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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Rescue Officials: Missing Jet is at "Bottom of Sea"; Deadly Greek Ferry Fire; North Korea Blasts Obama; Graham Suspects China Part of Sony Hack

Aired December 29, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The desperate search for AirAsia Flight 8501. Investigators say they believe the missing plane and 162 passengers is now at the bottom of the sea, but nothing is certain and no clear evidence has yet emerged. We're going to bring you live team coverage on the very latest of this investigation, the search and what went so wrong.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, December 29th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Let's begin with that desperate search for AirAsia Flight 8501. This plane vanished Sunday en route from Indonesia to Singapore, 162 people on board. And the tragic early indication from the Indonesian agency leading the search and rescue efforts is, quote, "on the bottom of the sea."

Again, the early conjecture from those authorities. Ships and planes and helicopters have been combing the waters, but so far, no sign of the plane or any wreckage. It is not known if bad weather was a factor, but we do know the pilot had requested a higher altitude to avoid storm clouds before that plane disappeared from radar.

CNN's Andrew Stevens begins our coverage this morning in Indonesia.

Good morning.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Christine.

At this stage, hopes have to be fading. We're now more than 30 hours since the plane disappeared and still no firm sightings. There are unconfirmed reports of items in the search zone, but still nothing firm to go on.

Christine, we have been joined by the vice president of Indonesia, Mr. Jusuf Kalla. And I would like to ask, Mr. Vice president, first of all, could you tell me is this a recovery and rescue operation?

JUSUF KALLA, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA: This is a search and rescue. That's why the leading sector is our rescue team. And now, the site, the location, we are thinking there, there are ships from navy, from police, customs, and from our airmen. There are 15 airplane there.

STEVENS: Fifty ships, 15 airplanes. There have been reports of objects in the search zone. Can you tell me? Are they -- do you know if they are linked at all to the missing plane?

KALLA: Until now, not yet any object. Some reports from Australia. Now, we're clarifying. It's not yet clear that the object from the plane or not.

STEVENS: Not yet clear those objects from the plane. You have been speaking also to the families of the victims. What have you been saying to them?

KALLA: We say that the president and all people have sympathy for all families. We are working hard and our people are working hard to find the objects and the plane. And, of course, we are humans, and expect that we can find and we expect the worst coming.

STEVENS: OK. The plane has been described as most likely being on the bottom of the ocean by your department. Is that the working your assessment that the plane has crashed and at the bottom of the ocean?

KALLA: Yes. Now, they're around 30 hours from now on. More than 30 hours. Of course, predictions. If they don't find land, they are in the sea. If they don't find the sea, of course, 30 hours, more than 40 hours. Not easy to find any in the surface (ph).

STEVENS: After 40 hours, difficult to find survivors.

Final question, Vice President. When do you think that we will have concrete information given that we have a big search right there now? How hopeful are you that we will get some idea of what has happened to the plane and when?

KALLA: We are trying as fast as possible, of course. That's why we are operating so much vessels and airplane and helicopters over there. But as you experience anywhere, Air France in the Atlantic or Malaysia Airlines, everywhere, it needed time. But we try because it's (INAUDIBLE) maybe sometimes more easy than the others.

STEVENS: OK. Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla, thank you so much for joining us.

KALLA: Thank you.

STEVENS: So, Christine, speaking to the vice president there. Obviously the search continues. As he says after 40 hours, very, very difficult to see any survivors coming from this. There is that assumption that the plane has crashed into the sea. We don't know if it is weather-related, but certainly, weather played a role in the pilots asking to be diverted just about 40 minutes or so after it took off.

That is where we are at the moment. The families are still here, Christine. Still desperately waiting for some sort of news.

ROMANS: Andrew, the vice president of the country stopping by with you. Tell me, what was he saying about a wreckage? They have been seeing things floating in the ocean. Right now, they don't -- they can't say if those things belong to that airplane.

STEVENS: That's right. The Australian search aircraft spotted objects in the search zone. That was being sent out. That's an unconfirmed report from sources here in Indonesia.

He has confirmed that objects have been spotted by the Australians, Christine. But he said, at this stage, he said we don't know if it is related to Flight 8501.

Remember, too, MH370, there were multiple reports of debris being seen on the sea just off the coast of Malaysia which turned out to be not related at all. In fact, the plane as we now know was actually didn't come anywhere near the area where the debris was being seen. A very, very inn exact science at the moment until they can get eyes on and pull the debris out of the water and get a clear picture, it will only be speculation.

ROMANS: Yes, I think MH370 has given us a healthy dose of skepticism in the early hours after a tragedy like this.

Andrew Stevens, thank you for bringing that to us.

BERMAN: Still remarkable from the vice president of Indonesia live with Andrew Stevens right here, saying, you know, still a rescue operation. But as the hours tick on, the hope of finding anyone alive certainly does dwindle. It has been more than 30 hours since the last contact with AirAsia Flight 8501.

New ships, new helicopters, new planes joining the search.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us live now from the staging area in Indonesia.

Paula, what's the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we are seeing the search and rescue operation growing in size this Monday. We have seen additional ships and helicopters as you say. Many of them, the helicopters and planes have come here to the airports on the Belitung Island.

This is the closest land mass to the area where the plane lost contact with the controllers. And so, certainly, this is the area where the helicopters are coming to refuel, coming to get a briefing and where they should go next. Now, we just spoke to the head of the search and rescue efforts here

in Belitung. And he -- I basically asked him, does he think there could be survivors still, and he said, if the plane did land in the water, it is very unlikely. But if it did manage to crash or land on land, there is a jungle area. He mentioned just to the east of here, he said that it is still possible.

But the area that they are searching is large, 240 nautical miles by 240 nautical miles. They cordoned it off. They basically sliced it up to be systematic about it. They have to be. They have to make sure there's no overlap. and they are not missing any areas.

So, they are combing through that area. Not just at sea, also on land, to see if they can find any sign of it -- John.

BERMAN: And, Paula, is there word, this unconfirmed report that an Australia plane spotted some debris within that wide search area. We know there is a lot of debris in the ocean to begin with. Are you hearing anything about these reports?

HANCOCKS: We asked the first marshal about that because, obviously, he is the main person here at this particular staging area. He said that he hadn't heard anything about it. Of course, we should caution there are often these reports in the early hours and days of this kind of incident. He did actually say to us that at this point, they have not narrowed the search point down. They have not managed to hone in on any particular area. And his exact quote was, it is still a very random search.

So, talking to the first officer here, it appears it is still a random search and they have not had any significant breakthroughs.

BERMAN: All right. Good to know. Paula Hancocks for us in Belitung Island, which is the nearest land mass to that wide area they are searching in the Java Sea -- thanks to you.

ROMANS: Among many things we don't know right now, what role, if any, weather conditions played in the disappearance of AirAsia Flight 8501. We do know that the pilot asked for and was denied a higher altitude before that plane vanished.

Aviation experts talked to CNN about a report of a radar showing the AirAsia jet climbing and perhaps stalling out. Again, radar showing that. Here\s what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/MANAGING DIRECTOR AT AIRLINERATINGS.COM: This appears as though it will be a weather- related upset. We do know some concrete facts here whereas in the case of MH-370, we were flying blind, if you like. We know the captain requested a climb in altitude from 32,000 to 38,000 feet.

We know that he asked for a deviation from his track to go left of track from the route to avoid thunderstorms. And we know that there were severe thunderstorms in the area. We have seen the radar printouts of those. That is absolutely crystal clear they were severe and there were many of them. So, we do know that. We know exactly where we lost contact with him as well. So, it's a fairly defined box for the searchers to look; whereas at MH370, we had virtually no idea where it went.

So -- and then what we also have been able to obtain from some pilots is a radar printout of the aircraft. What it shows is this particular flight at an altitude of 36,000 feet and climbing, but traveling at approximately 105 miles per hour, too slow to sustain flight. So, it looks like on this radar evidence that we have that he was involved in some upset, high altitude upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Flying too slow at that altitude to maintain flight. That is one area we'll be following all more to see if there's more evidence of that, that does emerge. The weather, though, as we know, may have played a role. Certainly, the pilots were talking about that before they disappeared before last contact.

So, what role might it have played?

Let's go to CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for a look at that.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

Yes, the conditions across the Java Sea and really across Indonesia this time of year is not the best time. October through April, this is when we have monsoon in place, this is when we have rainfall sometimes, we've seen this week, on the order of several feet in the matter of a couple of days.

Take a look, this is the flight track that they took on Sunday morning. Here's the last known point of contact. That is the storm we are talking about, because an average thunderstorm typically spans anywhere between 20,000 feet and 30,000 feet. This particular thunderstorm, the tops of the them reach some 53,000 feet. This Airbus not capable of climbing those altitudes. So, of course, you would think it would go around it. They are down draft associated with this, as they tried to go into, certainly headwinds as well.

The instability in the atmosphere is very dangerous scenario. We don't think weather by itself played a role in bringing this plane down. Typically, it is several scenarios to cause these sort of devastations and tragedies. And again, this particular storm as large as you could see it anywhere on our planet over portions of Indonesia.

BERMAN: All right. Crucial details there.

AirAsia has had a nearly flawless safety record, a relatively new airline. But what about the aircraft itself?

CNN's Rene Marsh now with more on the Airbus A320 and its safety record.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, reporter: this is a newer aircraft, roughly six years old. The delivery date: October 2008.

Now, as far as flight time, we are told by Airbus it has 23,000 flight hours. It is what you would call a workhorse for commercial aviation. It is a well-travelled aircraft. The safety record for the A320 is pretty good when you consider the millions of flights this family of aircraft has made.

Now, at this point, Airbus is careful with the language it is using. It is not dipping into the arena of speculation. They say they are waiting and they are collecting information. They are making it very clear that they are ready and willing to work with investigators once it moves on to the investigative stage.

We also know that here in the United States, the National Transportation Safety Board, they have opened up the lines of communication. They have been in contact with Airbus, the manufacturer of the aircraft. They've also been in touch with the French equivalent of the NTSB and we're also told they've been in touch with the Indonesians. The Indonesians will likely lead the investigation.

At this point, the NTSB says they are monitoring the situation. They are ready to provide some technical assistance if they are asked for it.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: The company reeling this morning. AirAsia shares, of course, getting hammered. The stock of the company that flies that aircraft, shares are down 8 percent. The biggest one day drop in three years.

You know, the missing jet is damaging AirAsia's reputation as a reliable low-cost carrier, a very good reputation quite frankly. The airline has had no fatal crashes in more than a decade of operations. And it is regularly named the best low cost airline in Asia.

Its outspoken CEO, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, he's been reaching out to the public through social media since the jet disappeared, calling this, quote, "his worst nightmare." This morning, he tweeted, "Keeping positive and staying strong. My heart bleeds for all of the relatives of my crew and our passengers."

It is low cost airlines like this one that have really opened up travel and convenience to millions of people in Asia. I mean, 20 years ago, it was difficult and cost prohibitive for the average person to fly.

BERMAN: Indonesia is a huge nation made of hundreds of islands. It's their only way to get to the islands --

ROMANS: And before that, it was long and dangerous ferry travel, right? So, a very different landscape because of those low cost airlines, particular. You know, a $90 million airliner disappearing, though, is certainly something that just tragic all the way around.

BERMAN: And so many questions remain this morning. We're going to follow this breaking news on missing flight 8501 all morning long.

But, first, a frantic rescue at sea. Hundreds on board a burning ferry. This is a dangerous situation that has already turned deadly. We are live as some survivors make their way to safety, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: We are following breaking news for you this morning in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501.

Indonesia's vice president just telling us moments ago that it is still a search and rescue operation, but that hope is fading of finding survivors.

The plane disappeared Sunday with 162 people on board. It was headed from Indonesia to Singapore. It vanished over the Java Sea.

In the plane's final communication, the pilot asked for a higher altitude due to bad weather, but he was denied because of traffic above him. Indonesian rescue officials say they suspect that the plane is at the bottom of the sea, their early conjecture they say. The vice president confirmed that Australian searchers have spotted debris, but, of course, it's just not clear if it is related to the AirAsia flight.

Meantime, families of those onboard anxiously await for any answers.

BERMAN: Now, we do have another breaking news this morning. Efforts to reach passengers trapped aboard a smoldering Greek ferry following a fire that broke out on the ship off the coast of Italy. The Italian Coast Guard says one person has died. Nearly 300 passengers have been rescued, dramatic rescues.

Rough weather is hampering efforts to get many others off of that ship.

CNN's Elinda Labropoulou is live via Skype from Athens.

What's the latest this morning?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, about 324 people have been rescued according to the latest update. That means that 154 more remain on the ship. We're looking at something now of 30 hours since the large fire broke out on the ship and the efforts continue to try and get these people out.

Another effort had been made to try and tow the ship, but that was abandoned to the weather conditions which continue to be very severe in the area. At the moment, it is helicopters operating. So, progress is quite slow. Doctors and rescuers have managed to get on the ship and they are providing assistance.

What they are saying is that people overall are well in health. They seem to suffer minor problems with their eyes or throats because of the smoke. There is still a lot of smoke and many are suffering from hypothermia. Many of them have spent over 24 hours by now sitting on the deck of the ship and waiting for the rescuers to arrive.

People from the boat have been calling in Greek TV stations and talking about their ordeal and asking for help. There is more calm it seems this morning. The people calling in are a bit calmer. They are still very worried about what is happening, but they have seen rescue arrive.

They also know that a number of the passengers have managed to get to safety. At least 49 passengers on board the ship have now been transported to facilities in Italy and they seem to be well in their health as well

BERMAN: The fact there is any calm is remarkable in and of itself. Those pictures extremely dramatic.

Elinda Labropoulou, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Smokey, freezing and cold and 55-mile-an-hour winds. And then, some of this video, a mother with two young children as this basket is swinging trying to get off that. It's just terrifying, terrifying. We wish them well as the rescue continues.

Meanwhile, North Korea berating President Obama over Sony's release of the movie, "The Interview." The controversial film pulling in millions of dollars this weekend. But this drama far from over. We are live with the very latest after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: North Korea blasting President Obama, firing off a personal ugly insult blaming Washington for Internet outages and release of "The Interview", after first canceling the release of "The Interview" because of violent threats from hackers. Sony then made box office lemonade with more than $15 million from digital downloads of the film, and plans to expand online distribution.

And now, a prominent U.S. lawmaker is suggesting North Korea may have had help from China in hacking Sony Pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You can't talk about North Korea without talking about China. You need to have a heart to heart with the Chinese. I can't imagine anything this massive happening in North Korea without China being involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's quite a charge. CNN's Will Ripley is following developments for us. He's live in

Beijing.

Will, you know, we know that China is a neighbor and really a huge partner to North Korea. But many times, it also blunts North Korea and its influence to the rest of the world.

How could China be involved?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an issue that we've actually been looking into here in China for several days now, Christine, because here is the reality. North Korea does rely on China for its Internet access. And up until four years ago, North Korea had to dial to Chinese servers just to go online. Now, North Korea has a fragile, small Internet connection.

But to launch the kind of sophisticated, complicated cyber attack like the one on Sony, it requires a stable high speed connection. As we saw with the fact that the North Korean Internet has been unstable in recent days, is there a possibility that Chinese servers were somehow involved? That's certainly something that U.S. law enforcement is looking into. It's why they asked the Chinese government for help in this investigation.

But to say that China is somehow involved in this beyond that, we need to keep in mind that even the United States law enforcers are saying, they suspect no other country other than North Korea of orchestrating this attack. But there is a connection, certainly as far as Internet infrastructure is stronger and faster here in China than it is North Korea.

ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley, thank you for that for us this morning in Beijing.

BERMAN: All right. Twenty-seven minutes after the hour. This morning, we are all over the breaking news, the desperate search for missing AirAsia Flight 8501, disappeared in midflight, 162 people are board. We will have live team coverage on all the new details we are learning this morning, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)