[Pamela Brown, Cnn Anchor:] Vanished. A Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people fell off the radar in midair. This morning new details about what happened to the flight.
[Joe Johns, Cnn Anchor:] Charges filed
[Johns:] Charges filed against a mother accused of trying to kill her three children by driving them into the ocean. Now we're hearing the 911 calls from before the event.
[Brown:] And the picture of Oscar Pistorius emerges as a cheating, gun- loving boyfriend with a temper. Unpacking the events of week one in the blade runner's trial. Your NEW DAY starts now. And good morning, everyone. Great to have you along with us on this Saturday morning. I'm Pamela Brown.
[Johns:] And I'm Joe Johns. It's 6:00. Christi Paul and Victor Blackwell are off today. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY. We begin this morning with a desperate search at sea after a jet carrying 239 people vanished off the southern coast of Vietnam.
[Brown:] China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have dispatched rescue ships and aircraft to the area where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
[Johns:] Report from the region say Vietnam's military confirmed the jet crashed into the sea. But Malaysian authorities say they're still working to verify that and no records have been found as of yet.
[Brown:] And according to the airline, four Americans, including an infant, were on board the Boeing 777. Two-thirds of the passengers are said to be from China and Taiwan.
[Johns:] Let's bring in CNN airline and aviation correspondent Richard Quest who's been following the developments from New York. Richard, what's the latest on the search and how will rescue crews find the wreckage?
[Richard Quest, Cnn Airline And Aviation Correspondent:] Well, in theory, of course, the aircraft itself could give clues as to where it will have come down. And I think we now know of course that we're all talking about an incident where the plane has in some form crashed. And the aircraft, when it gets into distress, when a plane does crash in this sort of circumstance, will emit its own beacon. It will send out its own radio transmitter which effectively will help and alert the rescuers and the recovery teams about where it is. Now the difficulty here, of course, is that this 777 may well have been over the South China Sea when the incident happened. We're still not entirely confirmed exactly where the plane was at the time. We know it was at 35,000, 36,000 feet. We know it was about two hours into its flight from KL, Kuala Lumpur, up to Beijing. Now that puts is roughly around the eastern part of Vietnam and into the South China Sea. If this incident did happen over the sea, then you're talking about a much more difficult operation here. Because now not only will the plane, or maybe the plane had broken up, but now, of course, the transmitter which can keep going for many days, we might not be able to receive the signal from it. So that's going to be, Joe, the sort of issue. That's why you're going to be getting these search and rescue operations for many countries. Politics gets put to the one side in this area, as they try now to find where is the wreckage, the remains, if you like. Where is this Aircraft?
[Johns:] Richard, I understand you met the co-pilot of this plane, Fariq Hamid, and actually sat in the cockpit of a similar aircraft just a few days ago. Can you tell us about that?
[Quest:] Yes, we were filming for "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER." The monthly travel program that I do. And we were filming on a flight from Kuala Lampur from Hong Kong down to Kuala Lumpur. And during that flight, we were actually with the Malaysia Airlines. And as the pictures show, we're we can confirm that the first officer who was flying the aircraft, the one you see in this picture is the one who was on board the aircraft. We have reason to believe that the captain was also on the one who's on the left seat is also involved in the flight that we're talking about tonight. Now it's worth pointing out, and I'm just going to give a bit of background to this filming. This filming was well and truly within the ambit of authorized. It was Malaysia Airlines. There was a safety check captain on board the aircraft as well. So all the correct anyone who's saying what was going on here, all the correct parameters that allow for in-cockpit filming were followed in this particular incident. The first officer involved had about 200,000 hours flying experience. He'd been with Malaysian Airlines since 2007. He was experienced First Officer in aviation. He was new what they say new on type. He had he'd only been on the 777 for a matter of weeks.
[Johns:] A real mystery so far. Thanks so much for that, Richard Quest. We'll be checking back with you. Dozens of relatives of missing passengers or crew members gathered at the Beijing airport. Some overcome with grief and fearing for the worse.
[Brown:] CNN's Davis McKenzie is in Beijing where the flight was supposed to land. So, David, tell us what are you hearing from people there?
[David Mckenzie, Cnn International Correspondent:] Well, what we're hearing is frustration, sometimes anger and certainly confusion. And a lot of emerging doubts about what exactly happened to the loved ones and relatives. We were at the airport earlier this morning. There was just a very poignant red in red sign for that airline coming in, delayed. And then people were staying at a local area hotel. People were crowding in and out through the
[Brown:] Yes. We learned that four Americans were on board including a 1-year-old infant.
[Johns:] An infant.
[Brown:] That's right. David, where do you think that the plane went down? I mean, I know it's tough to tell and there's still so much to learn about what happened. But what from what you can tell where do you think it went down?
[Mckenzie:] Well, Pamela, our sources through state media and also on the ground in Malaysia and Vietnam indicate that this airliner could have gone down in the Gulf of Thailand. Around 150 miles south of any nearby islands. Now that makes it very difficult indeed, to get rescue and recovery efforts to that point. As Richard was mentioning, this is a multinational effort, particularly from Malaysia and Vietnam. Going into those areas, we just recently got off the phone with one of the people in charge of that operation from the Malaysian side. They say they're sending helicopters, planes, any means necessary, to try and find out where that airliner went down. Of course, we can assume that it's crashed on some level because there have only 7 12 hours left of fuel when they vanished from radar. And from the areas where they were being picked up, effectively, vanishing into thin air. Now the wait is what exactly happened. And are there any survivors, but certainly, I can tell you very agonizing, as I can say, hours ticking by here in Beijing and across the region Pamela.
[Brown:] Yes. Your heart really goes out to the relatives there. David McKenzie in Beijing. Thank you so much.
[Johns:] Just the not knowing is probably the hardest part at this stage and there's been so much speculation. Everybody is
[Brown:] Yes. And like you said, an agonizing wait.
[Johns:] So what could have caused the plane to disappear? According to the Malaysia Airlines CEO so far it doesn't look like it was bad weather.
[Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Malaysia Airlines Ceo:] Our early review of the weather system shows that no at that point.
[Johns:] So let's go down to Jennifer Gray at the extreme weather center. Jennifer, can you give us an idea about the weather conditions at the time the plane left Kuala Lumpur Airport?
[Jennifer Gray, Ams Meteorologist:] Yes, well, conditions were pretty much ideal. You can temperatures around 77 degrees. Winds only about three miles per hour. And visibility at six miles. So it doesn't look like weather was a problem at all. We were looking at satellite images as well from where they left on to the destination. And barely even any clouds. We were also looking at turbulence forecast. And it doesn't look like there was much turbulence in the area as well. So from what we can see, it looks like weather could pretty much be ruled out, guys.
[Johns:] All right. Thanks so much for that, Jennifer Gray. Get back to you.
[Gray:] All right.
[Johns:] Still to come on NEW DAY, international monitors make their fourth attempt to enter Crimea as Moscow blasts the group accusing them of being biased.
[Brown:] Plus, for the first time, we're getting a look at the mother who police say tried to kill her children by driving them into the ocean. Ahead what the children told the police about the terrifying moments inside that car.