seen some of the activity that has been taking place there. >> president obama also said that russia may face new sanctions. and that does it for us, make thank you for watching. our coverage continues next with "cnn international." hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around tell world. i'm rosemary church. ahead here on cnn news room nearly 300 people are still missing more than 24 hours after a shipwreck on the coast of south korea, an update on the survivors ahead. also ahead. >> anger from the families of flight 370 passengers, why many stormed out of their latest meeting with officials. and later, on cnn news room.

an increasingly tense situation in eastern ukraine just hours before some of the key players in this conflict prepared to meet face to face for the first tim time. >> hello, and good to have you with us, we begin in south korea where the coast guard says nine people are dead, almost 300 are missing after wednesday's ferry disaster. >> yeah, divers are searching now off south korea, southwest coast but they're fighting dangerously cold waters, swift currents and low visibility. >> more than 300 of the passengers were high school students, on their way to jeju island for a field trip. now, parents say they are angry that authorities are just not doing enough. and survivors are talking about their harrowing ordeal. >> people tilted, even came

sliding down. at first, the water was really cold. >> i didn't feel the coldness that much. >> so i was staying put. but suddenly the water came up to my face. so i think it was a narrow escape from dying. >> you're supposed to be still. and then jump onto the boat but since the boat could not be next to the ship they said to jump and swim over to the boat. so i quickly jumped and swam over. >> we were told to stay where you are. so we kept staying, but later the water kept coming on, so we were beside ourselves, the kids kept shouting for help. >> emotions are running high in jindo, south korea, where the families now are waiting on the search. and more than 24 hours after this disaster, families are still waiting to hear word of their loved ones, what are they saying to you about the slow pace of the rescue operations?

>> well, rosemary, they're so frustrated because they know time is critical and they are just desperate for information. let me just describe the scene where i am right now. i'm at the harbor which is where many of the families have gathered. and many of them have spent the night just looking out to the water towards the accident site, about 20 kilometers away. the weather is not good, it is drizzly and foggy. and many people are outside the tent, most of them women and grandmothers. very worried. many of them crying, trying to comfort each other. they're huddled together, it is quite chilly out here. now, i did speak with one man, rosemary, whose son was part of that field trip. he is very upset with the pace of operation, he says searchers are using the word "investigation." he said we need you to rescue, not investigate, you can do that

later. and he talks about the conditions, the team went out early, because of the tide it was deemed too dangerous so they came back. and the government rescuers say it was too dangerous to go out, as well. and this man says why shouldn't i be angry about that? if the government cares about our people please rescue the children and families. i can update you on what they're planning to do in the last briefing. they say in the past half hour they were scheduling a crane to go out to this accident site to try to stabilize the ship. and they're also planning to pump oxygen into the ship which would help with the stabilization and help with the rescue operation, and the divers. rosemary? >> yes, and pauline, we're also hearing more about what the passengers were told to do when the ferry started to sink. what details did you hear on that? >> reporter: yes, we heard the young woman earlier talking about what she heard overhead.

we heard what the families heard after talking to the media. they said initially after there was a big bang the passengers were told to put on their life jackets and stay calm. and just to give you a layout of the ship on the fourth level is where most of the bedrooms were. that is where 353 passengers were. and this was at rescue time. keep in mind this was 9:00 a.m. local time. so a lot of people perhaps still in their bedrooms and getting breakfast at the restaurant, as we know now, precious time was lost. many family members still very angry about that as they're looking at this time line, rosemary. and also some family members i should point out are wanting to get more information. they actually chartered a boat to go out to the accident site, according to our affiliate, ytn. but that boat has turned back

because several family members actually fainted because of the ordeal. >> and that is understandable. what sort of support are the parents particularly getting on the shoreline as they wait for news? >> reporter: yeah, rosemary it is very impromptu. it just happened in the past 24 hours. but there are various tents that have popped up with counselors and people who are offering -- i imagine it is government agencies or organizations. i do know the equivalent of the red cross is here, as well, providing hot meals and drinks for some of the family members. but as far as we know it is just the support right here. i imagine at other locations there will be more formal modes of support as we wait for more information on what is happening there at the accident site. >> all right, pauline chiao, reporting from there in jindo,

south korea, thank you. and pauline mentioned the weather conditions out there, she says it is not good. that is in jindo, let's bring in our meteorologist, 20 kilometers off shore is where it is happening. the currents also delayed divers from getting back into it. >> yeah, very powerful currents, john. the wave heights are about a meter, this is the location where the accident occurred 9:00 a.m. local time in the region. you fast forward after the incident, and clear skies until 2:00 a.m., this is what pauline talked about, the storms pulling into the region, showers beginning to come in. the main concern with this is not just the wet weather and low visibility. but the storm system has the potential to take the wave heights that are around one to two feet in the last couple of days taking them perhaps 13 feet high in portions of the east china sea. certainly that will play a

significant role on the vessel out in the open water. take a look, this vessel weighs some 15,000 tons, and you bring in six to 13 feet that certainly can move this vessel around across this region especially when you consider what it might be in place to, of course the bottom of the ocean currents. ten degrees celsius, or 15 degrees farenheit. and this one going from the southwest to the northeast in this region. but again the major concern on this will be the wave heights. we expect the winds to pick up in the next couple of hours with the storm system and take the waves at one to two feet, to 13 feet in the next 22 hours. as the search was taking place into the overnight hours yesterday, and it is the morning hours today as they continue the operations again into the nighttime hours, as well. >> thank you very much, not good

news, i guess, rosemary? all right, well, technology brings in heartbreaking news to this tragedy. while the families wait some survivors are turning to social media to express the terror they felt. but before that, on board they texted loved ones not knowing those words may be their last. >> reporter: well, some parents and relatives say one of the ways they found out was through text messages from their loved ones. and some of the last communication is just starting to emerge. and as you can imagine, it is just so heartbreaking to read the text messages. in one text a student on the ship wrote his older brother i'm on my way to jeju island but the ship hit something and is not moving. the older brother asked, is it bad? to which the older brother said i'm inside, so i don't know. the older brother responded, don't panic. and that is the last message

from the brother that has not been opened. now, cnn has obtained a picture of a purported text message from a student who is or was trapped and the text message was received by the students mother, here is how it reads, no phone connection, no internet connection, just sending text messages. there are a few people on the ship. can't see anything, there are a few men and women. women are screaming, there are a few people on the ship and we are not dead yet. so please send along this message. meanwhile, this video shows a picture of a woman holding a text message she received from her son. and of course, we are receiving a lot of reaction on facebook and twitter on what could be the largest maritime disaster in south korea in 20 years. on social media, a lot of people say they're praying and hoping for a miracle. a lot of others expressing disbelief that this could happen. we should also mention there is

growing anger and frustration over how the authorities have been handling the situation. am amara walker, cnn, atlanta. and we will have much more on the ferry disaster coming up in just a few minutes here on cnn news room. including a look at how the urgency navy is helping rescue efforts off the south korean coast. that part of the story is coming up at the bottom of the hour here on cnn. well, data from deep in the ocean and from the surface is now being analyzed in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. >> that underwater information comes from the bluefin-21, completing its first full mission on wednesday after two previous missions were cut short by technical issues. >> the bluefin has mapped about 90 square kilometers of the ocean going down about 4600

meters. there was concern that that was too deep for the bluefin. but the engineers say it can operate at that depth with no problem. >> also being analyzed, an oil sample spotted on the ocean surface in the search zone. officials hope to learn if it is in fact aviation fluid or if it is something else. cnn's michael holmes joins us from perth on the latest from the operation. michael it seems that the bluefin was able to map the area, but so far nothing reported. how long is the effort supposed to take? >> reporter: yeah, third time is the charm, john, from the bluefin-21, as you said, the first two missions were cut short, although they did get data when they were down there. they coordinated the search, these were not wholly unexpected. it is working now. the data they got on the first two runs showed nothing of significance. the data from this last full

mission on the ocean floor or just above it is still being analyzed. and we're hoping to hear in the next few hours what if anything they found on that run. of course, they are concentrating their work on the area where the strongest ping came from. so where they will be going over the background pretty thoroughly, in fact going back over the ground that the bluefin missed on that first mission cut short, john? >> okay, let's look forward here, we get to the point where the bluefin maps that entire area and nothing is found. what then? >> reporter: you know, it is interesting, the australian prime minister, tony abbott says they will not give up and will move to another phase, just what that phase will be is anyone's guess. but those who are coordinating the search say also let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. this really is only the third run by this bluefin and to cover the whole area could take six weeks or two months. there is an air of confidence among some that they're in the

right spot and that it is just a matter of time. they say be patient and we'll work out what is next. but tony abbott says they wouldn't give up even if they couldn't use this technology. >> and on the ocean surface there is this ocean slick being analyzed. it could be the first tangible piece of evidence. when will we know the results from that? >> well, hopefully very soon, john, yeah, this is the oil slick that the ocean shield saw and picked up a two liter sample from. it is here back in perth being analyzed as we speak. it took a while to get it back here, you know, we have to remember this is 1600 kilometers offshore, they had to get an australian navy vessel to go offshore until it was in helicopter range offshore. it was choppered back to the navy, offshore, then brought down here to perth. so now it is being analyzed. what they're trying to do is

obviously see whether it could have come from mh-370, whether it is engine oil or as you said perhaps hydraulic fluid or some other component from an aircraft and not just something incidental to this. in fact, the malaysians have sent down samples of oil they use in their engines to see if it can be cross matched. so that is still going on today. hopefully we'll have some answer on that potential clue, john. >> okay, piece by piece, drip by drip, it is all coming together, i suppose. michael holmes, live in perth thank you. and we'll have much more on information on flight 370, including frustration from the families of the missing passengers. >> absolutely no shame. >> many of them chose to storm out of the meeting on wednesday with malaysian officials. we'll have more coming up later on this hour right here on cnn news room. >> we're going to take a short break right now. just ahead, talks aimed at resolving the crisis in ukraine

set to begin just hours from now. next on cnn news room, some people from the eastern part of the country say is how soon they can join russia. and coming up, the oscar pistorius trial resuming in the coming hours. coming up we'll take a look at the final witness before a nearly three-week break. in the nation, it's not always pretty. but add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we take care of the heat, so you don't get burned. just another way we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ then a little time to kick back. earn double hilton honors points with the 2x points package and be one step closer to a weekend break. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything.

pedestrian . welcome back, foreign ministers from russia, ukraine, the u.s. and eu are set to meet

today in geneva to discuss their growing unrest in eastern ukraine. >> yeah, eu foreign chief paul ashton was there today, and the u.n. is threatening sanctions if moscow continues to violate the ukraine sovereignty. >> what you have already seen is the russian economy weaker, capital fleeing out of russia. mr. putin's decisions are not just bad for ukraine. over the long-term, they're going to be bad for russia. >> meanwhile, the secretary general says the alliance is pushing for a diplomatic solution for the crisis. nato is bolstering defenses in light of the events in ukraine. >> more planes in the air, more ships on the water. and more readiness on the land. >> in the meantime, on the ground in eastern ukraine

pro-russian militants seized a convoy of ukrainian military vehicles. then they drove them through the streets of slaviansk, flying the russian flag. >> ukraine's army in a spin. these vehicles began this day in ukrainian hands but are now paraded by pro-russian militants in slaviansk. they were blocked by the militants. conce concerned local activists or russian special forces depending on whether you're listening to officials in moscow or kiev. the best equipment? sniper rifles, very disciplined. >> these pictures are pretty much the worst nightmare for the kiev central government. they're seeing here the forces they sent in to take on these pro-russian militants, effectively giving up their armor moments after being here. >> they're in power here, the

locals quite relaxed. backed by this man who says he is from simferopol. people have asked for our help, and we came. the ukrainian minister of defense trying to find out what happened could only fly overhead. the self-declared new mayor tells us the ukrainian soldiers have not surrendered yet and are being fed lunch. even he takes his orders from the men in green. ukraine's army stuck in the skies. and at the nearby air fields, still trying to drive through this village and this happened. stuck, swamped by locals, furious at shots, they say, fired in the air and the damage they did by driving a car.

paratroopers, groggy, here they have run into an almost insurmountable problem, based on the fact that rightly or wrongly that these locals in this very poor village simply don't trust or like the central government of kiev. poor, they're physically closer to russia here than the kiev government they feel ignored by. he tries to talk a way out. we want them to intervene in the protests in central kiev, he says, but not one of our parratroopers obeyed. i ask to let us go out the way we came in. this woman says she was shot. listen to the reaction when the colonel says they did not shoot. an afghan war veteran and police chief tried to mediate. another pro-russian leader joins, they try to give up their

firing blocks. kiev yet to regain any authority here. and stumbling, they try. nick walsh, cnn, slaviansk. >> and we'll take a short break here on cnn news room. just ahead, the oscar pistorius murder trial is nearing a long adjournment. ahead, why an expert witness says the prosecution's version of events is all wrong. ♪

[ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ welcome back, well, the nigerian military says that eight school girls are still missing following a massive abduction by militants this week. >> they were pushing forward in the forest of the town of chibok where the girls were kidnapped.

one of the attackers has been captured. >> boko haram has been thought to be responsible for a bomb blast in the nigerian capital, which killed more than 70 people. that also happened on monday. and we are standing by for one more day of testimony in the oscar pistorius murder trial, that is before they take a long break. >> yeah, on wednesday, the judge approved the prosecution's request for oppos a postponemenl may 5th. this trial has gone on much longer than planned. >> when court resumes in about three hours, roger dixon will return to the stand. i spoke to kelly phelps about the testimony on wednesday. >> reporter: oscar pistorius no longer on the stand in a very

clear shift from that to expert testimony. this is a crucial part of the trial for the defense, they now get their opportunity to put all their evidence on the record, provide a context in which to consider mr. pistorius' performance and bring the attention of the court back to the key contentions that they claim did not occur. now, the prosecutor still continuing with the very aggressive style. he spent a lot of time and is spending a lot of time on this one forensic witness. >> absolutely, that is how you can tell how important the evidence of that witness is. and that witness has raised central points of the state's case and is trying to cast doubts on the case. so for example, we heard as sound evidence with the cricket bat being hit against the door. and that was to try to put doubt in the neighbor's testimony for the state that what they had heard was the gunshots and therefore reeva steencamp

screaming. the defense claiming no, they're mistaken, it was the cricket bat that they heard and therefore it must have been pistorius who they heard screaming. >> absolutely, and the key issue i found out about when i was in court was not only the direction of the bullet but the position of reeva steencamp. the state had always claimed that wind indicated she was facing the door, and that was an indication they were having an argument, and the intention to kill on mr. pistorius' behalf. and now we have a witness saying that the trajectory shows she was facing side ways, not towards the door. they claim it was fired in quick movements. >> and it was just the nature of the movements. >> we know that wings tell a story.

today, the defense was trying to use them to tell their story and the state is trying to cast doubt on the credibility of the witness to try and maintain the version of events. >> and that was robyn curnow speaking. and court starts in three hours from now. stay tuned for live updates right here on cnn. and still to come on cnn news room. south korea's ferry disaster. survivors are describing what happened and what they were told as the ship went down. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today.

it is 12:30 on a thursday morning here on the east coast of the united states. and we would like to welcome you back. >> i'm rosemary church. divers are searching for survivors in the waters of south korea, wednesday's ferry disaster claiming at least nine lives. but nearly 300 people are still

missing, most of the passengers on the ship were high school students. >> maritime engineers are analyzing data from an underwater vehicle in the search for an oil sample from flight 370. they completed the first full mapping session today. the oil sample was taken from a slick inside the search zone. pro-russian protesters are celebrating in several cities in eastern ukraine, they saw the convoy of vehicles and paraded them through the streets of slaviansk. the russian and ukraine leaders are set to meet in geneva today to discuss the situation. and the nigerian military says that eight school girls are still missing following the abductions by a militant group. most of the girls kidnapped have been freed. rescue crews are looking for the attackers in a dense forest. officials say one suspect has

been caught. more now on our top story, authorities in south korea are trying to figure out what caused that passenger ship to sink in the waters of the country's southwest coast. >> yeah, close to 300 people are still unaccounted for. and a massive rescue operation is in full swing, amara walker reports. >> reporter: this is the ferry sewol, now almost completely submerged. the ship headed towards jeju, nearly 500 people on board, 325 of them high school students from just outside seoul on a class trip. wednesday, shortly before 9:00 a.m., the ship sent out a distress call. witnesses heard a loud bang, then the ferry started to list. the passengers were urged to put on their life jackets, and the passengers began to scramble. >> there was an announcement telling us to sit still on the

ferry but the ferry was already sinking. some of the students were not able to escape. the ferry started to list. so we asked if we should escape now. but the announcement kept telling us to stay still. >> i was keeping still without making any movements. there was an announcement that we should not move. >> another student on board says she felt tremors throughout the ship strong enough to knock shipping containers off balance. several classmates were thrown off their feet. >> i held a hand rail and moved to the right side of the ferry toward a helicopter as the water came in. trash cans were floating and water came up to my neck. >> helicopters from the u.s. navy fleet rushed to help. footage from south korean tv showed the helicopters rushing to help the submerged ship. frantic passengers were clinging to the boat. >> i almost got trapped.

if i was told i should go outside i could have jumped into the water through the exit. but i could not. >> a handful of passengers were lifted to safety by helicopters while dozens of others were pulled out of the frigid water by rescue boats. within two hours the ship had capsized and was almost completely under water. by night fall, hardly any of the ship was still visible. the rescue crews searched in the dark for any survivors. amara walker, cnn. well, the desperate search for survivors continues, of course, but is hampered by freezing waters and cold weather. and we're joined by a spokesperson for the u.s. navy in korea, lieutenant abrahamson. and just tell us what support the u.s. navy is giving them in the way of support, helicopters, what else? >> yes, thank you for having me.

now first i would like to again, the u.s. navy we would like to express our condolencings -- condolences and to let them know our hearts are with them. this is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families. as far as what the u.s. is doing, we have the uss bonhomme that has 3,000 sailors that are embarked on the ship. the ship is equipped with the osprey, as well as the helicopters. and currently we have two mh helicopters involved in the search and rescue operations, and support of the korean navy and coast guard. >> sir, i would like to ask you. it is a delicate question, but at this point how hopeful are you that survivors can be

brought from inside the hull of that boat? >> yes, as long as there is a search and rescue operation, those of us carrying that out within the u.s. navy and our partners and the navy and coast guard, we always remain hopeful that there are survivors out there. i can tell you that search and rescue operations are something that we practice routinely. and we will continue to search and conduct the searches as long as the republic of korean government requests us to do so. and we'll continue to do those searches in coordination with our korean partners. >> and lieutenant, how difficult are conditions out there? we know the weather is not particularly good in the seas. we know they're pretty choppy right now. >> yes, indeed. we're told today that there are the conditions, the weather is worsening out there. i can tell you that we are working very hard. you know, each search and rescue operation is unique. and each one is uniquely difficult. but i can tell you that this is

something that we practice and rehearse so that when these kind of situations happen we can work together and we can work together as best as we can, and i can tell you that the korean authorities are working tirelessly to look for these missing passengers. and we'll continue to support as requested by the republic of korea government. >> all right, lieutenant, arlo abrahamson, thank you for joining us and bringing us up to date on the situation. >> yeah, you did mention the situation as far as the weather goes, getting worse. pedram javaheri has been following this, as well. we talked about the seas getting i guess much higher in the last couple of hours. and also the conditions at the time of the accident. >> yeah, absolutely, what is really peculiar about this.

you know we talked about the blood moon that occurred in the past couple of days. we had the earth, the sun and moon. and on our planet tides will be at their most extreme. and what is fascinating about what occurred here on tuesday, or wednesday 9:00 a.m. local time. we had the low tide occur just 17 minutes right around the time there where the incident occurred coming down to about half a meter or so below where the original level where the mean sea level is in this region. of course we have multiple low tides and high tide in the single day, that was one of the lowest in a single day as we came out of that phase, and the lunar eclipse. and the lowest tide of the month occurs in the last several hours. so this is something the investigators are looking at carefully to see if it played a role in it. because we had the lunar eclipse, as john alluded to, the

seas, one to three feet. the wave heights. that will increase to upwards of maybe seven, perhaps up to 13 feet when this next storm system pushes in at this hour. already, a lot of clouds, visibility down to less than about a kilometer. less than a half a mile in this region closest to the actual point of where the vessel went down. but again, the clouds will remain here very thick over the next couple of hours. winds will be expected to pick up at 22 meters per hour. again, we expect it to get up to maybe 40 to 50 miles an hour. quickly, we'll compare the vessel as far as the historic wreckage when it comes to vessels we know of. the titanic measured about 900 feet across, weighed some 250,000 tons. you see the people on board there, you see the costa

concordia. 500 people here on board approximately. the weight at 365 tons, and the length, roughly half as far as the length is concerned. something here worth noting especially with the waves coming? >> and it was a coincidence, but the titanic coming down on the 15th. kind of freaky. >> it is. >> thank you. and a bold show of defiance on the streets of one ukrainian city. >> coming up next, the story behind these ukrainian vehicles. and they're flying the russian flag. if i told you that a free ten-second test

could mean less waiting for things like security backups and file downloads you'd take that test, right? what are you waiting for? you could literally be done with the test by now. now you could have done it twice. this is awkward. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. welcome back to cnn news room. well, foreign ministers from russia, ukraine, the u.s. and eu are set to meet today in geneva to discuss the growing unrest in

eastern ukraine. >> that comes as u.s. president president obama is warning of new sanctions against russia if moscow continues to violate ukraine's sovereignty. cnn's correspondent jim sciutto has our report. >> reporter: kiev, counteroffensive in eastern ukraine stalled just as it started. in slaviansk, pro-russians stormed the area, waving the russian flag. they blocked the armored vehicles rolling into that city. ukraine's defense ministry later forced to admit the vehicles had been seized by pro-russian militants. even as it faltered, russia's foreign minister called the crackdown illegal. >> we'll ease the situation and make it so that the government in kiev views with respect the demands of ukrainian citizens who live in the east.

>> reporter: they warn that they are on the edge of civil war. the u.s. continues to blame the instability firmly on moscow. >> any destabilization going on is a direct result of russia, so it is a concern that they're making russia massive parts of it. >> they are beefing up forces in neighboring nations. a show of force to reassure kiev. >> we will have more planes in the air. more ships on the water. and more readiness on the land. >> still, director of national intelligence, james clapper in tampa for an intelligence agency conference conceded it it hard to assess exactly what vladimir putin is up to. >> we do not know what is inside vladimir putin's head. that is not a secret we can

capture with any intelligence discipline. it is a mystery. >> nato will conduct more sortis with troops along the eastern frontier in ukraine and russia. it is not certain what effect this will have on the diplomatic track. you have john kerry meeting foreign minister lavrov. it is the first direct contact between lavrov and russian officials since this crisis begin. jim sciutto, tampa, florida. ukraine's government has said all along that moscow is instigating much of the unrest in ukraine. and now they say they have proof. cnn's international correspondent arwa damon has more. >> you can see them being arrested. but right now, he was in the

motel in the room. >> reporter: vitaly nada, an officer with the counterintelligence services says that he was arrested in march. and according to his id, is a russian military officer. in his position, nada says, all the components of a homemade bomb. plus detonators. bolts and screws, a map marking the locations of military and administrative installations in the ukraine. >> the exact places where riots were peaceful, let's say, so-called peaceful demonstrators went to protest. so the intention was not to organize peaceful protests. but to organize chaos. and organize let's say terror in the streets. >> reporter: cnn was given exclusive access to some of the evidence that ukrainian officials say they're using to build their case in geneva about

direct russian involvement in the unrest in the east. >> but we're speaking about dozens of the russian special forces, russian military and the agents. >> reporter: among them, nada says, is this russian, 22 years old. these are photographs posted to social media. in one, she carries a rocket-propelled grenade, she was dispatched, intelligence sources tell us, to instigate violence. >> this was taken from her when she was arrested. this gun, normally is used for shooting plastic bullets. the lady modified the gun to shoot the metal bullets. >> reporter: she was arrested for alleged involvement in riots, including this one in southern ukraine. in a secretly recorded telephone conversation that we did not have access to, nada says that

calyeda reports back to her superiors in russia that she shot and wounded three people. calyeda in custody agreed to speak to us, her clothing different than her on-line persona. she denies the allegations against her and claims she is a journalist, but when cnn searched for the outlet she says she worked for it was last published in the 1920s. she admits she was carrying the pistol to protect herself but didn't know the weapon had been modified. i know big guns, machine guns, rpgs, she tells us, but not pistols, she said she was talking to friends on the phone and that her comment about shooting people was because she was worked up after seeing so much violence. i said by phone that i basically want to shoot all of them. naturally, i said a lot of things at the time. now, she says, she never fired the weapon.

but nada says that koleda is part of a complex russian network to turn ukraine into a battlefield, something russia continues to deny doing. arwa damon, kiev, cnn. and the two are still detained by authorities pending an investigation. they have yet to appear in court. okay, we have this just in. the captain of that capsized ferry in south korea has apologized saying simply i am sorry. i am at a loss for words. he is under investigation right now by the coast guard for negligence, alleged negligence. he did appear and was asked a lot of questions by reporters, apparently but only said these words. he said i am sorry, he didn't answer any questions. his head was bowed. he was wearing a baseball cap and that was it. but he has apologized for what appears to be an accident, at least nine people confirmed dead

so far. almost 300 remain missing. and of course, this frantic search continues for anyone who may still be alive. as time obviously goes on the hopes diminish over time. >> and of course at this time we have no idea what caused the accident. but a number of eyewitnesss suggest the ferry hit something, they heard a bump, a noise, and then it started to list. >> exactly. okay, we'll take a short break here, but much more from cnn news room when we come back. >> stay with us. maestro of project management. baron of the build-out. you need a permit... to be this awesome. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (aaron) purrrfect. (vo) meee-ow, business pro. meee-ow. go national. go like a pro.

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low oil pressure in a chamber that protects part of the bluefin-21's electronics. they say it was quickly fixed and the bluefin was sent back down. but it still cost about five hours of search time. on monday, the bluefin cut short a mission on its own when it started to go beyond range. that time, it finished its search. >> it is troubling when we have all of our eggs in one basket and that basket is operating at the very edge of the parameters. >> reporter: that leads people to question why the bluefin is the only device searching in the indian ocean. there are more suitable vehicles with better depth capability. the remus 6,000 can go deeper, and the u.s. navy has those but says they are deployed on missions and are not available. there is also the orion, a towed vehicle that has side scan

sonar. it can go deeper than the bluefin. the only problem? it is sitting in a warehouse in maryland, not put together. >> it has not been passed. >> reporter: so why haven't the search coordinators in australia asked for a vehicle that can go deeper especially when there are parts of the search area deeper than the bluefin's range. they have not responded to that specific question from cnn but have said this. >> at the moment it looks like the bluefin-21 is more than adequate for the task. >> reporter: but experts say time is working against the search teams. no underwater audio signals have been detected for over a week. and the sometimes brutal winter in the southern hemisphere is quickly approaches. >> because the weather deteriorates, the aevs need to go through this cycle of ascend, recovery and download. that forces them to be exposed to the weather twice a day.

>> reporter: an operation like this is the best equipment for the job we're doing, but that same source says they may tweak the bluefin's capabilities and moderate it to reach more than three miles down, about half a mile further than it can go right now. brian todd, cnn, washington. well, for the loved ones of passengers on board flight 370, every single day without answers is agonizing. in china, family members lashed out at officials on wednesday after technical glitches blocked a scheduled video conference. ivan watson reports. >> reporter: anger and rage from families of passengers of the missing malaysia air flight 370. officials in malaysia were supposed to hold a video conference with relatives of some of the 153 missing chinese

nationals. but technical glitches blocked the link between kuala lumpur and beijing. an interpreter translated as angry family members stormed en masse out of the room. some hurling abuse at mute malaysian officials. lack of information about the plane has bred suspicion here. people were yelling liars at the screen, at the malaysian authorities. >> yes, of course. they are liars. >> reporter: steven wang's mother was a passenger on board the missing flight. he is one of hundreds camped out at this beijing hotel waiting desperately for news about missing loved ones. >> it is just like a big cage that it is full of bad emotion. and when we got into the middle of the room, we felt sad and

angry. and exhausted. >> reporter: for more than a month, malaysian air has been accommodating the families of more than 100 passengers at several hotels in beijing. it has been an agonizing vigil. malaysian authorities left a diplomat and a representative from the airline to brief relatives on a near daily basis. those sessions feel like a cross examination. relatives ask often times technical questions, questions that these men simply cannot answer. it is an unhappy, desperate, increasingly angry situation. ivan watson, cnn, beijing. and thank you for joining us on cnn news room, i'm rosemary church. coming up next, special

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doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. wedem . this is cnn breaking news. this is a cnn special report, the mystery of flight 370, i'm don lemon. and we begin with breaking news. we are waiting analyze of the data from today's bluefin-21 search. the what that data shows we will bring it to you. we're also waiting results from samples of an oil slick found in the search zone. tests are under way to tell if it is from flight 370. and the families of flight 370's passeng passengers have had enough. >> you're all bloody liars and you're lying to us again. >> that is just one angry relative lashing out at a