All right. Oh my gosh!
Dr. Dorian, quickly before we go, young kid, thin kid, could that explain it?
DORIAN: It's a big advantage. There's no question about it. The younger, the healthier you are, the more chance you're going to survive a state like this. But again, this is -- it's a magnificent feat, I wouldn't encourage any kid to think they could pull it off.
This is one in a million. It's five lotto wins in a row.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much to both of you.
And now to Ukraine, where Vice President Joe Biden had some words for Vladimir Putin today. Biden said no nation has a right to simply grab lands from another person, urged Russia to stop supporting militants in eastern Ukraine.
John Kerry weighed in as well, threatening the United States is going to impose more sanctions if Russia doesn't stop. But where are the sanctions? Are they really happening? Or is this just tough talk?
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT with a look at how -- well, Hooters plays in this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The crisis in Ukraine has turned neighboring Russia into a country of cultural contrasts. U.S. sanctions limit President Putin's inner sanction from traveling to the United States and freezing their assets.
All the while, Captain America is drawing millions at the Russian box office. U.S. businesses like Shake Shack and Burger King a hit on Russian soil.
At the same time, some Russian politicians want McDonald's out of the country in retaliation for temporarily closing three of its restaurants in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia.
So much economic uncertainty, is this a time to export yet another American brand?
Brooklyn Nets player, Russian native, Andrei Kirilenko says it is time for Hooters.
(on camera): So, how do you say chicken wings in Russia?
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
CARROLL (voice-over): Kirilenko, nicknamed AK-47, plans to open five of Hooters restaurants in his homeland, the first in Moscow scheduled to open at the end of the month.
(on camera): Are you concerned about what is happening with the Russian/U.S. relations?
ANDREI KIRILENKO, BROOKLYN NETS: Of course, we're worried about it. I think it is more politics than people, because the people -- I say we have a lot of friends in America, and Americans have a lot of friends with the Russian people. So, a lot of similarities. And I don't think we want to be like enemies.
CARROLL: Moscowites we talked to seemed encouraged about the opening. "People will come here with pleasure," he says, "It's better than sitting in McDonald's".
Hooters general manager in Manhattan jokes the brand could actually help the current political stalemate.
WILL LEBAS, GENERAL MANAGER, HOOTERS AT MANHATTAN: I'm sure, I could get a few of the Hooters girls, some Budweiser beers, vodka, and hopefully come to some type of an agreement.
CARROLL (on camera): Clearly, you're feeling no concerns about opening?
LEBAS: No, not at all.
ALEX KLIMENT, EURASIA GROUP: People are not going to Hooters to argue maps at Eastern Ukraine, right?
CARROLL (voice-over): Alex Kliment, an expert on Russian politics, says, Hooters key to success could be surprising. It's all about location. One of the new restaurants will be a short-walk from Russian intelligence headquarters.
KLIMENT: So you have Russian spies and Western businessmen, and it is possible that Hooters will bring us together after all.
CARROLL: As tensions between Hooters and Russia escalate, Kirilenko is not making geopolitical predictions, but he is hoping that Hooters at least will be a slam dunk.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Hooters.
Well, we have major information about the raid on al Qaeda leaders. A U.S. official tells our Barbara Starr that American operatives were involved in a very major way. The U.S. forces used helicopters, they used night vision glasses to get Yemeni forces to the location. Special Forces from the United States also collected DNA and bodies and provided intelligence as to where the operatives were. DNA tests are going to happen to determine if al Qaeda's top bombmaker is among dead. At least six were killed in the strikes.
Still to come, a mystery that is so adorable we can hardly bear it. Jeanne Moos, aww, is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: A baby bear, abandoned on a door step in Lake Tahoe. Where did it come from? Well, the details are a little fuzzy, so we turn to our Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is cute enough to leak, OK, maybe not quite that cute, just imagine somebody dropping off this bear cub in front of your house.
ANN BRYANT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BEAR LEAGUE: We look out on the front door step and there's a baby in the basket. Well, here is a baby in a dog kennel.
MOOS: Oops, this 10-week old black bear cub still has trouble walking.
Someone dropped her off last week at the head of the home Bear League who then took her to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
CHERYL MILLHAM: She doesn't even have teeth yet. She can't eat. She would be dead.
MOOS: Sheryl and Tom Millham feed her special bear formula every four hours or so. This is no Goldilocks story.
The experts theorize that this little baby bear lost her mother in a car accident, or perhaps to poachers, but whatever traumatic event happened, it hasn't stopped her from chortling.
BRYANT: It is just like a motor running. It's a contented sound.
MOOS (on camera): What the caretakers don't want is for the bear to bond with them so they try not to hold her more than they have to.
MILLHAM: We don't cuddle her.
MOOS (voice-over): That's because in a year or less they hope to release her back into the wild.
In the meantime, they're trying to figure out how she got here. The only clue so far? An e-mail.
BRYANT: It said, "I think I know where the cub came from."
MOOS (on camera): They want to find out where the bear is from because that is where they will eventually have to release her.
(voice-over): California's Department of Fish and Wildlife requires 75 mile releases from the point of capture.
To give the bear a chance of survival, she has some growing to do before she can graduate from stuffed animals to facing ones. She was born with wicked claws to stumper up trees. Cute, but needs a mani- pedi noted one fan. You can LOL, but she can chortle.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: I'm glad Jeanne mentioned those claws, every cute shot. It was like oh, there's the talent.
All right. Thanks so much for watching.
"A.C." starts now.
