The Search for Flight 370 Continues; Is U.S. Doing Enough for Search?
BLITZER: Aircrews are getting ready to resume the hunt for Flight 370, but their target area has shifted again, moving closer to the Australian coast. This comes as Malaysia's prime minister arrives in Australia to get a firsthand look at the search efforts. CNN's Kyung Lah is joining us now from the staging area in Perth, Australia. Kyung, tell us, first of all, the latest about this revised search effort.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The way that this whole plan has worked as far as the new search area, is once they clear a certain section of the Indian Ocean, the planned search, they move it. And it's generally been contiguous. So you may notice if you are following this day by day, the search area moves. The reason why it moveed that much is because they've cleared that entire area. So it shifts. And that means they're actually making some progress. They've cleared an area. What's going to happen today is they'll try to clear more area. There are about a dozen planes scheduled to take to the air. In about 30 minutes, a new search day does begin off of Perth here. There will be nine ships at sea. They have stayed at sea throughout all of this. Weather conditions have not been terrible. And, Wolf, they are trying -- they did clear about 237 square kilometers yesterday, so they are making some pretty good progress. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: The Malaysia prime minister, Kyung, he's in Perth, as you know. He wants to get a firsthand look at what's going on. What else is he planning on doing, because cooperation between Malaysia and Australia clearly is critical?</s>LAH: Clearly critical, but we're not sure how much they're actually talking. They do seem like they're two separate investigations. Malaysia dealing with everything that happened before the plane disappeared, and then Australia picking up on the search and recovery. We did see the Malaysian prime minister touch ground yesterday here in Australia. We understand that he will be arriving here at the military base in Australia here just outside of Perth. He'll be doing this all in front of the cameras. He'll be going through and meeting some of the search teams. And so this, Wolf, is interesting because it does appear to be somewhat of an optics game. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Kyung Lah. We'll check back with you. She's in Perth, Australia. Australia, by the way, is certainly bearing the brunt of the Flight 370 search effort. Joining us now is Australia's ambassador to the United States, Kim Beazley. Ambassador, thanks very much for coming in.</s>KIM BEAZLEY, AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Good to be with you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Tell us about the coordination, the prime minister of Malaysia now in Australia, ready to meet with your prime minister. What's the objective here?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, firstly, the Malaysians are in charge of the overall investigation. And we are responsible for this part of the investigation, or the search, because it's in the Australian search zone. And so we're doing that coordination. But any materials that are found by any of the parties that are engaged in this will be taken to Perth. It will be collected there and then taken to Malaysia for the investigation.</s>BLITZER: So just to be precise, Malaysia is in overall charge...</s>BEAZLEY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: -- but the search operation Australia is in charge?</s>BEAZLEY: Yes, we are.</s>BLITZER: Have you found anything yet?</s>BEAZLEY: No. As far as I'm aware, we haven't found anything yet. We're eliminating areas from our inquiries, as they -- as you would say. There's a very good search process out there. If there is any chance of finding anything, or anything to be found, this will find it.</s>BLITZER: What's frustrating is they keep moving the search zone. Originally, in the South China Sea. Then it was the southern part of the Indian Ocean...</s>BEAZLEY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: Then 700 miles north, more in the central part of the Indian Ocean. Now closer, a couple hundred miles closer toward Australia. What is going on here?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, I think the Boffins (ph) have had unbelievable challenges before them. This is -- the Inmarsat investigation was groundbreaking...</s>BLITZER: The satellite</s>BEAZLEY: The satellite investigation was groundbreaking. And as a ground-breaking, exercise, it's a bit suck it and see. You suggest the particular areas in which an inquiry might take place and then it's -- we're eliminating those areas. So it will shift after we've gone through an area that was identified as possible. We'll look further in the areas adjacent to it. That's what's happening now. The previous search area was a product of an earlier calculation subsequently adjusted. We're not doing those calculations. Those calculations are being done by people with the sort of real background experience in how the satellites operate and calculations from that, but we do respond to it in the search areas that are created.</s>BLITZER: What happens if you don't find anything in this new search area, a few hundred miles to the east, closer to Australia?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, Wolf, we'll keep going until hell freezes over. I mean I have experience of an incident in Western Australia which used to be researched when I was defense minister, trying to find this -- the crews of HMAS Sydney, which was sunk off the Australian coast. It took us 60 years, but we did find it. From this point on, well, if this aircraft is not found, there will be at the back of the mind of the Australian surveillance planes which operators which operate through this area all the time, that they have got to keep a lookout. Something will happen at some point in time. If it's gone down off the Australian coast, the Indian Ocean guy (ph) will take seats, cautions, whatever, onto the Australian coastline eventually. Now, this will be found...</s>BLITZER: That could take months. That could take months.</s>BEAZLEY: It could take months. It could take years. But -- and that is what the new coordinator of information in Australia</s>BLITZER: And I just want to be precise. You have no doubt, based on everything your government has learned, that this plane wound up in the water?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, all the -- we only go on the advice that we're given, Wolf. And we're given the advice by the people who have investigated this. And we are responding to that. It's come down, in their mind, in an area that is in Australia's area of search responsibility. Therefore, we coordinate it. And it's an extraordinary exercise -- Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, New Zealanders, Australians, some of whom get on well, some of them who don't, are all engaged in an exercise which shows just how much the plight of those poor people who are on that aircraft has touched the hearts of all of us.</s>BLITZER: I want to play for you a clip, the prime minister of Australia, Tony Abbott. He gave us all a lot of hope a couple of weeks ago when he said this.</s>TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the Southern Indian Ocean. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information, based on satellite imagery, of objects possibly related to the search.</s>BLITZER: At that point, he was pretty upbeat about what was going on. But hopes have been dashed since then.</s>BEAZLEY: Yes, it's a very difficult process. It's a -- it's not one that we're completely unfamiliar with, as I said, in searches off the Australian coast. This is a vast area. But there is hope and there's also determination. Hope may get qualified by the length of time it's taking to do things, but determination will stay there. We are a very close -- we are -- we have very close relationships with the Chinese and very close relationships with the Malaysians. We're not in the business of letting them down.</s>BLITZER: And you say the search will continue until hell freezes over. I want to bring Richard Quest into our conversation. He has a question for you, Ambassador -- Richard, go ahead.</s>RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Ambassador, good evening to you.</s>BEAZLEY: Good evening.</s>QUEST: One of the big issues is, no one doubts the willingness and the capabilities and the competence of the search operation. But the traveling public is looking at this and absolutely aghast on a question of confidence in aviation, that basically, bluntly, a 777 can go missing and no one knows where it is. You can see that, can't you?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, I can see that, Richard. And I can see why you're concerned about that. And I think one of things that's been happening, and in part, as a result of the intensive activity that you and others have given this, with considerable expertise, is right now, around the world, people must be sitting down and thinking about proper controls on transponders. What, if any, information ought to be led up for the black box? You couldn't let it all up, but you might be able to send bits and pieces of it up to satellites from time to time. People have already learned a lot about aviation safety from the exercise to this point. I don't think the thing will be the same again. But one thing will be absolutely the case, and that is governments right around the globe will react to this and start to insist on some changes from the airlines.</s>BLITZER: And I know six Australian citizens were aboard that plane, so this hits home to everyone in Australia, particularly Qantas Airlines.</s>BEAZLEY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: I don't know if you fly 777s. Does Qantas Airlines?</s>BEAZLEY: I don't fly 777s, but I do fly 777s home, because from Washington to Perth -- Perth is my home.</s>BLITZER: So Qantas doesn't fly 777s.</s>BEAZLEY: They don't. But Emirates, which have a -- which has a relationship with Qantas -- does. I fly home every year at least once using a 777.</s>BLITZER: It's a very popular plane.</s>BEAZLEY: It's a popular plane. And it is a terrific plane. In terms of the human dimensions of this, I -- a story needs to be told. Air Chief Marshall Houston, who is an enormously capable aviator and is in charge of</s>BLITZER: Your air marshal.</s>BEAZLEY: Yes. Yes, in charge of the process, when that lass has been on your show that -- from Perth, who is terribly troubled by the missing -- her husband missing -- said that she wasn't getting enough information, he gave her his personal cell. So she can contact him anytime she likes and he will respond.</s>BLITZER: A final question. Mechanical failure or criminal activity?</s>BEAZLEY: Well, from what has been told by the Malaysian authorities, they seem to be leaning toward the criminal activity.</s>BLITZER: Either the pilot or the co-pilot or some crew member?</s>BEAZLEY: Or somebody else in regard to that claim.</s>BLITZER: And that's Australia's conclusion, as well?</s>BEAZLEY: No. We -- we take our conclusions from the Malaysians. They're heading up this investigation.</s>BLITZER: Ambassador, thanks very much for coming in. We hope you'll come back.</s>BEAZLEY: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Kim Beazley is the ambassador of Australia to the United States. Our special coverage of the mystery of Flight 370 continues. In the next hour, we're also learning more about today's closed-door meeting of Malaysian officials and some of the passengers' families. But there's another major story we're watching developing in the wake of a deadly earthquake. We're bringing in some frightening new pictures of the moment everything started shaking and even worst quakes: are they still to come?