Flight 370 Families Wait for Word; Russian Flags Seen on Ukraine Streets
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight: tragedy when a South Korean ferry sinks into the sea there, rescuers racing the clock to get people to safety this morning. Hundreds reported missing, the very latest ahead.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the underwater search for missing Flight 370. That search resumes. The Bluefin submarine combing the seabed for the second day. Can it find any sign of the vanished jetliner and will it be able to withstand the very deep depths of the search. We're live with the very latest this morning.</s>BLACKWELL: Violence in the streets of Ukraine this morning. Troops taking on pro-Russian protesters who have occupied government buildings for day. Demonstrators not backing down. Is civil war imminent and could Russia be scheming to tear this country apart? We are live. Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Victor Blackwell.</s>ROMANS: Nice to see you again today. I'm Christine Romans. It's Wednesday, April 16th. It's 5:00 a.m. on the nose in the East.</s>BLACKWELL: Up first, the breaking news overnight: a desperate rescue off the coast of South Korea where a ferry capsized and sank, carrying hundreds of passengers, many of them students. Officials say many have been rescued but nearly 300 are still missing, and two are confirmed dead. It's unclear what caused the vote to sink, but witnesses say they heard a loud bump just before the ship began to lift. And right now, U.S. Navy warship is en route to help with the rescue. We'll take you live to South Korea for the very latest in just a few minutes.</s>ROMANS: Now to what's happening right now deep in the Indian Ocean. An unmanned vehicle, Bluefin 21, scanning the ocean floor looking for any debris from Flight 370, missing now for 40 days. This is a slow process set to go on several more hours. They may not know for hours longer, just what it found, if anything. Erin McLaughlin is live in Perth with the latest. Erin, the sub did come back to the surface for some technical problems. They did download the data from the earlier search. Did they find anything?</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. No, they did not find objects of interest from that information that they managed to download. But I think the good news here is they put, despite the technical glitch, they put the Bluefin-21 straight back down into the water to begin searching again. Many are questioning whether the Bluefin-21 is up to the task at hand, given that it is operating in the upper region of its depth capacity. Engineers having looked at it and saying, well, actually, it can go some five kilometers beneath the ocean surface instead of the 4.5 that was originally thought, that it would need be reprogrammed in order to that. But I think the important thing to remember here is it's very, very difficult to operate at the depth. Consider the pressure. Some 2.5 family vehicles worth per inch on any underwater submersible operating at some of these depths. And then you have the terrain, relatively unknown to man. They think it's flat and rolling, but they're not entirely sure. And whatever is down there, the Bluefin-21 is going to have to be able to navigate. And then consider on top of that, the silt on the ocean floor. They think it's there. They're not sure how, it's further complicating the picture literally. It could interfere potentially with the Bluefin- 21's ability to take sonar imaging. So, all of that factors considered, it is a monumental task ahead. And we understand that it's still beneath those waters searching. No word on when it will resurface again -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: Erin McLaughlin for us this morning -- this afternoon for her -- in Perth, Australia. Now, the Bluefin-21 scanning the ocean floor using sonar, bouncing sound waves off the seabed. Many objects that create a map of what might be down there. This area of the Indian Ocean is uncharted and it's not clear what the Bluefin 21 might find. But oceanographers say it's a search perfectly suited for an unmanned sub.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For all that I've known in doing oceanography now for 30 years, I think the worst thing to do is send a manned vehicle down. I think everything we learned is that, you know, if you look at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, they were able to fix that with what we call an ROV, remote operational vehicle. We have lots of experience with deploying remote operational vehicles that can cut, hold wrenches, they can do things and certainly can bring black boxes up and they can work 24/7. If you're</s>BLACKWELL: For the families who have loved ones on Flight 370, the reality may finally be settling in. Forty days after the jet went missing, that it might be a very long time before the plane is found. Ivan Watson is live in Beijing where he's been talking with the families this morning. Ivan, 40 days on, understandably, they are frustrated.</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. An explosion of anger here at Beijing's Lido Hotel which is one of the hotels where many of the relatives of the 154 Chinese passengers of Flight MH370 have been staying at the expense of the Malaysian airlines. We saw dozens of relatives stand-up and storm out of a conference room. While also some of them hurled abuse at Malaysian officials who were supposed to be conducting a video conference session with the relatives via video conference from the capitol of Kuala Lumpur. Well, the audio didn't work. The officials were sitting up there 20 minutes on screen, on video screen. There was no communication between the sides. Finally, these Chinese families stood up en masse in protest and marched out. Some of them hurling abuse at the screen, yelling things like "liars", "shame on you". Later on in the afternoon here, a poor diplomat from Malaysia and another Malaysian Air official, they sat face-to-face with the families as they do every day. It was like a cross-examination. You had representatives of the passengers' families who are asking questions saying they submitted questions in previous sessions and the mid-level officials were unable, just simply did not have the information to answer those questions. You can imagine, Victor, 40 days into this agonizing vigil, the fury, the frustration of some of these Chinese relatives, some of whom were saying you have clearly no respect for our lives or our time. These were the statements being said to the faces of these Malaysian officials saying we are trying our best, this is all we have. It's clearly not enough for these desperate people waiting to hear about some news about their missing loved ones -- Victor and Christine.</s>BLACKWELL: Clearly not enough. Ivan Watson in Beijing -- Ivan, thanks.</s>ROMANS: Now to the situation in Ukraine growing more dangerous and closer to war by the hour. This morning, there are new reports of tanks on the streets flying Russian flags as the Ukrainian military is now fighting back against pro-Russian militant, retaking an airport, promising to do more to force the militants out of government buildings. This is just one day before Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and European Union are all going to sit down to find a diplomatic way out of this crisis. Phil Black live in eastern Ukraine for us this morning. Phil, bring us up to speed. What is the latest on the ground there where you are?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, where I'm standing, this is the road to Slaviansk. Slaviansk appears to be the town which is now a focal point for Ukrainian military operation to dislodge, Pro- Russian militants and protesters. It is the town where perhaps more any other across this eastern Ukrainian region, of these pro-Russian forces really consolidated their control, seizing government buildings, setting up roadblocks, not letting Ukrainian government officials in, declaring their intention to break away from Ukraine. Yesterday, we heard the Ukrainian government say it was launching what is called an anti-terror operation. This is really an operation to get these separatist movements that we saw Ukrainian military moved to within a short distance of this town. They seized a nearby airfield there. Where I'm standing now, as I say, from the northern approach to this town, there's a heavily armed police checkpoint here with police checking all the people that are heading south towards Slaviansk. The people, the documents, all the contents of their vehicles and just around the corner from where I am, I can't quite show you, but it looks like another Ukrainian military staging point with a large number of Ukrainian soldiers, armored personnel carriers. They've also been a number of helicopters from this location as well. Military helicopters including attack helicopters. For the moment, these forces are standing back at this distance from the northern side of Slaviansk. The question now is, what are the forces going to try to do? Are they going to try to move into this town and take it back by force or for the moment, are they simply content with circling it and cutting it off? That decision, those movements will really determine just how this escalating situation lays out over the course of today and indeed, possibly, the coming days and weeks as well, Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right. Phil Black for us this morning in Ukraine -- thanks, Phil.</s>BLACKWELL: The breaking news this morning: a terrifying scene off of the coast of South Korea. A packed ferry suddenly sinks. Frantic rescues are happening now with hundreds of people reported missing. We are live, next.