[Christi Paul, Cnn Anchor:] A little bit of sunshine wherever you are, we're glad you're here. I'm Christi Paul.
[Victor Blackwell, Cnn Anchor:] I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 here on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You are in the CNN Newsroom. And we begin with breaking news. A drone strike has killed 15 people, 12 of them Al Qaeda suspects and three civilians. This happened in central Yemen.
[Paul:] This is a stronghold of the extremist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And officials in Yemen say three of the people killed were senior members of that group. The terror suspects were traveling in a vehicle, and the three civilians were apparently in another car. But just recently, this chilling video that you're looking at here of Al Qaeda fighters meeting with their leader in this region surfaced on the Internet.
[Blackwell:] Let's talk more about the drone strikes. CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen joins us, he's on the phone. Peter, put this strike into context for us and talk about the importance. And is there anything that you know or you can tell about the, let's see, the three senior members killed in this attack?
[Peter Bergen, Cnn National Security Analyst:] We don't know who those people were, and we may not know for some period of time. In terms of the kind of the context here, President Obama has authorized around 100 drone and cruise missile strikes since he assumed office. There was only one drone strike in Yemen in the two presidential George W. Bush terms. So it really shows the focus used to be on Pakistan and Al Qaeda members there. The focus has largely shifted to Yemen. We're not seeing any drone strikes in Pakistan over the last several months, whereas we've seen eight drone strikes in Yemen since the beginning of the year, Victor.
[Paul:] So, Peter, could this strike have been tied to the video that surfaced recently?
[Bergen:] You know, I think that's very hard to tell. You know, we don't know for sure where the video was taken. Barbara Shaw, who broke the story, has been told it may well have been in an area not far from where this strike has happened but not exactly the same province where this strike took place. So there may just be that just may be a coincidence.
[Blackwell:] Let's talk more about the video and the potential implication for the U.S. I mean, does this indicate that there is a new round of attacks, or at least plotting for a new round of attacks by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by the U.S.?
[Bergen:] The Obama administration position is before they can take a drone strike, they have to assess that the principal target of the strike is somebody who is posing some kind of imminent threat to the United States. Imminent threat doesn't mean that, necessarily, according to the Obama administration, that somebody is, you know, dispatching a bomber tomorrow. It means that that person has plotted against an American target in the past and is continuing to do so, and there's no good reason to believe he stopped doing so. So any of these any one of the strikes we've seen this year, at least theoretically should be targeting somebody who poses some kind of imminent threat to the United States as the Obama administration defines it.
[Paul:] Now, Peter, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I read, the U.S. is the only country known to have conducted, you know, drone strikes in Yemen. And if that is true, how is that received by leaders there?
[Bergen:] Well, in Pakistan, where there's been, you know, hundreds of drone strikes, it's extremely unpopular. I think in Yemen, the situation is a little bit different. The present prime minister of Yemen, Prime Minister Basindawa, has actually talked to the "Washington Post" and appeared at the United Nations and actually defended the drone program, which is pretty unusual, because you don't hear a lot of defenders in countries where these programs are happening. So I think in Yemen, it's a more mixed picture. But certainly, if you kill civilians, as happened in this strike, you know, that's going to generate resentment. You know, the Obama administration, you know, the position is they will go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, but we do see civilian casualties continuing.
[Paul:] Yes, Peter Bergen, thank you so much. We appreciate you being here.
[Blackwell:] Thank you, Peter. Well, rescuers are desperately trying to find possible survivors in South Korea's ferry catastrophe.
[Paul:] Here's what we know this hour. The death toll has really been climbing all morning. Right now the number we're getting is 33, and it could go much higher. And 269 people are still missing, and many of them are students who went to the same high school and were on a field trip to a resort island when that vessel capsized.
[Blackwell:] Hundreds of their parents have gathered on the island where they're watching the search for their children on these two huge video screens. They're also giving DNA samples to help identify anyone who's found. Some survivors say people on the vessel were told not to move for their own safety. And that sparked a lot of anger, lots of questions, also, with so many people missing now.
[Paul:] The captain says that he feared passengers would be swept away in the rough waters, and that was his reasoning for giving that order. He and his third mate and a crew technician all made it off that ferry, and now, of course, are facing charges.
[Blackwell:] Prosecutors say the captain was not at the helm when the ship capsized. Both he and his third mate have been speaking out.
[Paul:] Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, who's in South Korea there. So, Paula, tell us about the latest on the investigation and what both the captain and this third mate are saying.
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn International Correspondent:] Well, Christi, there are five charges against the captain, including negligence, abandoning boats, and causing bodily injury. If he's found guilty of all of those charges, all five of them, he could face anywhere from five years to life imprisonment. Remember, he wasn't at the helm at the time of this accident. He said he wasn't even in the steering room. We do know the third mate was in charge of the ship, and she has been charged with three charges, including causing injuries leading to deaths. The captain himself, though, has tried to justify not telling people to abandon ship whilst it was sinking, saying, as you were saying, he was concerned people would be swept away. He said there were no rescue boats, there were no fishing boats or other boats nearby, so he didn't feel he could tell them to abandon ship. Of course, he, himself, was rescued, and he did get off the ship along with the third mate. Christi and Victor?
[Blackwell:] Paula, I understand you got a good look at the search effort today?
[Hancocks:] That's right. We got within a couple hundred feet from the area where the sunken ferry actually is. Now, all you can see on the surface of the water at this point is two large inflatables, which mark where the ferry is. Otherwise, you would have no idea that a 6,800-ton ferry was beneath you. You can't see anything. They are very murky waters and we know the ship is sinking. Now there a hive of activity when it comes to the diving. We saw a number of boats with divers on board, desperately trying to get inside the submerged ship at this point. They got to the third floor, we understand, and as the death toll is rising, clearly they are managing to recover some bodies. They're not finding survivors at this point. We also saw four cranes, those large inflatable cranes at the area. They're not being used at this point, even though some divers say it is time to use them, because it's too difficult to get to the ship itself.
[Unidentified Male:] We need cranes. If they could raise the ferry a little, the depth of the water would be reduced so we could conduct rescue operations easily and quickly. It is 35 to 40 meters deep. It will be hard to take them out even if there are survivors in the ferry.
[Hancocks:] Of course, this is a very difficult decision to make, and officials say they will make this decision with the families' consent, because the assumption is, once you start moving the ship, that any air pockets that potentially could be inside could be disturbed. So, of course, once the cranes get involved, the question is, does it stop becoming a search and rescue operation and does it just become a search and salvage operation?
[Paul:] We can see, Paula, behind you, the sun is down, it's night. What does that mean for the investigation and how are conditions right now?
[Hancocks:] Well, this is the fourth night in a row now that the many families behind me are basically sitting beside of the water looking out, wondering what is going to happen. Now, of course, the investigation is ongoing. They're trying to find out exactly why this has happened. The police have told CNN that they are looking into why there was this turn by the ship. Of course, we heard from eyewitnesses, they heard a loud bang. But whether or not they actually hit something is being questioned by officials. They say there is a low possibility that they actually hit a rock. The captain himself says that there wasn't a deviation from course. He had planned the route before he left the steering room. So there really are a lot of loose ends to tie up. And the investigation is in its very early stages. And of course, it is going alongside the search and rescue operation, which, in the public eye, is definitely taking precedence at this point.
[Blackwell:] All right, Paula Hancocks there for you in South Korea. Paula, thank you.
[Paul:] Meanwhile, the deep-sea search for flight 370 is intensifying as officials reveal when they expect the current phase of the underwater hunt is going to wrap up. We essentially have a timeline now.
[Blackwell:] You know the Bluefin-21 has provided detailed images of the seafloor never seen by human eyes, so we're seeing a new part of the world. But what about evidence of the missing jet?