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CNN SPECIAL REPORTS

Search Continues For Malaysia Air Flight 370; More Bodies And Victims Found From South Korean Ferry Disaster; Drone Strike Targets Al-Qaeda Militants In Yemen; Rubin "Hurricane" Carter Dies At 76 Years Old

Aired April 20, 2014 - 23:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: This is a CNN Special Report. I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington. And we're following a number of big stories for you at this hour.

In South Korea, the search for survivors trapped in a sunken ferry isn't said yielding far different results. More bodies and victims.

And tonight sounds from the ships as the crew sounded a warning about what was happening by air and my sea, a new search day is under way off the coast of Australia for Malaysia airlines flight 370. But potential trouble is looming. A cyclone is circulating nearby. We'll be live from Perth coming up.

But first, we begin with breaking news out of Yemen where a government official tells CNN massive and unprecedented air strikes targeting Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula have killed at least 30 militants. This comes just days after CNN aired this video showing Al Qaeda leaders boldly meeting out in the open. Now, the suspected drone strikes took place in the general area where this was shot. The Yemeni official said today's raid was a joint U.S.-Yemen operation. The second attack in two days. He would not confirm if drones were used, but the U.S. is the only country known to carry out drone strikes in Yemen and the Pentagon typically doesn't acknowledge them.

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoon is on the line with more information on these strikes and who targeted. And also with us CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen.

Mohammed, I want to start with you. These attacks, and we're talking about two days of these now. Are they still going on and is there any doubt these are U.S. drones?

MOHAMMED JAMJOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, Brianna, I just spoke with a source of mine in Yemen a short while ago and confirmed to me that these attacks are indeed still going on. And that's one of the reasons why these attacks are being called unprecedented. And that they're so massive as far as their scale. These attacks in a hot bed for militants in Yemen, they started over 20 hours ago at this point. They're still going on. We're told now that a Yemen commandos are actually on the ground in another province (INAUDIBLE) going after high value AQAP targets on the ground there.

It's clear that the Yemeni government to this videotape that was released last week. That tape was clearly an embarrassment to both the U.S. and the Yemeni government. They spent so much time and so many resources trying to vanquish AQAP in Yemen, which is such a threat not just to the Middle East but to the U.S. as well.

Now as the operation is still going on. We don't know how long it will last. But at this stage, we've been told that at least 30 people, at least 30 militants today were killed. In yesterday's operation in which it was acknowledged drones were used, ten people were killed. And the Yemeni government is saying they're going to go after these targets in a way they haven't in the past. This is very rugged, mountainous, dangerous terrain. So it is surprising the commanders are actually there. As far as how much the U.S. is involved, we've been told the CIA has helped plan these operations, but there are no U.S. personnel there on the ground at this hour -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And Mohammed, tell me a little bit about whether we know exactly who was targeted? Or is that just going to be TBD?

JAMJOOM: That's very much TBD that the hour. We know that there are high value targets that the Yemeni government and the U.S. government have been trying to either kill or capture that are we are told are based in these regions. People, like Azeri, who was the top bomb maker in the Yemeni AQAP. He's a Saudi national. We know that there are foreign nationals that have been killed in if these strikes, foreign members of AQAP. But as far as any details as to who has been killed, which high value targets are going after at this hour, we don't know.

And even if there are a lot of rumors right now that high-value targets have been killed, it would take several days and any confirmation before we would know if these targets have indeed either been killed or were going to be captured -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So several days. So we will be waiting for that.

Mohammad, going to turn to Peter now.

Peter, you heard Mohammed say it was an embarrassment for the U.S. to see AQAP just being so bold and being right out there. But why would AQAP put this video out there in a way? Didn't it just sort of make them sitting ducks, sort of begging for an attack like this?

PETER BERGEN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST (via phone): Well, I think you're right. I mean, we've known for the past year that Al Qaeda in Yemen is trying to be a little more circumspect, communicating, you know, senior leadership communicating by currier as well as over the internet. This kind of public gathering flies in the face of this. It's sort of puzzling why they would do this.

And clearly based on the events of this weekend, it may have been a bridge too far. It may have been a risk for them to have done this kind of very public gathering since, you know, we're not -- these strikes are quite unusual. We've seen strikes before in the past where they might happen, you know, on sequential days. Sometimes even on the same day. But to see this level of strikes within the space of a weekend is pretty unusual.

KEILAR: So, you see this very much as a message coming from the U.S. If you're going to flex your muscle, then we are going to take drastic action to make sure that you can't?

BERGEN: Yes, I mean, it could be a message or it could also be just look, we gathered a great deal of information from your very public performance and march when they made this video. It's hard to tell.

The fact that CNN released this video surely was a little embarrassing to all concerned. And no one likes to have their homework, you know, publicly judged. And so, you know, you might make the inference that this has encouraged some kind of action by either the Yemenis or the United States government or both. Or you could say hey, this video, you know, spoke for itself. There was a lot of information about who was gathering where and, you know, action was taken.

KEILAR: It's certainly alarming to see pictures like this. We haven't seen in, obviously, some time.

Peter Bergen, thanks for joining us. Mohammed Jamjoom. Really appreciate it.

Now, in South Korea, millions of people are desperately clinging to the slim chance that by some miracle, someone is still alive on that sunken ferry. Realistic hope, however, is fading.

Five agonizing days is half now since the ship tipped over and sank with hundreds of people onboard, most of the passengers, teenagers on a high school trip. The new figure, 64 people have now been found by rescue divers, none of them alive. Two hundred thirty eight people are still inside of that ferry.

And I'm about to play for you the frantic radio conversation between the crew of the ship and boat traffic controllers on shore. This is what was happening when the ferry started listing, and someone had to make that call to abandon ship.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JINDO VTS: Sewol. This is Jindo VTS, do you copy? How is the flooded condition?

SEWOL: If is listed more than 50 degrees to the port side and people are not able to move from left to right.

JINDO VTS: We've alerted the crew members to wear the jacket and wait. It is impossible to confirm whether or not they wore. Crew members are at the bridge and are unable to more. Please hurry.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now people who survived the sinking say by that point, the ferry was tip so sharply that the lifeboats were useless. Just eight minutes later, controllers were urging the ship's captain to order everyone off. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JINDO VTS: The captain should make decision to make people escape. We do not know the shutdown so captain make final decision on passengers escape.

SEWOL: That's not what I meant. If passengers escape, can they be immediately rescued?

JINDO VTS: Patrol ship should arrive 10 minutes.

SEWOL: Ten minutes?

JINDO VTS: Yes, 10 minutes! Ten minutes!

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: And now South Korea's president says the actions of the captain and the crew on the ferry akin to murder. That is a quote.

CNN's Will Ripley is aboard a boat of the scene of the ferry disaster.

Will, how far into the sunken ship are divers able to venture at this point?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, they are able to get pretty far into the ship. In fact, this is a very critical moment. Because at this hour, the divers are scheduled to be entering the ship and trying to reach the cafeteria on the third floor. This is the room where they suspect many of these young students were at the time the Sewol ferry sank. And so this could be a truly awful day out in the surf zone.

We are on our way there right now. The search zone located about a 45-minute sail just west of us, beyond those islands there. We will be headed there as soon as we're finished with this live report. We're trying to stop the boat to make sure we have a stable signal out here.

But I need to tell you, after watching this recovery effort yesterday, Brianna, it was a heart wrenching thing to watch these divers who have so much hope they're going to find someone alive, go down into this ferry and instead only find people who are dead and watch those bodies pulled out of the water over and over again. It is something that takes its hull an asset observers. As you'll hear right now from the head of the diving operations, the civilian diving operations, I spoke with him and you can hear him his he voiced the emotion remorse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHOUNG DONG-NAM, PRESIDENT (through translator): Finding survivors is the strong desire of the whole nation. Opposition is the same as the missing people's families. We're all volunteers. We are in the same position. We cry every day as we search for the missing people. I cry whenever I think about it. Families of the missing people and hundreds of volunteer divers are focused on searching for survivors. We're willing to risk our lives for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: And they really are risking their lives, Brianna. The currents underwater are so dangerous. They're constantly shifting. Visibility is almost zero. If you get down just ten meters, that diver told me, you can only see about 20 centimeters in front of you. So, they're in this cold, dark water, searching, hoping to find someone alive. And yet over and over again, we see them finding more. And today could be a very tough day with those divers, we believe, heading towards that cafeteria and the ship.

KEILAR: You are heading towards that cafeteria where they believe so many people, bodies may be. Can you tell us, Will, do they have any idea how long it could take to recover all of the missing people?

RIPLEY: It's proving to be very grueling work. Although as you can see by the sunny conditions right now, the weather has improved from what we saw in previous days here off of Jindo, Korea.

And so the divers, they had been putting ropes into the shifts and that's helping guide them through the dark hallways as they search cabin. And the conditions were so choppy earlier in the week, that the ropes were actually coming loose.

But yesterday and today are the first time the ropes are staying in place, which could allow the divers to make more progress. But you can imagine, just the physical toll that it takes to pull somebody out of that ship, swim all the way back to the hallways and get back to the surface. And they can only stay down there for about an hour at a time before they have to let the next crew take over, otherwise they'll get too exhausted, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly Will Ripley. Thank you so much for that.

And here to help us now better understand the difficulties and challenges that these divers are up against is former Navy submarine officer David Jourdan. He's co-founder and president of Deep Ocean exploration company, Nauticos. He's led search expeditions for Amelia Earhart's plane. So certainly had done some difficult things in his own right.

Of course, the big question here is, David, is there a possibility that anyone may still be alive? Do you think that's a possibility?

DAVID JOURDAN, PRESIDENT, CO-FOUNDER, NAUTICOS: It's very unlikely. There's a story actually just back in December of a Nigerian cook who was found after two days under water in a capsized vessel and the divers were in a similar situation searching for bodies and were incredibly surprised to come across a live person. But that was only two days and that was quite remarkable. Even at these relatively shallow depth, it is about 100 feet. It's a very difficult condition to survive in for more than a short period of time. So, it's pretty unlikely and I think the divers' job as has been described is really quite a sad job.

KEILAR: A very sad job. And also a technically very difficult job, right? I mean, we heard Will talking there about visibility, but also anyone who is done diving though, if you are to dive around a ship wreck, there's the possibility of entrapment. You obviously can't stay down that long. I mean, what are these divers up against as they do this terribly sad job?

JOURDAN: Well, they mentioned fatigue. And it is really, fatigue is certainly a factor. But actually it's your body's ability to stay underwater and under pressure for longer periods of time. At some point you become a saturation condition where you have to decompress for a period of time before you can come to the surface again because the nitrogen in the air becomes infused in your body and it's very dangerous to come up quickly after a short period of time.

So there are physiological limits to how long they can stay underwater. And they're racing against the clock as they're trying to maneuver their way these dark quarters and the quarters -- the vessel is not upright. So everything is inverted or at some funny angle. It is impossible to see. If you see anything, it maybe in an unfamiliar orientation. So the Divers are incredible people who have to deal with quite a large combination of factors. And in the end, they are hoping to find really kind of a gruesome result.

KEILAR: All right, David Jourdan. Thank you so much. It is obviously a very terrible job, it seems, the divers are having to deal, but one that is so important for those family members.

I'm going to ask you to stick around, because next we will be turning our attention to Malaysia airlines flight 370. Each hour might bring us closer t finding the missing plane or closer to the moment when authorities admit they may never find it.

We are live from Perth, Australia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to the hunt for Malaysia flight 370 where it is approaching midday Monday. Planes have scanned the Indian Ocean for any sign of the airline for a 45th day. And deep below the surface, the Bluefin-21 robotic sub has wrapped up an eighth day of work scouring the ocean floor. Malaysian's transport minister admit that was every passing day the search is becoming more and more difficult. And sure to complicate matters in the days ahead is cyclone is circulating northwest of the search area.

Let's get straight to Michael Holmes. He is live at the search base there in Perth, Australia.

Michael, what is the latest on the search. Did the Bluefin turn up anything at all in what's mission number eight now?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Sadly, no Brianna. The eight mission of the Bluefin-21 ended a couple of hours ago. Sadly, the data showed the same result as the previous seven, that is no sign of Malaysia flight 370. A ninth scan of the ocean floor will start in the next few hours. The focus still very much on that six square mile radius around where the second acoustic sound searchers hope was from one of those black boxes was picked up. That was back on April 8th. The eight Bluefin missions so far have covered about two-thirds of that area.

Now, it is an important week. The acting Malaysian transport minister saying the searchers reached in his words a critical juncture. Both he and the Australian prime minister say the current search area will have been picked over in the next few days.

Despite no sign of the missing plane, the search leaders do, though, still feel this area is their best shot at finding the plane and those who were onboard. As you said, the sea search from air and on the ocean continues. But surely, that's going to have to wind up soon. They found nothing.

And you mentioned there, cyclone jack, in the U.S. we call it hurricane. Jack, a powerful system northwest of the search area, not likely to make a direct hit, but weather and sea conditions are expected to be impacted -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. It doesn't have to be a direct hit, really anywhere in the vicinity. We certainly know that all too well.

Michael Holmes, thanks so much for the latest on that.

So much frustration and anticipation that the Bluefin mission could bring an end to this mystery.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss so far. Aviation analyst, Michael Kay, former pilot with British Royal Air Force, aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, former inspector general with the U.S. transportation department, and former Navy submarine officer David Jourdan, he is co- founder and president of the deep ocean exploration company, Nauticos.

Michael, can you imagine a situation where this search comes up empty and then years later we find out what happened?

MICHAEL KAY, FORMER ADVISOR TO THE UK MILITARY OF DEFENSE: I can, actually, Brianna. I think if we look back to air force 447, it took two years to find the black boxes. We're in day 45 as you pointed out. And I think there is a long way to go. And I think our expectations should be set for the long haul.

If we look at the Bluefin, it's on its -- it has just finished its eighth mission. And I think we need to sort of zone in because this is a critical phase. But I think there have been a number of critical phases given the lack of evidence we've had. There's been an Inmarsat updates that pulled us into the location. And then there's be the discovery of the pings and then the fight against the time line of the batteries going dead. I think that was a critical part of the investigation as well.

So yes, this is another critical part of the investigation. And there will be further critical parts of the investigation as we go forward. But I think the language that the deputy or the acting transport minister from Malaysia used is not helpful in terms of the way that these sort of zoned in on this critical aspect. There are number of critical aspects to this investigation, and we should be setting ourselves for the long haul.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And I think a lot of people are drawing comparisons with that air France flight.

David, to you. The oceans obviously are gigantic. They're massive. But I think a lot of people were surprised to learn that this is an area that really has not been mapped. Now, we know some of it has been because of the side scan sonar from the Bluefin-21. But do you think we will ever get to a point where it's easier to map the ocean and much of the ocean floor will be mapped or is a lot of this going to be a mystery forever?

JOURDAN: I think this endeavor here is maybe putting a little perspective on the problem. We're talking about being some two-thirds through these eight missions. We're talking about hundreds of square miles maybe at most being covered by the Bluefin out of many thousands of square miles of uncertainty in where this plane went down.

And, in fact, there are areas the size of modest states like Pennsylvania or Nebraska that have not been touched in that area of the ocean. And those are 10,000 square miles. So the Bluefin is covering an infinitesimally small area of the sea floor. And the likelihood that it will succeed is small.

What is likely to happen is that after these missions are finished, there will be a period of consideration of all the data and some thought about where the asset should really be deployed and whether the Bluefin is even able to search at the depth that is necessary.

And then I think at some time in the future, if the powers that be want to continue this effort, which I hope they will, then a more serious effort will be made to find this plane.

KEILAR: Yes.

And Mary, you kind of don't want to think of this possibility, but we have to, behind the scene, do you think that investigators are prepared for the worst? For this possibility that we will never find out what happened to flight 370?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think the leadership probably is. The people who are out in the field searching the ocean and running the Bluefin are focused on that mission. And that mission requires them to search those areas very thoroughly. But I'm sure Angus Houston and the Malaysian officials are also now, at this point, planning what the next step, or what their plan B will be, because if this does, if these particular search areas, the limited search areas, limited to ping areas, do not turn up the plane, then they're going to have to go back to the Inmarsat data and try to make sense of the many, many conflicting reports of radar data out of Malaysia and Indonesia and other places and try to make sense of those and see if there are not new search areas that can be opened with better analysis or maybe more cooperation from governments in terms of their radar information.

KEILAR: All right, Mary, David, Michael, stick with us. We want to talk to all of you again in just a few minutes.

Another story we'll be talking about, though, a few weeks ago, a lot of people couldn't even find Ukraine on a map. Now that country threatens to reunite a new area of hostility between U.S. and Russia. And there was no peace on Easter Sunday. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: To Ukraine now where hopes for a quiet Easter Sunday gave way to more deadly violence, the gun fights on a country road and eastern Ukraine left several people dead. Pro-Russian groups say one of their roadblocks came under attack early this morning. The government in Kiev said two groups fought over the checkpoint and an incident is still under investigation. But Russia immediately seized on the clash as proved Ukraine cannot keep the peace. Two burned out cars were still at the scene this afternoon riddled with bullet holes.

Today's attack was Ukraine's second deadly shooting in four days now.

And joining me to talk more about this and the implications of the latest violence, where it could lead is Stephen Cohen. He is professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University.

Professor, thanks so much for being with us.

And is there really any chance here for peace or do you see these incidents to be just the beginning of greater turmoil?

STEPHEN COHEN, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF RUSSIAN STUDIES, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: I think they're the result of greater turmoil which has been under way in Ukraine since November when the protest against the elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, formed in Kiev. We all remembered what happened, peaceful protests became violent in the streets. He was overthrown, he fled. A new government was formed and then the focus shifted to eastern Ukraine, which is largely pro- Russian. That's what we're watching now.

The problem here is a lot of tails wagging the dog. The dog being east-west relations and the possibility of war. These violent episodes at checkpoints, snipers, young toughs wearing masks, we don't know where they are, armed militia roaming the lands both in the east and the west, and it's not clear that Russia can control these developments or that Kiev, which is backed by the United States and Europe can control those developments in western Ukraine.

So I think we're on the cusp of civil war in Ukraine, regardless of what Russia and the United States might decide.

KEILAR: Well, so being on the cusp there of civil war, what can the U.S. do, if anything? Are there any options?

COHEN: Well, I think there are. I mean, after all, Russia, the west, Ukraine and Europe met in Geneva last week and they agreed on a few things. Now, they're not easily achieved, but there is this American adage, where there's a will and there's a way.

The question is, how much will there really is. They agreed, for example, that these militias need to be disarmed. They agreed that the violence needs to stop. They agree that there needs to be a new Ukrainian constitution that represents the will of the people. None of these are being implemented.

And here's the danger. I mean, there are so many trip waters. As I mentioned, all of these tails wagging the dog that I fear, and I never thought I would say this, that one could imagine the possibility of war between the west and Russia, not just Ukrainian civil war.

But if there's a Ukrainian civil war, Russian troops are likely to cross into Ukraine from Russia. NATO troops, which are on the move as we talk into eastern Europe, may cross into Ukraine from the west, across the polish border. And then the western Russia, the United States and Russia will be eyeball to eyeball in a way we have not been since I was young during the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s. And who would have imagined such an outcome? But that's where we could be heading.

KEILAR: Yes, and you can see how some of these provocations could spiral out of control. You talk about sort of harkening back to the cold war, to the soviet union. One of the things we just heard from the prime minister of Ukraine was saying this is what Vladimir Putin wants. He's staging a return to the days of the USSR. What do you make of that? What do you think?

COHEN: I dismiss it as the propaganda on one side. Here's one of the problems we have. Russia is churning out its propaganda or misinformation, Kiev is and Washington is. Now, listen to what "The New York Times" reported today on Sunday, on the front page, that the Obama administration has decided to write off Putin as a leader and to go back to the old cold war policy of containment. They use that word.

Now, if that report is accurate, then given these sources, on the front page of "The New York Times' that Obama administration has decided on a new policy, old policy of containment towards Russia, that means that officially, officially we are back in cold war. We don't need the acting prime minister of Ukraine to tell us that. President Obama has told us that if "The New York Times" report is accurate.

KEILAR: Yes. It is the cusp of civil war, and it is also a big war of words.

Professor Stephen Cohen, thank you for being with us.

COHEN: Thank you.

KEILAR: The next is a scene of absolute agony after that ferry sinking in South Korea. Families find their worst fears confirmed. And the seaside echoes with their sounds of mourning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KEILAR: Welcome back now to our Special Report.

This just coming in now. South Korea's president calling the actions of the sunken ferry captain and crew, quote, "akin to murder." And the death toll in the ship wreck is rising. South Korea's coast guard saying two more female bodies have been recovered from the sunken ferry, raising the confirmed dead to 64. But that still leaves 238 missing, and most of them are high school students.

Even though no survivors have been found since the ship capsized and sank on Wednesday, searchers are not giving up. More than 500 divers continue to plunge into the frigid dark waters of the yellow sea and more than 34 aircrafts and 200 ships are helping with the difficult search.

Now, each time that searchers bring a body of one of the ferry victims on shore, families must identify their loved ones. And with many of the dead so young, the effort is taking its toll on everyone, even veteran emergency workers.

Kyung Lah has the latest from Jindo, South Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first police boat returns from the search site. Parents waiting, bracing. They return one by one in identical plain white bags.

Behind the screen, initial inspection. A blanket to cover and a short march back to land.

Parents rush to the white tents to identify their children.

He must have said daddy save me, weeps this father.

No one is immune to the sound of losing a child.

As the families leave the tents, so, too, do the stretchers emptied returning to the gurneys that await the next boat.

Another group of someone's children, another march back to the tents.

Thirteen return in this group, but more than 200 are still missing.

Gurneys on the left side of the dock, divers board ships to the right to continue the search to bring the rest home.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Jindo, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Now searchers tell CNN there are five pathways now cut into the hole of the ship. And that means several points for access for divers into the ferry so that they can look for victims.

Well, we've heard a lot about heart broken families in Malaysian airlines flight 370's passengers. The families of the plane's cabin crew are also facing emotional limbo.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson spoke with the wife of a steward about her struggle to hold on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the past six weeks, Nurlaila has been waiting.

NURLAILA NGAH AIWANG, FLIGHT STEWARD'S WIFE: Emotionally, it's up and down, you know? Sometimes I'm OK. Sometimes so-so. Sometimes, always very sad.

ROBERTSON: The worst Malaysia's prime minister said flight 370 ended in the sea.

AIWANG: It really hurt When we hear that they have ended there.

ROBERTSON: Her husband was one of the cabin crew. They met 19 years ago when she, too, was an air stewardess at Malaysian airlines. A conversation they had a week before the fateful flight helps keep her going.

AIWANG: I was telling him, we are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary this year. He was telling me, of course, the best for him. And I was asking him, are we going to have next seven years together? Of course.

ROBERTSON: Also helping her cope, their three children.

AIWANG: They have faith their father will be coming back.

ROBERTSON: Two boys, 12 and 10 and a girl, just 8-years-old.

AIWANG: Little one doesn't show emotion much in front of me. But for me, I'm trying to hide my emotions as much as I can. They try to cheer me up instead of I'm the one who have to cheer them.

ROBERTSON: After six week, her hardest moments, finding a way to tell her children they may never see their father again.

AIWANG: I was telling them also to accept if the father have gone forever. And they say they will try as much as how I can accept it.

ROBERTSON: In your heart what do you tell yourself?

AIWANG: He's there. That's what I think of. He'll be there. Wherever I go. Whatever I do, he'll always be beside me.

ROBERTSON: Nothing could prepare a family for this -- waiting without knowing. A wife, a mother, coping one day at a time.

AIWANG: Although I smile, it's not from my heart. I'm smile because of, you know, I believe everybody was feeling the same.

ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: A desperate search and weeks later, no answers. Is it time to rethink the search for flight 370? That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The Bluefin's underwater scans should be all wrapped up this week. Then what? Leaders from Malaysia and Australia say if Bluefin's mission fails, the entire search operations may need to stop, regroup, come up with fresh ideas. Families want answers on this, the 45th day since the plane disappeared, carrying 239 people onboard.

Let's go ahead and bring back our panel to discus. Michael Kay, Mary Schiavo as well as David Jourdan.

Michael, you are a former military pilot. How would you rethink the air search for flight 370?

KAY: There are limitations. The exact limitations to the air search. The air crew has been on a search for the last 45 days. And that itself brings limitation on the crews, the fatigue and the actual available crews that are conducting the search, as well as the fatigue on the airframes and the services. And the longer these aircraft fly, the longer you have to ground them for in order to service them as the days and weeks and months go by.

So there will have to be a reset because there isn't a huge amount of resource, a limited amount of resource in order to take this investigation further. So I think we're coming to a natural conclusion for a regroup and a reset. That doesn't mean the search is going to be called off. There's just going to be a reassess.

BERGEN: OK. And David, when you're talking about the underwater search, how would you rethink that part of this?

JOURDAN: I think there's probably some information we don't know yet or haven't assimilated well yet. Realize the Bluefin asset is kind of a quick response capability. And it's meant to get there and find something quickly. If you can't, then you really should take restock and consider what to do again with maybe different assets if necessary.

KEILAR: Because it's working at its limit, right? And you can't be doing that all the time for days and days on end.

JOURDAN: There are some areas of that part of the ocean that are deeper than the Bluefin can go. And there may be better assets that can be made available over time with a little more preparation.

KEILAR: OK.

And Mary, one of the things that we haven't heard a whole lot of recently is the investigation into passenger and crew. We haven't seen conclusions there. What do you think about that? SCHIAVO: Well, I think that probably was a secondary thought. I think the investigation and the Malaysians focused right in on the pilot and copilot. If you recall just a week into the investigation, they announced that it was a criminal investigation. A week into it, they said that everyone had been cleared except the pilot and copilot. And then the United States FBI was looking at their computers and the flight simulator and said there's nothing unusual on there. We didn't find anything. Then they went back and said everybody is a suspect.

So I think at that point, they really did start looking at everyone. And there's a lot of work to be done. Not just the backgrounds, or if there are any problems or associations with criminal group, but any ability to fly a plane.

KEILAR: Yes, 239 people. It is certainly a lot of work.

Michael, David, Mary, thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us.

Now for survivors of last year's marathon bombing, Boston strong is more than a catch phrase. It really sums up their determination to prove that no injury, physical or emotional can stop them from pursuing their dreams. We have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Officials in northwest Wyoming are trying to stabilize a landslide, this depowering a hillside count inch-by-inch. The once slow-moving landslide has doubled in speed, split one home apart and it is about the size of two football fields. It's threatening even more homes and businesses now.

It is not clear why this is happening. But officials say it's unlikely the ground will collapse like last month's deadly landslide in Washington state.

The Space X on man space craft arrived to the international space station on Sunday. The dragon, as it is called, is carrying supplies and equipment for the station's crew. This is the third of 12 resupply missions under $1 .6 billion contract with NASA. Dragon is expected back home in about a month, carrying equipment that's no longer need at the space station.

And now to another tragedy that left many of us asking why us? And why now? The city of Boston is preparing for its first marathon since the bombings that killed three people and wounded at least 264 others one year ago. And while many may be forever scarred, they're not broken. Monday's marathon could be one of the biggest in Boston's history.

Our Poppy Harlow has more.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Brianna. Well, this city is ready for the marathon. This is Boston strong. And you know, I spent some of this afternoon with a woman who embodies that phrase, Boston Strong. Her name is Heather Abbott. Ashe is an incredible woman who lost part of her left leg last year during the marathon bombing.

And the last year that she has been recovering, it's been astounding to watch her progress. Not only is she walking again, she's running again. She ran this weekend on Saturday in a tribute race, and she's going to run the last half mile of the marathon tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER ABBOTT, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: This year for me, it's like a new starting point. It's a day where I'm going to do the things I was supposed to do last year and didn't get to. It's sort of a celebration I think for me of all I've been able to accomplish this year and a time to start new memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: One of the things Heather has done is year she herself has recovered is that she has been helping other amputees. She's got certified as a peer counselor. And she has helped other amputees because she understand what it is like to go through this. And she said that that is actually really helped her as well in her own recovery.

Boston strong indeed. And then our piece on Heather as she crosses the finish line. You'll see our full story on Heather Abbott tomorrow night on "the SITUATION ROOM" -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Poppy Harlow, thanks so much. We'll be watching for that Monday night at 10:00 eastern, CNN returns to Boston to check on the lives of people made famous with photographers snapped their pictures a year ago on the day of the Boston marathon bombing. Hear how these people have put their lives back together. That's back to Boston moments of impact. Monday night at 10:00 eastern.

Boxing's Hurricane has died. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter died of complications from prostate cancer on Sunday. He was 76. Carter's story, simply astonishing. The middleweight Boxer served 19 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of a triple murder in 1966. He then became an activist for the wrongly convicted. After Denzel Washington portrayed Carter in the 1999 movie "the Hurricane."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane is the professional game I acquired later on in life. One thing I could do and the only thing was box.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now Washington who earned an academy award nomination for that performance issued a statement reading, God bless Rubin Carter and his tireless fight to especially sure justice for all. Carter's case also inspired the 1975 Bob Dylan song "Hurricane."

Well, Turner sports sideline reporter Craig Sager is battling leukemia. You might recognize sager at NBA and MLB game, rocking his famous crazy suits. Well, true to style, Sager announced his illness with humor saying, quote, "from the sidelines to being sidelines. Forty veins and 40 electrolytes. Too bad I had some probing questions for Pop."

Pop is San Antonio's first coach, Gregg Popovich. He is famous for giving reporter one line answers. And here's what happened when Sager's son interviewed Popovich during Sunday's game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG SAGER, JR. TURNER SPORTS: He said son, you're on your own. Anything you have to say?

GREGG POPOVICH, SAN ANTONIO COACH: I got top tell you. You did a great job, but I'd rather to have your dad standing here. Craig, we miss you. You have been an important part of all of this for a long time doing a great job. We want your funny mic on the court and I promise I will be nice. Get back here. Be well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Craig, from you CNN family, our thoughts are with you.

I'm Brianna Keilar. Thanks for watching. "EARLY START" begins this 4:00 a.m.