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New Day Saturday

Captain Charged in Ferry Disaster; Families Wait for News from Sunken Ferry; Next Two Days 'Critical' In Jet Search; Instruction for Passengers not to Move on the South Korean Ferry May Have Cost Lives; Rainy Weather for the Easter; Military Expert on Prevention of Further Escalation of Violence in Ukraine; Demonstration of Manned Submersible Operating in Deep Water

Aired April 19, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-HOST: Outrage. Families of the students missing on the Korean ferry screaming and swinging at officials in charge of the search. And this is happening as more ferry operators face criminal charges and divers find more bodies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CO-HOST: That's chilling video from inside the ferry you are seeing there. It shows how students hunkered down as the boat began to tilt. We're going inside a simulator to show you how the conditions were as they were forced to endure there.

BLACKWELL: And the Bluefin AUV has ended its sixth mission in the search for missing Flight 370, and now we're learning just how much longer it might be in the water. Your NEW DAY starts now.

PAUL: Your NEW DAY, take a nice, deep breath to a new weekend. You're waking up to the weekend. It's all good. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Now 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY.

PAUL: Yes, and first this morning, oh, you just feel for these families. I mean, the heartbreak and the frustration is growing in South Korea as the divers again try to recover more bodies from that sunken ferry this morning.

BLACKWELL: The parents are frantic, as you'd imagine they are, begging authorities to raise the vessel that was filled with their children. Here are the latest developments. Divers plan 40 attempts today to try to get back inside. The death toll is rising, now at 32. And more than 270 people are still missing after the ship capsized earlier this week.

PAUL: Now earlier today, divers did see, we understand, three bodies floating on the ship's submerged third deck. They attempted to break through the glass, but apparently they just couldn't get to them. Passengers' relatives, meanwhile -- here are some of the latest pictures we're getting in -- giving DNA samples to help identify anyone that's found, as searchers attempt more dives today.

BLACKWELL: The ship' captain is defending his order to delay evacuation, even though he was rescued from his own sinking ship. He says he feared passengers would be swept away. And the ship's captain and two crew members now face charges.

PAUL: One of those crew members is the third mate. And we know that's who prosecutors say was at the helm when the ferry capsized. Let's go to CNN's Paula Hancocks in JeJu (ph) -- in South Korea. Good to have you with us this morning. Tell us more about what you learned regarding the charges the captain and the crew members face at this hour.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, there are five charges against the captain, himself, at this point, including negligence, abandoning the boat and causing bodily injury.

Now if he's found guilty of all those charges, all five of them, he could face anything up to five -- from five years up to life imprisonment. That's the sentence that could be giving down.

We do know, though, he wasn't driving. He was not at the helm. He wasn't even in the steering room at the time of the accident. And he also has been speaking to reporters this Saturday and defending the fact that he did not give the order to evacuate ship as it was sinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE JOON-SEOK, CAPTAIN, SUNKEN FERRY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: It is a fairly fast current area. And the water, if you did not have a life jacket on, I thought that abandoning the ship without discretion would make you drift off a fairly far distance and cause a lot of trouble. At the time, the rescue ship did not come, and there were no fishing boats or supporting ships around to help at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: The three charges against the third mate, who was at the helm at the time of the accident, one of her charges is causing injuries leading to death. Victor, Christi, back to you.

BLACKWELL: Paula, and I know at this hour, the details are a bit indelicate, but the family members are now giving DNA samples. Is that because of an expectation that the bodies, once they're retrieved, will be in such poor condition, they won't be identifiable?

HANCOCKS: Well, this is something, certainly, that they're not spelling out at this point, out of respect for those families, but we are going into the fourth night since this accident happened. And of course, if bodies have been in the water that long, they want to make sure they have all the information at the ready so that they can identify them just as quickly as possible.

These families have been waiting far too long as it is. The officials want to make sure that they are not left waiting even longer.

Now, we know that most of the families have already given their DNA samples. Obviously, they have no problem with that. They want to do anything that can speed this process up.

BLACKWELL: All right. Paula Hancocks for us there in Jindo, South Korea. Paula, thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Paula.

Now parents and other loved ones, we know, are at a gymnasium right now. And they're watching a huge TV monitor that's showing the latest on the ferry search. Take a look at what they're seeing here. This is hard to even imagine what they're feeling like as they watch the screen. You know, the anguish and the anger as they watch divers, fearing that they might find the bodies of their children.

BLACKWELL: And some of them are taking those emotions out on coast guard officials. Look at this. As a man here on the left side of the screen here lashes out at the officials as they give one of those updates. This happened a little earlier. Our Kyung Lah spoke with more families who are desperate for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hope slipping away. Palpable anger replacing grief as families lashed out at whoever they could. The news media and the government chanting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: "Return them to us," they say. These families have been here since the ship went down on Wednesday. Police officers are brought in to control the increasingly volatile crowd.

"What do you expect of us," says his father, whose teenage son is among the missing. "He left saying, 'Dad, I'll be back'," he says. "Now he's in the sea. Please help my baby. My baby is crying with fear in the sea. Please save my baby. All of his friends are there. All his school friends."

"I want to jump in the sea," she says. "Thinking about my child in the sea, how can I, as a parent, eat or drink? I hate myself for this."

This couple can't bear to show us their son's picture or even utter his name. They and the other parents watching the live video feed of the rescue and news reports say what they need most is answers. Why did the ferry capsize? Why were their children initially told to stay put instead of escaping?

(on camera): Are you feeling that there's still hope for your child?

"My little baby is in the sea, in the dark. I worry he is shivering with fear and hunger. We need to rescue him fast. I don't know what to do. I just want him back."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (CHANTING)

LAH: A nation's prayers from many faiths fill this port, waiting to be answered.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Jindo, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Wanted to get to our other big story, the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As we've just learned in the past few hours, that the underwater drone that's been scanning the sea floor should complete its work within a week, which is much sooner than a lot of experts had predicted.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Officials say the Bluefin-21 has captured clear and sharp images of territory that's been unchartered until now, although it has not found any hint of the plane.

Malaysia's acting transportation minister also said the next two days could be crucial in the hunt for the wide-bodied jet that vanished six weeks ago. As we know that number, 239 -- 239 people on board.

Today, 11 military planes, 12 ships are scouring a search zone that has been narrowed dramatically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN ACTING TRANSPORT MINISTER: The narrowing of the search for today and tomorrow is at a very critical juncture. So I appeal to everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on over the next couple of days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, searchers are expected to cover about 20,000 square miles today. They may have to contend with isolated showers that could complicate efforts to scan the ocean's surface, though.

BLACKWELL: Miguel Marquez is at the base of the search operations there in Perth, Australia.

Miguel, the sixth search just wrapped up. And these two days the acting transportation minister has said several times during his news conference a crucial, critical juncture. Tell us the latest about the search and what this weekend will look like.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that Bluefin-21 is down for its seventh search right now. Typically, it lasts about 16 hours or so. So we expect it's probably halfway, probably a little bit more through that search right now as we're coming up in the middle of the night here. And it takes four hours to download.

Look, both the Malaysians and the Australians have been the same -- the same thing for several days now. That this initial search area is going to take about a week to get through. They've plowed through about 50 square miles of the ocean bottom there, and they have some left to go. They believe they can get to that in the next several days.

They are hopeful, though, because this is where the strongest pings came from. This is where they believe the plane is most likely to be. They are hopeful that they get a positive hit and they can finally end this mystery and stop all those searches from the air and from the ocean surface with the ships, as well. Because they have been scouring the skies and the ocean for days and days and days now. Over 300 sorties, the planes have flown so far -- Victor, Christi.

PAUL: I know, Miguel, that the Malaysian transport minister today was echoing what the Australians had said earlier in the week, that if the search doesn't yield anything, say, in the next few days, they may have to, quote, "regroup and reconsider." Do we have any indication what that means, what changes we could see?

MARQUEZ: It means going back to the drawing board and figuring out what other areas they either need to search or are there are areas they have already searched that they want to take a closer look at.

The Bluefin can be configured in a couple of different ways. They may want to go back at areas they've looked at with either a camera or a different software package, where we've taken a more refined look at the ocean bottom. Or they may just decide, well, let's look at the next most likely place where that plane may be.

It may take weeks, but, at the moment, they're operating on the assumption that they will have something definitive within this week. Because they believe they're searching in the right place -- Victor, Christi.

PAUL: All righty, Miguel Marquez, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, still to come, I wonder if you heard about this. The passengers were taken off this Delta jet questioned by the FBI after a bomb threat is found.

PAUL: And the search goes on for the missing after a deadly avalanche on the planet's highest peak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: A bomb threat written on a note prompted a security screening after a Delta flight landed in Denver. Look at this. A plane with 157 people aboard landed safely yesterday afternoon.

PAUL: That's the good news. We know the FBI questioned passengers at a remote airport location. And then, they tell us, allowed the majority of them to go on their way, which makes it sound as if they may be holding somebody, but we do not know that to be true. The verbiage was just that they allowed the majority...

BLACKWELL: The majority. PAUL: ... of them to go on their way.

BLACKWELL: And of course, we'll get more on that. Let's turn now to CNN's Nick Valencia to get caught up on the other stories making headlines.

PAUL: Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Good to be with you this Saturday. Fifteen minutes past the hour. Let's catch up on some of the headlines here.

Four people remain missing after the single deadliest accident ever on Nepal's Mt. Everest. An avalanche killed 12 Sherpa guides, who were setting up camps for climbers. The avalanche struck at 20,000 feet on the world's highest peak. Three other Sherpas were seriously wounded. All the climbers were accounted for.

Police have arrested a suspect who threatened to start shooting at "The Los Angeles Times" building. Scary moments there in Los Angeles. The man didn't work for the newspaper but for another company in the building. Witnesses tell the "Times" the man said he had been depressed, didn't mind killing someone; didn't want to go to jail. The building was under lockdown until the area was clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: We've got lift off. An unmanned Dragon is headed to the International Space Station. The private company Space X launched on Friday. The Dragon is carrying more than two tons of supplies and science experiences set to dock at the space station tomorrow morning.

And tough news for you Beliebers out there. I guess good news for you guys. It's not looking like Justin Bieber will be deported anytime soon. More than 270,000 people signed a petition on WhiteHouse.gov to send the pop star back to Canada, saying he's a terrible influence on young Americans. That's well over the number of signatures needed to get a response, but the White House won't comment about the fate of the Biebs, saying it wants to, quote, "avoid the appearance of improper influence." More like punting it back to the courts, guys.

I know you're very sad that, you know, Bieber may not be deported. But I don't know. Are you guys Belieber fans? Are you guys into...

BLACKWELL: I have Bieber.

PAUL: I'm indifferent.

VALENCIA: You've got some moments, though, Victor. Sometimes I catch you listening in the morning.

BLACKWELL: I have -- I have one Justin Bieber song on my iPhone. I will admit that.

PAUL: You're a strong man.

BLACKWELL: I am. I am. But also, Nick, on the other hand, told me that I need to, like, get rid of that. And what did you post on Twitter?

VALENCIA: You need to gravitate towards the hip hop. I'm going to start influencing more 2 Chainz in your life.

BLACKWELL: Yes. A little bit of 2 Chainz to replace my -- but "Catching Feelings" is a great tune. I'm just saying.

PAUL: He's just saying.

VALENCIA: You feel some type of way about it?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you very much.

We are covering, of course, the big stories in the two searches happening right now. Not only the search that's happening for the passengers on board that ferry in the Yellow Sea, but the underwater search for Flight 370. That one may soon be over.

PAUL: Yes. It's interesting, though. Because then you think about it, this Bluefin is giving us this morning some pictures that we have never seen of this part of the world, for one thing. And secondly, the Malaysia transport minister said this is a critical juncture for the next two days. Why the next two days? We're going to talk about that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This morning, 11 military planes, 12 ships, they are scouring from the air and the sea the area here in the south Indian Ocean to try to find debris from Flight 370. And Malaysian authorities say the underwater drone should finish searching the ocean floor within a week.

PAUL: So far there's been no sign of the missing plane and no signals from the pinger for some time now, which leads investigators to believe the flight recorder batteries most likely have run out. But we want to bring in Geoffrey Thomas, editor in chief and managing director of AirlineRatings.com and Foria Younis, a former FBI agent. Thank you both for being with us.

Foria, let me start with you, if I could, please. The transport minister said the sub is giving good views of the seabed. In fact, take a listen here to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HUSSEIN: I can confirm that the Bluefin-21 has captured clear and sharp images of the seabed while conducting a search mission in the underwater search area. However, from all six missions conducted, no contacts of interest have been found to date. Bluefin-21 AUV's seventh mission commenced this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So Foria, if they don't find anything within this week that they're talking about, what do they do at that point? Do they expand the underwater search area?

FORIA YOUNIS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, as investigators, they've got to keep on looking as long as the weather and safety permits. So I think what they'll do is they will keep methodically mapping out the seabed and keep looking where they think this plane may be.

BLACKWELL: Geoffrey, I want to talk about this list of 26 questions from the committee of the Flight 370 families. They've drawn up this list. Some of the questions, most of them are look quite technical.

They want the flight logbook. They want to review the jet's maintenance records. They're asking to listen to the recordings of the Boeing triple-7 pilot's last conversation with air traffic controllers. What's the likelihood that they will get any of this? And why aren't investigators releasing it?

GEOFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: It's a very good question. Look, it's extremely unlikely they will get any of that information. This information is part of the investigation, and this is not normally released to anybody until such time as the investigation has issued either a preliminary or you might even get a second preliminary and then a final report.

I mean, you know, a lot of this information is confidential and forms the basis of the final report. And it will be extremely unlikely and highly unusual for these demands to be met.

PAUL: Foria, let me ask you, because a lot of people are looking at the planes that are out there thinking, man, this air search has gone on so long and they haven't come up with anything. How long do you think they continue that focus of the search at this point? And what would still be floating out there?

YOUNIS: Well, I think eventually, some things may turn up from their shifted positions. But as investigators and as we know in the past, in some of these very large plane crashes, they do keep on looking. They may scale back a little bit, but at some point, as investigators, until you come to some investigative resolution, you have to keep looking. They have heard nothing about the leads that have come out from looking at the background checks of the passengers and the crew.

So they're going to keep on looking. And I think the evidence -- the mass amount of evidence is underwater somewhere in that voice recorder box in the black box. So they're going to keep on looking until they find something and hopefully, eventually, they will. BLACKWELL: Geoffrey the acting transportation minister said more than once during this latest news conference that today, tomorrow are very important. This is a critical juncture.

Help us understand why they're so important. The batteries on the pingers, long dead, likely. No new pings detected. So there's no additional information. Why is this weekend any more important than any other?

THOMAS: This weekend is important simply because we're -- they are looking at the area of highest probability relating to those pings. So we've got four pings, four strong pings and we had two fade-out pings. They were in an area of approximately -- and I'll try -- I'm converting this from kilometers back to miles -- approximately 15 x 10 miles.

They're examining the sea floor in that area. And by the end of the weekend, probably by about Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, they would have searched the entire area that is the major focus.

But let's bear in mind, with Air France 447, it was our 18th Bluefin mission that they finally found it. And it took approximately nine days after they relaunched. I think it was the fourth search, and the first with the Bluefin. But they found it, and they found it approximately six to seven miles from where they expected to find it.

So it's still very early days. I think we should rethink this maybe Wednesday, Thursday of this week.

BLACKWELL: All right. Geoffrey Thomas, we'll see if that happens. Again, if they don't find it, the transportation member -- manager -- rather, minister said that they'll have to consider regrouping and reconsidering, I guess, some of the calculations.

Geoffrey Thomas, Foria Younis, thank you both.

YOUNIS: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you.

And we do need to point out right now, divers are searching for more bodies in South Korea's ferry disaster. Coming up, CNN's Randi Kaye takes us inside a ship simulator to kind of show us what those harrowing moments must have been like for them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Bottom of the hour and you are up early on a Saturday. But we are glad to have you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: Always good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five things you need to know for your "New Day". Up first, the underwater drone that's scanning the sea floor for any trace of Flight 370 should complete its work within a week. At least that's what the acting transportation minister says. And that is much sooner - that is, rather, much sooner than many experts have predicted. Meantime, a top Malaysian official called the next two days a crucial juncture.

PAUL: Number two, a pro-Russian separatist leader is pushing back against an international call from protesters to vacate seized buildings in Ukraine. Instead, he's calling on the government in Kiev to step aside. Now, meanwhile, a spokesman for the Kremlin defends the some 40,000 troops amassed near the Ukraine border saying Russia won't be, quote, "treated like a schoolgirl."

BLACKWELL: Number three, the man accused of shooting at drivers in Kansas City on the highways there is being held on a $1 million cash bond. 27-year old Mohammed Pedro Whitaker is charged with 18 felony counts. And court documents say he would fire a .38 caliber pistol from his car and then speed away. A huge break came when someone found boxes of ammo besides the road and police say his fingerprints were on them.

PAUL: Number four, the State Department says they need more time to decide whether to approve the Keystone Pipeline Project. And is delaying the deadline from federal agencies to submit the recommendations on the issue now. They want to wait until the Nebraska Supreme Court settles a dispute on the pipeline supposed route through the state. Supporters of the project say the Obama administration is deliberately delaying the approval.

BLACKWELL: Number five, Miley Cyrus fans, it's a sad morning for you. Pop star has postponed the remainder of her U.S. tour dates until August. And Cyrus who tweeted this picture from her hospital bed. She's being treated for severe allergic reaction to antibiotics after falling ill with flu-like symptoms this week.

PAUL: All right. Let's talk about South Korea. Because we are getting new numbers in right now. The death toll climbing in a country's ferry disaster.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. It now stands at 32 and more than 270 people are still missing. Here are the latest developments in the search and rescue efforts. Divers plan 40 attempts today to try to get back inside the ferry. The ferry capsized on Wednesday. Earlier today, divers saw three bodies floating on the ship's submerged third deck. And now they have been able to retrieve two of those bodies.

PAUL: Passengers' relatives are giving DNA samples to help identify anyone found. As searchers attempt move dive.

And we know that the ship's captain and two crew members are facing charges.

BLACKWELL: The captain says he delayed sending an evacuation order because he feared passengers would be swept away. What could the people on board have been experiencing when that ship began to list?

PAUL: CNN's Randi Kaye visited a ship simulator to help us understand more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the ferry took on water, a loud speaker onboard warned passengers to stay where they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Don't move. If you move, it is more dangerous. Don't move.

KAYE: This cell phone video shows people staying in place. Those who ignored the warning believe that's why they got out alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Captain announced it about ten times. So kids were forced to stay put. So, only some of those who moved survived.

KAYE: Captain Markus (ph) says that is not standard protocol. That passengers should have been moved to upper decks.

(on camera): Is there something that a passenger should do in a situation like that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You certainly go to a higher deck, go where you can exit the vessel. And generally speaking, you are safer on the vessel until such point as you assess that yes, the vessel is going to sink. And then you need to evacuate abandoned ship.

KAYE: But a blanket warning of don't move doesn't make sense to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not to me.

KAYE (voice over): When the ferry started to take on water, alarms like these would have sounded immediately. They wouldn't indicate whether or not the ferry had hit a rock or if there had been an explosion nor would they specify where the water was coming in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd be getting various alarms, you should be doing the emergency signals, you'd be trying to contact various crew to do assessments.

KAYE: Investigators believe the ferry likely ran off course due to foggy weather. They say the ship may have made a sharp turn to get back on track.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The danger is not in overcorrecting, the danger is getting to that point of no return.

KAYE: We can even simulate the rescue operation under way here. They are dealing with heavy rains, high winds, rough seas. You can see the rescue ships out there and the choppers up above. Which are there. But looking at these conditions, it's easy to understand why it's been so difficult for the rescuers to get inside that ferry and see if there's anyone there, still alive.

Alive and perhaps in air pockets in the ship. But neither time, nor temperature are on their side. Randi Kaye, CNN, Baltimore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Another big story we are covering is this continued pushback and defiance after diplomats reached that deal to ease tensions in Ukraine. The question here is, is the U.S. doing enough to halt the crisis and should leaders be doing more?

PAUL: And just in a few minutes, we are going to head under the sea with Martin Savidge to talk about what it's going to take to comb the wreckage of Flight 370, when and if it's finally found.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: 20 minutes till the top of the hour. And there's a call for pro-Russian militants to lay down their arms and leave illegally ceased buildings in Ukraine. It appears to be falling on deaf ears.

PAUL: This week leaders from the West, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a deal in Geneva to try and halt the escalating violence. But the pacifists facing pushback from protesters who are calling on the government in Kiev to resign.

BLACKWELL: CNN military analyst General Spider Marks joins us now. It's good to have you this morning.

GENERAL SPIDER MARKS, U.S. ARMY: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: (INAUDIBLE) that Russia has to take some concrete action if the deal is going to succeed. My question, initially, is, what impact, what influence, rather does President Putin have over this Donetsk People's Republic, over this leader and what can he do, what should he do?

MARKS: Victor, I think Putin has almost complete control and influence over activities that are taking place in Eastern Ukraine. This would stop immediately if Putin raised his hand and he said no more. We've got to cut this out. You guys have gotten out of bounds. You've misread what's taking place in Crimea. This is Putin talking. You have misread what's taken place in Crimea. We have no interest - We, Russia, we have no interest in reclaiming Ukraine. Cease and desist. The problem is that's not what Putin thinks. The annexation of Crimea is clearly the first step. He has freedom of action, Putin can kind of do what he wants. So, the issue is, if Putin is interested in the United States and galvanized international community can go to Putin and say, look, we are very, very serious about this. We have instituted a number of economic sanctions and we will continue to apply pressure and try to crush you economically as best we can. But that has a long tail. That doesn't have any immediate effect. And if nothing happens immediately and there are military options, there can be military pressure that does not include boots on the ground. And no one would suggest that the United States have a presence physically on the ground. And I would handicap that at zero.

But the United States with the European leaders really need to look Putin in the eye and they need to bring some military presence to bear, ground forces exercising, working together, increased presence in the Black Sea with both the United States and NATO powers, increased Air Force presence, intelligence sharing, secure communications. So, Victor, there are a number of things that could take place right now that are not taking place that would convince Putin that he needs to take that initial step, which is to demand that they stop.

PAUL: General Marks, let me ask you about something in "The New York Times." The White House is planning a series of "modest military drills" it says, in Eastern Europe, Poland and Estonia specifically. What kind of message do you think the U.S.is trying to send, though, not only to Russia, but even to NATO members who may be worried about Russia's actions?

MARKS: Well, clearly, you have got to communicate domestically. You've got to communicate with your partners, and you've got to communicate in this case with an adversary who doesn't have to be an adversary. And that's Putin. So, an increase of military activity in the Baltic region is important. It needs to be in such a way -- in fact, we could even invite the Russians to participate as observers. We can embrace them and say come look at what we are trying to do here and understand that this is something that we do as a matter of routine with our partners. We maintain alliances. We keep those alliances strong. We bolster that. And hey, folks, if you don't want this occurring someplace that would be damaging to you, you need to get in line. Stop what you're doing in Ukraine. So, I think it's very important, Christi, that that take place right now.

BLACKWELL: Most Americans think that the best way that the U.S. can deal with the crisis is through the sanctions, economic, political means. We have got the latest McClatchy-Marist poll numbers, 46 percent favor, economic or political action, like the sanctions. 43 percent believe the U.S. should not get involved at all. Seven percent in favor of the military force. Question here, do you think the sanctions are working and will work?

MARKS: I think they will work, it's exactly correct. There's a time lag. You institute the sanctions there's going to be a response to that. There will be some pain, you hope. And that will occur over the course of time. What we have seen with Crimea is that if Putin wants to achieve an objective, he can achieve an objective in a very short amount of time. I mean Crimea has already been annexed. It now belongs to Russia. Just last month, it didn't. So, the effects of any type of long tailed economic of other elements of power, diplomatic, informational, economic type of sanctions will take place over time. There has to be something that can force Putin to make -- to alter what he's doing right now in the very short term.

BLACKWELL: All right, General Spider Marks, we are going to speak with you a little more coming up in the next hour. Thank you so much for joining us.

MARKS: Thank you, folks.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, coming up on "NEW DAY," Martin Savidge has been going to great depths to learn more about what the average of recovery Flight 370 might look like. Right now he's above the surface.

Martin, I understand your view is spectacular. MARTIN SAVIDGE, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, isn't it a gorgeous background? This is Horseshoe Bay in British Columbia. What we are doing here is whether you are going to be using a submersible that's a manned submersible like this one, or whether you're going to be using an ROB, getting them into the water is actually a very difficult, but very needed ballet. We are going to show you how it all works. And safety under water in the process. We'll do it all live, talking to you as we go. So, I'll get under way. See you in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning to you. I'm meteorologist Jennifer Gray here to get you ready on your holiday weekend. Unfortunately, though, we do have some showers to deal with. We dealt with the rain all day yesterday from Atlanta all the way up into the Carolinas. And you can see, still raining in North Carolina. Raleigh, still getting it pretty good this morning. What a soaker. We are also dealing with a tornado watch in effect for South Florida, and that goes until 10:00 this morning. This does include places like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale all the way up to West Palm Beach. Lake Okeechobee is getting some rain this morning. This heavy rain is going to stick around, especially hug the coastline as we go to the next 24 hours or so.

Yes, even on Easter mornings, still raining right around the outer banks. Raleigh, you could be dealing with the rain, Charlotte, you, too, as you go through your Easter morning. And even into the afternoon. We are looking at rainfall totals through Sunday for the outer banks of more than four inches. So, it is going to be a soaker for Easter weekend. We are going to see some rain across portions of the Rockies and even the plains as we go through your Easter as well. The best places to be will be along the Gulf Coast and in the Northeast, in fact, for tomorrow. We also have the threat of some severe weather tomorrow as well. For large hail, damaging wind, even isolated tornadoes. This is for places like Lubbock, St. Angelo and even Del Rio. So, west Texas will be on the lookout for that. A lot of people heading to Boston already there for the marathon. The weather could not be better, guys. 65 degrees on Monday for those runners. That's the high temperature for the morning start of 44. Not bad.

BLACKWELL: Cloud cover, I see there.

GRAY: Yeah, it looks cloud cover.

BLACKWELL: Rainy weather.

GRAY: Keeping cooler.

BLACKWELL: Here, I don't know.

GRAY: I was going to say, when did you start running?

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: I don't. I don't. Jennifer Gray, thank you. GRAY: All right.

PAUL: Thanks, Jen.

All righty, we want to get back to the search for Flight 370. With you now, our Martin Savidge. He's been hiding under water to really help us understand the challenges of debris recovery operation. He's learned that even breaking the surface is no easy feat. Yeah, Martin is inside that submersible, with him underwater recovery expert. The vehicle is suspended by a crane from a barge on the water. And the sub dips down and has to be unhooked by a diver, then begins its long decent. Martin, how is it going?

SAVIDGE: Good morning, Victor. Good morning Christi. I'm back here in the sub with Phil Newton. The man who knows so much about underwater recovery. And working under water. What we wanted to show for you today is essentially what would happen if in a deep sea recovery as they try to retrieve the black boxes or whatever material that they need. That they are going to run across obstacles and obstacles could be many. But in this particular scenario we've set up, is it's wire and wire that's going to be cut through. So, tell us -- well, let's do it and tell us as we go.

PHIL NEWTON: OK. What we are going to do is sever the wire with a guillotine cutter that is a hydraulically operated cutter. For this demonstration, we are going to handle it manually, normally, it would be run by a high pressure hydraulic unit.

SAVIDGE: So, Jeff, the pilot in the back, is actually going to start already.

NEWTON: That's right.

SAVIDGE: Cutting ...

NEWTON: Manually.

SAVIDGE: OK, so he's pumping and cutting. And there is slowly a guillotine closing on that cable out there.

NEWTON: It is. And I'm going to energize the manipulator. Jeff, would you crank up the HPU?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: HPU is hot.

NEWTON: OK, we are hot on the manipulator. So, he is closing on that cutter. And I'll move that piece of cable out of the way with the manipulator once it's cut through.

SAVIDGE: And this - in the water, what this points out to both of you is that all of this has to be done carefully, procedurally and above all, it takes time. And if there's just one cable, that's just one to be cleared. There could be many that have to be cleared, which is why when they say underwater recovery work takes a long time, here is a perfect example of that. We are going to try it to see if it cuts. There it is. It severs. You pull it away and now you have cleared what was one potential obstacle. And then you get ready to move on to the next one. And here is the other problem that comes with the moving on to the next one. And Jeff, what I'm going to ask you to do is lift is on. Jeff, the pilot, he's going to announce like top cyber lifting off. Because then you are going to see something that is going to be a problem.

NEWTON: It will happen now. When we engage the vertical thrusters, is the bottom will get a tremendous blast of water from the vertical thrusters and it will stir up the bottom. Every time you move, whether it's with an ROV or a sub like this, where there's a lot of bottom settlement. You're going to see a huge cloud. You see it's engulfing us now. Now, if we were just moving for a few feet to take another grip, we would have to wait till this entire cloud had settled down before we can see what we are doing. And we dare it move once through the middle of this cloud, because we don't know what we are going to encounter. So, this is one of the real problems of working in the deep ocean, particularly if it's a soft bottom and this sort of situation. SAVIDGE: Yeah, just another hazard that you have to deal with at great depth.

NEWTON: Yes.

SAVIDGE: I will point that out to you and great demonstration. Thanks very much. Victor and Christi, back to you.

PAUL: All right. Martin Savidge aboard a manned submarine there. Thank you, Martin. We're going to be right back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The current was very high and the water temperature was cold.

BLACKWELL: As the Korean ferry captain defending his order to delay evacuation despite facing criminal charges. Now, families of the missing are calling for answers as the death count rises overnight.

PAUL: A critical juncture, that's what Malaysian officials are now calling the next two days - two days specifically of the underwater search for Flight 370. The results of the latest mission and the plan for the next phase ahead.

BLACKWELL: An international deal has been reached on Ukraine. But Pro-Russia separatists are denouncing it. At what point does the United States level more sanctions against Russia and who will blink first? Your new day continues right now.

PAUL: We are going to help you out here with the time. We are just on edge at 7:00 on a Saturday morning. And so grateful for your company. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. And coming up on 4 a.m. out west, this is "NEW DAY" Saturday. And first up this hour, we have got new information on the divers who are going to be going back into the murky waters of the Yellow Sea looking for any survivors of South Korea's ferry catastrophe.