colors. >> everybody should be a fighting illini fan. also the knicks colors. be sure to watch "chicagoland" at 10:00 p.m. eastern, 9:00 central. >> a lot of news today. let's head you off to "newsroom" with carol costello. >> thanks so much, kate. have a great day. have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks for joining me. this morning a cnn exclusive. we'll take you under water so you can better understand what search teams are up against. martin savidge inside a submarine 50 feet below the surface of horseshoe bay in british columbia. he'll join us live in just a moment from inside that submarine. we begin with breaking news

this morning out of south korea. it is a race against time as police say they believe passengers, most of them teenagers, students, may still be alive, trapped inside that sunken ferry. amazingly there was a plan to pump oxygen into the sunken ship in an attempt to keep survivors breathing until rescuers can reach them. adding hope to the mission today, parents of some of those teenage passengers say they've received text messages from their children coming from inside the ship. one message from a son to his mother reads, there are a few people in the ship. we are not dead yet. please send along this message. can't see a thing. it's totally dark. there are a few men and women. women are screaming. a young girl wrote to calm her father, dad, don't worry, i'm wearing a life vest and i'm inside the ship. we're in the hallway, crowded with so many people. another young man on the ship wrote to his mother to say, mom,

in case i won't get to tell you, i'm sending this. i love you. back on land families of the nine confirmed dead are grieving while others are struggling for answers. one mother sobbing as she recalled how she encouraged her daughter to take that trip. >> my daughter said to me, mom, i don't want to go there because i went there again -- this time again. so i tell her, i think this trip will be great experience for you, for your school day. so i'm very regret. i'm very regretting. >> adding to the family's grief today, an unsettling report from a local news agency saying only one, just one of the ship's 46 lifeboats had been deployed. there are pictures of the life

boats, you can see them. they're still on the ferry inside those white capsule-looking things. this is a crucial detail that may have cost many lives. cnn's paula hancock is live in jin jindo, south korea. >> reporter: that's certainly going to be the crux of the investigation. maritime police saying they're investigating why only one of those 46 life boats was actually deployed. was it the fact that they couldn't be deployed, that they simply weren't deployed? another thing they're looking into, was there, in fact, as eyewitnesss and survivors say, a pa announcement on the ship saying don't move, it is dangerous to move, don't move. there is an assumption that that could have claimed lives as well because people couldn't get to the deck and jump into the water were there were local fishing vessels ready to pluck people out of the water. beneath these frigid waters,

nearly 300 people remain missing. the ship's captain with his head down telling police, i'm sorry, i'm at a loss for words overnight three bot bodies were recovered. the miraculous rescue of a 6-year-old girl was caught on tape. her parents and brother were not fou found. grief stricken family members gather at a harbor in jindo waiting and desperate for any information. a mother's anguish as she recalls encouraging her daughter to take the trip. >> i tell her, i think this trip be great experience for you, for your school day. so i'm very regret. i'm very regretted. >> reporter: dramatic video of the first 24 hours of the frantic rescue shows passengers

clinging to guard rails ap being airlifted to safety. most of the clues about what could have caused the ship to sink come from eyewitnesss who report hearing a loud bang and feeling the ship beginning to tilt. >> it sounds like he hit an object which would allow a large inflow of water. >> reporter: if that is true, it ultimately capsized the ship. also in question, the handling of the evacuation. according to passengers, they were initially told to stay on board. this cell phone video thought to be from inside the ship shows passengers wearing lifejackets. outside the ship, only one of 46 life boats deployed. these instructions heard from the crew saying do not move. if you move, it's more dangerous, do not move, could have cost many lives. one of the ways relatives found out about their loved ones is through text messages. there are a few people in the ship and we are not dead yet.

please send along this message. another student texted his friend, i think we're all going to die. if i did anything wrong to you, please forgive me. i love you all. the rescue operation has been severely hampered this thursday by adverse weather conditions, very poor visibility under water. we know divers at least circumstance times tried to get inside some of the cabins that are submerged but failed each time. there has been very strong under water currents as well, very dangerous situation for the divers. on a number of occasions they had to suspend the diving. of course, it is pitch black now. a second night for these families to be sitting at the side of the water just waiting. >> so hundreds are still missing, frigid waters. you mentioned that the captain said he was sorry. so i would assume the captain got off that ship and survived. you also said one lifeboat was deployed. do we know how the captain managed to stay alive?

>> that is the question. the captain is safe. we know one lifeboat was deployed. the captain is with officials at this point. he's the crux of this investigation. we have seen him on local news television. he has been bowing his head, hiding his face with his baseball cap saying, i'm sorry, there are no words. i have no words. the fact is he made it off the ship safely. almost 300 people are still unaccounted for. this is making families very angry. they want to know exactly what happened and what part he played in it. >> exactly. that picture showed many of these students had lifejackets on. somebody came out and instructed them to do something. apparently nobody put any life boats in the water. that's just disturbing. >> reporter: that's the thing. they don't know whether or not it was a case that they couldn't get the life boats into the water, whether or not it was a case that the ship sank too quickly that they were unable

to, they misjudged the situation and whether they didn't know how quickly the ship was going to sink. they just simply don't know at this point. this is what they're investigating. the fact that the captain managed to get off the ship when almost 300 people are still unaccounted for is going to be a very crucial part of this investigation. at what point did he leave the ship and was he in charge of the ship at the time it did start to sink and start to tilt and carried out that distress signal. >> i know they're trying to pump oxygen into this sunken ship, hoping that somebody underneath the water is still alive. any word on how that's working? >> reporter: they haven't given us too many details about that. they're basically saying that, as you say, they're pumping o general in. they're working under the assumption that there are still survivors. they're working under the assumes that there may be air pockets. there is at least one part of the ship that is still poking

out of the water, a smart part of the ship. they are working under the assumption there may be survivors. they're not giving us much tefk cal information about this. we know within the coming hours we'll have three cranes coming down to this area, hoping within the next eight or nine hours. that's what the maritime police have told us. it's still not clear whether or not they'll be trying to pull the ship further out of the water to get better access or whether it will be towed. they're not being too specific on those details at this point. carol? >> paula hancocks reporting live from south korea. for 41 days the families of flight 370 passengers have been pleading for answers in the plane's disappearance often at emotional forums like this one. now a malaysian delegation will head to beijing for a face-to-face briefing. that comes as relatives have posted a list of 26 questions online that they want answered, including black box specifics, the flight's logbook and the air

traffic control recording from the night the plane went missing. also this morning we learned an oil sample from the indian ocean is not from an aircraft engine or hydraulic fluid. that means that rules that out as a clue. early tests did rule out that possibility. as i said, with no debris found yet or electronic pulses detected, in a week the data from the bluefin-21 becomes more critical. the unmanned vehicle finally completing its first full mission today, and with authorities cautioning there is still a long way to go, australia's top air accident investigator says the cost of a prolonged search could reach nearly a quarter of a billion dollars if private equipment is needed. we'll take you down under the water with martin savidge in the newsroom a little later on. also still to come, camping the crisis in ukraine. diplomats from the united states, russia, ukraine and the european union wrap up their meeting.

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the situation in ukraine has taken a frightening turn. for the first time the ukrainian military has killed three pro-russian protesters. the violence escalating as diplomats struggle for a peaceful solution. a face-to-face meeting in geneva is over between secretary of state john kerry and leaders from ukraine, russia and the

european union. in fact, secretary kerry is holding a news conference right now. these are live pictures. we'll be listening in for new developments. this comes just hours after 300 pro-russian militants attacked a ukrainian military base. it's hard to happen but it happened in a seaside town less than 40 miles from the russian border. three pro-russian protesters were killed by ukrainian troops. the escalating tension prompting worry that russia will unleash its fire power on ukraine and perhaps the united states. as you know, a russian fighter jet recently buzzed an american warship. >> they're not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are

significantly superior to the russians. we don't need a war. what we do need is a recognition that countries like ukraine can have relationships with a whole range of their neighbors, and it is not up to anybody, whether it's russia or the united states or anybody else, to make decisions for them. >> cnn's diana magnay is in moscow this morning. president put tip held a four-hour news conference this morning. it was epic. what was the takeaway. >> reporter: it wasn't necessarily a news conference. it was his annual call-in so the people of russia could send questions in. apparently 2 million people did so, crimea and ukraine dominating the discussion. one thing i did come away with is the point that the president made that he was authorized to use force in ukraine and he hopes that he doesn't have to.

now, he repeated the points that he's made over and over again, this narrative that authorities in kiev are illegitimate, that, in fact, the presidential elections due to be held on may 25th are unconstitutional and that a constitution must be drawn up before that point, presumably a constitution which russia has said in the past should be for a more federalized ukrainian state. let's just take a listen to what he said. >> translator: the presidential race is taking place in unacceptable conditions. we cannot recognize what is going to take place following the 25th of may. we cannot call it legitimate. how can it be legitimate where people are constantly being beaten up? what kind of election campaign, if they want the elections to be legitimate, then they need to change the constitution.

>> reporter: you really got the sense here that he was trying to position himself as the voice of reason in this debate against the intransigence of kiev and intransigence of the west, that it was him trying to push for a diplomatic solution, that he hadn't wanted to move into crimea, but that the interests and the need to protect russians there was such that he was forced to go in. he also, interestingly, referred to the people of east and south ukraine in a little heard historical term calling them part of new russia and saying it was only really recently that they had become part of ukraine. you can see what he's trying to do there, he's couching the minds of the people of russia, that he's out there to trying to make sure this situation doesn't inflame into violence, but that he will also safeguard the interests of russian-speaking people. he also talked about gas deliveries to europe saying he

can't guarantee safe transit if kiev doesn't pay its debts and they'll have to pre pay their gas. there were various points that he made. but ukraine certainly no answers as to what he intends to do there at this stage. >> diana magnay reporting live from moscow. i want to bring in connecticut senator chris murphy who recently traveled to ukraine and is concerned about the escalation and violence there. welcome, senator. >> thanks for having me. >> thanks for being was. you make no bones about it, you think russia is intent on invading eastern ukraine. why? >> i think for all intents and purposes they already have. we know there are russian agents on the ground in eastern ukraine. they have been the pro vok tours behind most of the violence that has happened there. they are ultimately to be held responsible for the death and destruction that may occur between these so-called pro-russian forces which are instigated by the russians, sometimes made up of unmarked russian troops and the ukrainian

military. so putin is far from being a voice of reason here. to the extent there is going to be violence in eastern ukraine, it's only his fault. it's up to him, ultimately, to pull his agents out of that region and allow ukraine to decide for themselves whether they want to orient towards europe or towards russia. that's their decision as a nation, as a sovereign country. >> are we wasting our time in finding a diplomatic solution in geneva? >> well, i have low expectations for these talks in part because russia is just lying to us about what is really going on. a group of senators -- we met with russian ambassador about two weeks ago and he told us there were no russian troops marshalling on the border of ukraine. that there weren't russian troops in crimea, that those were ukrainian private defense forces. i think we should have low expectations. at the same time, president obama is right, we have no

interest in a military confrontation here. there's no reason not to talk to the russians. ultimately we have to understand that they're probably trying to buy time until they find a way to regain control of the government in kiev. i don't think that's going the happen, but that clearly is what they're trying to do here. >> on the subject of sanctions, president putin said one of russia's billionaires was unable to charge his wife's surgery on a credit card, does that mean the sanctions in place are working? >> i think the sanctions are beginning to work. what we know is about $60 billion in russian investment has already left the country. i met with one of the biggest u.s. banks last week. they told me they have completely shut down all new business with russia. the sanctions are beginning to work. but we still have enormous leverage in front of us. we have not begun to impose sanctions, direct sanctions on russian banks. we haven't done anything against russian petrochemical companies. if these diplomatic talks break

down this week, i hope our european allies will join us with very tough sanctions. we haven't even begun to impose the most debilitating sanctions. the question is will europe join the united states? i think putin has become so unhinged here that even nato allies in europe have to be worried about what he might do next if he gets away with this incursion into ukraine with no consequences -- >> what do you mean by unhinged? >> well, i think he's living in just a very different reality than the rest of us here. there are enormous consequences that are going to come to russia because of this action. he doesn't see that. there's going to be enormous pain to his people, and there is a solution. i think the people of eastern ukraine have a legitimate right of more self governance. we could have a dialogue with russia about that. but they seem so intent and he seems so intent on essentially

re-establishing the old soviet union, that he's not willing to engage in real diplomacy. this is a guy that's impossible to talk to. he's lying to us on a regular basis. i think europe has to be worried about that. angela merkel said the same thing. she thinks when she talks to vladimir putin that she's not talking to the same guy she dealt with five years ago. >> interesting. senator chris murphy, thank you for your insight. we appreciate it. >> thanks. still to come in the "newsroom," searching the ocean floor for any trace of the missing malaysian airliner. miguel marquez is in australia. good morning. >> reporter: the search intensifies over the water, under the water. we have news on the oil slick. was it from mh370? rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing.

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they're still searching under water for the missing malaysian plane. the bluefin mini sub has completed the first mission searching the ocean floor. technical issues cut the previous two missions short. let's head to australia and check in with miguel marquez. on another topic, the oil slick in the middle of the indian ocean, did it turn out to be anything? >> unfortunately not. that will come as a great shock to the families hoping for some positive physical evidence that mh 370 is actually under the indian ocean. investigators and searches there say they got the oil from the slick they found all the way back to perth.

they tested it. it did not turn out to be aircraft oil or hydraulic fluid of any sort. so they've ruled it out as being part of mh370. that said, the bluefin is down again for its fourth dive, a 16-hour dive. they are going through the data from that third dive to see if it proved anything, and it will continue to search this area. this as we're hearing from both the transport minister in malaysia and the australian prime minister here, that if they don't find anything in the specific area in the next five or seven days or so, that they may have to go back to the maps to figure out where else to search and go to the next best location in this very large area. keep in mind ha the u.s. poseidons are still up every day as are the p 3s from australians and from new zealand, all of them looking on the surface of the ocean hoping to find debris, hoping to find some physical evidence that mh370 went down.

that search under the ocean really intensifying now that the kinks are worked out with bluefin-21. carol? >> is that sort of what the search team means when it says at some point they have to reassess the operation and turn to just concentrating on under the water instead of above? >> reporter: it's not clear they would cancel above the water. they may go away. the part under the ocean, they are concentrating where they heard the longest and the best and the strongest ping that they got from what they believe is the aircraft. if that area proves negative, then they'll have to go back, refigure the math and figure out what other area to search. carol? >> miguel marquez reporting live from australia this morning. thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," the crisis in ukraine takes a deadly turn. nick paton walsh with all the

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mr. clean likes to keep things simple. that's why he brings his magic eraser extra power. it quickly cleans hundreds of different surfaces. so you can get back to doing what you really want. the magic eraser extra power. ♪ good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining me. watching three big stories this morning. it is a scramble off the coast of south korea. police tell us that passengers may still be alive, trapped inside that sunken ferry.

nearly 300 people, most of them students, are still missing. family members of the missing are frustrated that search efforts have been slow due to terrible weather conditions. >> translator: the civilian team went out there, but the tides made it too dangerous, so they came back. then the government rescuer says it's too dangerous for them, too. shouldn't i be angry at that? if the government cares for our people, please rescue our families and our children. >> rescue teams say they have a plan to try to pump oxygen into the ship, but, of course, as i said, the weather has delayed those plans for now. in the search for missing flight 370, investigators say the oil sample that was discovered in the indian ocean is not from an aircraft engine or hydraulic fluid. also this morning, australia's top air safety investigator says more private equipment needs to be brought in for the search, the price tag could reach nearly

$250 million. secretary of state john kerry made with leaders from ukraine, russia and the european union to discuss the rising tensions between russia and ukraine. tensions are rising. let's go to the fighting on the ground now. some 300 pro-russian militants attacked a ukrainian military base overnight. for the first time, the ukrainians fought back killing three of those pro-russian attackers. nick paton walsh joins us from the city of donetsk. good morning. >> reporter: carol, what you described is as was described by the interior minister here, admitting the first deaths among pro-russian demonstrators. saying that base was attacked with molotov cocktails. this is from mayor poll. continued violence there might prompt that russian invasion. also today, ratcheting up the political rhetoric here as well,

the self-declared -- chairman of the self-declared people's republic of donetsk, the break-away protester-led group, they say they want a referendum as quickly as may 11th. sharp timetable there. the question to ask people, what country effectively do you want donetsk to be part of. a lot moving quickly here. the violence on the ground, the sense that the ukrainian army isn't able to assert its author here. we've seen that armor move in, seen it taken off by pro-russian militants. some of the need to sur wren dring their weapons, take the fire pins out and give them to the pro-russian protesters. it's moving quickly here and it's moving moment tum certainly with the pro-russian protesters. >> nick paton walsh live from the ukraine. still to come, ever wonder what it's like to dip below the ocean surface in a submarine? cnn's martin savidge is doing

just that. martin? >> here we are beneath the surface. it's live and extremely tight quarters. we'll look at the challenges that could be faced for an underwater operation coming right up. [announcer] play close-good and close.

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all right. we want to go back to our coverage of malaysia flight 370. if the unmanned bluefin-21 is unable to find any traces of the missing plane, malaysian officials say the way the search is being conducted now could be revised. one option, it could be a manned vehicle to go down there. there are only six manned vehicles in the world that can actually go to those depths. cnn's martin savidge joins us

from one of those submarines in vancouver. specifically martin is 50 feet down, martin? >> good morning, carol. you and i have had conversations from many different parts of the world. i've got to say this one takes the cake. sitting right now at the bottom of horseshoe bay in british columbia inside the aquarius. let me reverse the view here. there are exactly four of us, phil nuytten, the under water excavation expert, the man who knows everything about going deep and retrieving. and then actually in the back i've got to give at least a shout-out to jeff heaton, the man piloting this vessel. this is the cramped conditions under which we're working and tube would be very much like the conditions if we sent down a submersible with people on

board. so here is the scenario. right out in front of us is a black box that is situated -- i don't know if you can see it. phil, why don't you just try to give the commands, let's maneuver and see if we can get into a position of moving forward. >> jeff, moving forward about a foot or so. >> carol, as you can see the visibility here really is very, very limited. not surprising, if you're dealing with a silty bottom in the bottom of the indian ocean, visibility very difficult. we have illumination, but it only reaches so far. there's the black box. it's a very delicate ballet of trying to maneuver the submersible into a position where now phil is going to use -- what have you got? >> we've got the manipulator positioned just about where we

want it, drifting a bit. can you cut her over just a hair to starboard, jeff, just a hair? we seem to be neutral here. can you drop ballast? >> the whole idea is you've got to have the steady platform before you can go and try and make that reach. and the thing is, you've only got a limited amount of time that you can spend on the bottom, especially at that great depth. okay. let's see if we can maneuver the arm. it's a mechanical arm. it's got pinchers on the end. it's got to grab the handle of that black box. it's delicately maneuvering, and it gets into position there. all of this is done just by subtle inputs, just inches. i will again stress that we've got a plexiglas window here. this is our view out into the

world. at great depth you would be having this problem only multiplied. if you've got any claustrophobia which, carol, i will point out i do, it's quite near v racking thing to sit here and watch. notice again, you see all that you have passing in front of us here. this is the haze. this is what hangs in the water. this is what adds to the difficulty of the depth of the equipment that must be needed. remember for this practice the black box is actually sitting in the open. so here it comes. phil is going to maneuver it up. he's got to get it in that basket because that's the only way you can haul it to the surface. it's carefully orchestrated, carefully practiced. and he's got to work in conjunction with the pilot because the pilot has also got to be able to keep the vessel stable. so you bring it over, swing it

back. here comes the tricky part because it's got to make it in that box. we're using lights. remember down there it's going to be pitch dark. how are you feeling on this? coming in good? >> it's coming. >> carol, it's really just hard to stress the other factors that come into play. steel hull, temperature of the water coming right through this. so leaning up against it as we are, bone-chilling cold. then you've got a tremendous amount of perspiration or condensation really that you can see is all over the level of the inside here. i would say we're all trying to do this in about the front seat of a ford focus. at least that's what it feels like in my mind.

it just demonstrates for you that it's not the simple task of just going down there and finding it. the next step is finding it and then retrieving it. it has to be done in a way you can't damage the black box. it has to be done in a way that everything is carefully preserved, and we are just about there. well done. got it in. you're probably going to hold it in that secure position, right? >> roger that. i'll hold that in the box so that if we hit any currents the waves don't jostle it out of the box. the manipulator will hold it in this position. >> there you have it. actually done -- well done actually by phil here. some real, real expertise applied. we should also point out rovs can do this, but they have to be tethered.

a tether that runs down 15,000 feet. >> or more. >> -- is going to be a real nightmare to try to keep steady for this kind of work. >> we're fortunate we're able to sit on the bottom andaman ufr around without that tether being entangled in the wreck, for example, or hanging up on things. more likely that the cross currents will be pushing the vehicle and its hanger all over the place. >> do you think it's going to be some sort of rov, or do you think it actually would require humans going down there and doing what you just did? >> if the subs are available, i'm thinking primarily of the subs like the chinese sub or the french sub or alvin, the u.s. sub or the russian subs, if putin will let them go, this would be a much easier task for those subs than for an rov. it certainly can be done with an rov. there's been a lot of talk about

the bluefin that is an auv, autonomous under water vehicle. it's not tethered, but nor can you -- >> you can't retrieve anything. you can go down there and look but can't bring anything up. it looks like it may take something like this. we should point out, carol, until you find the wreck, you don't get to do any of this. we're still waiting for that point to happen. what an amazing view. the fact you can see it, watch it happen live and i actually haven't gotten around the bend is the other great achievement. >> poor marty. hopefully you can go back to the surface. i understand you are a little claustrophobic. it can't imagine being in that little spaus space when you have all that water on top of you and around you. what you meant about the rov in a terth, you mean there are some types of submarines tethered to

ships. i wanted to make that clear. we'll break away and bring in former ntsb managing direct tr peter goals and rob mccallum ooms. peter, you were watching your face through this mission and you seemed absolutely amazed. >> it's a great piece of equipment. it very well could be used at the last stages of recovering the black box. they won't use it prior to that. they've got to find the wreckage, and if the current efforts don't work, they're going to have to go to a towed vehicle. i think a manned sub, if the black box is found, if it's in the wreckage, could be the only way to get it. >> rob, the bluefin-21 is down deep in the indian ocean, on its way to completing its first 16-hour mission under water. hasn't found anything yet. at what point will they sort of shift the search area where that

submarine is >> i think it will be a few days yet. the blue fin is covering sort of 15 square miles permission, and they are working in an area only they know the size of it, but it's probably a couple of hundred square miles, so it's going to take a few days of successful missions before it's time to rethink, rejig and perhaps redeploy with larger, broader scale assets. >> and, peter, i think one of the things that martin's demonstration demonstrated to all of us is how painstaking this work is. >> oh, absolutely. you know, i have said from the beginning this is really hard work. first of all, finding the wreckage is going to be extraordinarily challenging, as we're seeing, and then getting into it and recovering, we're talking about, you know, really unknown territory in this area,

and i think people are doing an incredible job, but we've got a long way to go. >> and i wanted to ask you about this because a top australian air investigation official said today that a prolonged search using private equipment could cost up to a quarter of a billion dollars. that's mind-boggling. >> yes, it is. i'm not sure where the figure came from or what calculator was used. in the article that i read, you know, he talked about an area of 370 miles by 30 miles. i mean, we -- you know, we could achieve that for less than one-tenth of that cost. in fact, 6% or 7% of that cost. i'm not quite sure where the figure came from. >> well, i do hope he is wrong because that's just mind-boggling. peter, rob, you thanks for your insight. i appreciate it. still to come in "the newsroom" the race to try to find the passengers that may still be alive trapped under the

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we do whatever it takes to make your business our business. od. helping the world keep promises. chinese relatives of flight 370 passengers are, been, accusing malaysian officials of hiding information from them. families' anger has exploded in recent days with insults being hurled. now the families are demanding answers to 26 specific questions. cnn's ivan watson has more for you. >> reporter: under a fresh storm of criticism, the malaysian announced it will be sending a high level delegation here to beijing to meet with the family members of 153 chinese national that is were aboard the missing malaysian airlines flight.

chinese families here have exploded in anger at recent meetings with malaysian officials. on wednesday, for example, when a video conference between beijing and kuala lumpur failed due to technical errors, some 40 days into this agonizing vigil, chinese families stormed out of the conference room in anger en masse. the midlevel officials subsequently had to brief them and on thursday no representative actually met with the chinese families as has been the practice in the past at daily briefings. a written statement was read out to the chinese families prompting some of them to yell out where is the malaysian ambassador? the chinese families have in some ways started to take matters into their own hands. they submitted a very highly technical list of questions to

the malaysian authorities on monday asking for really detailed answers. for example, who manufactured the black box that was aboard the malaysian airlines flight? how many emergency transponders were on that plane? they want details about the maintenance log of that plane. this is information that may not be shared by investigators. malaysian officials insist that they will try to brief the families to do away with any speculation because there is growing suspicion and mistrust from the people who are participating in this anxious, desperate vigil here. ivan watson, cnn, beijing. the next hour of "newsroom" starts now. good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks for joining me.

this morning a cnn exclusive. we'll take you under water so you can better understand what search teams are up against as they look for flight 370. martin savidge inside a submarine 50 feet below the surface in horseshoe bay. the visibility is limited. the quarters are cramped. it is the best way we can show you just how difficult the conditions are to work in. martin will be here later m "newsroom" from inside that submarine. we begin this hour with breaking news out of south korea. it is a race against time as police say they believe passengers, most of them teenagers, students, may still be alive trapped inside that sunken ferry. amazingly, there is a new plan to pump oxygen into the sunken ship in an attempt to keep survivors breathing until rescuers can get to them. adding hope to the mission today, parents of some of the teenage passengers say they have received text messages from their kids coming from inside

the ship. one message from a son to his mother reads, "there are a few people in the ship. we are not dead yet, so please send along this message. can't see a thing. it's totally dark. there are few men and women. women are screaming." a young girl wrote to calm her father. "dad, don't worry. i'm wearing a life vest, and i'm with other girls. we're inside the ship still in the hallway. the hallway is crowded with so many people." another young man on the ship wrote to his mother to say, "mom, in case i won't get to tell you, i'm sending this. i love you." back on land the families of the nine confirmed dead are grieving. all others are struggling for answers. one mother sobbing as she recalled how she encouraged her daughter to take this trip. >> my daughter said to me, mom, i don't want to go there because i went there again -- this time again, so i tell her, i think

this trip will be very great experience for you -- for your school days, so i'm very regret. i'm very regret. an unsellingsing report saying only one of the ship's 46 life boats have been deployed. these are the pictures of those life boats that are inside the capsules. they're still on the ferry. this hapt been used. this is a crucial detail that may have cost many lives. hello, paula, live from south korea. >> reporter: hello, carol. that's certainly going to be the focal point of any investigation. why were these life boats not released? is it that they were not able to be deployed or just that the crew chose not to? that's a crucial factor and one that many people are concerned

would actually have added to the number of missing, the number of unaccounted for. now 287. we are in the second night since the distress signal came from this ship. >> beneath these frigid waters, nearly 300 people, mostly teenage students and their teachers, remain missing. the ship's captain with his head down telling police i'm sorry, i'm at a loss for words. overnight three bodies were recovered from the sunken ferry off the southwest coast of korea. the miraculous rescue of a 6-year-old girl was caught on tape. her parents and brother were not found. grief-stricken family members gather at a harbor waiting into the night desperate for any information. a mother's anguish as she recalls encouraging her daughter to take the trip. >> i tell her i think this trip will be very great experience

for you for your school days. so i'm very refwret. i'm very regret. >> dramatic video of the first 24 hours of the frantic rescue shows passengers clinging to guardrails and being airlifted to safety. most of the clues about what could have caused the ship to sink have come from eyewitnesss who report hearing a loud bang and feeling the ship beginning to tilt. >> it sounds like a submerged object which could be a gash in the hall that allows invisible water. >> the gush apparently was large enough to impact several compartments below and ultimately capsize the ship. also in question, the handling of the evacuation. according to passengers, they were initially told to stay on board. the cell phone video thought to be from inside the ship shows passengers all wearing life jackets. outside the ship only one of 46 life boats deployed. these instructions came from the

crew saying do not move. if you move it's more dangerous. do not move could have cost many lives. one of the ways relatives found out about their loved ones was through text messages. there are a few people m ship that we are not dead yet, so please send along this message. another student texted his friends, "i think we are all going to die. if i did anything wrong to you, please forgive me. i love you all." >> now, the weather conditions have not been kind to this search and rescue operation this thursday. the divers have been trying to get in at least six times, we understand, to the cabins in the submerged part of the ship, but they failed up until this point because the end of the water currents are just too strong. it's very dangerous work for these divers. we understand at this point the visibility is very slight. the hope is, of course, that that -- the weather conditions will improve, but, of course, we are in the middle of the night, and now making it even more difficult to try to find

survivors. carol. >> so hundreds of people are still missing. the captain did manage to survive, though. only one life boat was deployed. do we know how the captain managed to stay alive? >> well, of course, this is the question everybody is asking. how did the captain get off the ship, and, yet, 287 people -- other people may not have got off the ship. they are still missing. now, he is in custody. we know that he is being questioned. understandably why police at this point all he has said is i am sorry. there are no words. he was questioned by many of the reporters as he was at the police station. they were asking him many questions. how did you get off the ship? were you one of the first off the ship? what happened? were you actually driving the ship? none of these questions did he react to. all he would say is i'm sorry, there are no words. >> do we know who was in charge of advising these students how to safely get off that ship? >> well, the information we have on this is from eye witnesses so

from some of the survivors that have got off themselves. one student has been saying to local media that they basically heard the p.a. announcement saying do not move. it is more dangerous if you move. do not move. so many people, even though they may have drawn large jackets stay where they were. did not go up to the desk and according to the eyewitness reports. now, this person that did manage to survive did disobey that order and jumped into the icy waters. he was then pulled back by one of the nearby vessels that was trying to pull people out of the water. unfortunately, this is a situation where it could have been the case, but very bad information, very bad advice was given. that is being investigated at this point as well. we know that the head of the shipping company itself is trying to find out exactly who was giving this order to not move because, of course, this ship went down in about two hours.

there would potentially have been time for more people to get to the deck than to get into the water. carol. >> so now they have this plan to pump oxygen into the ship somehow. how exactly will that work? >> they're not giving us many technical details on this. it's something that i can't answer very clearly. we've heard from the maritime police in their briefing that they were planning to pump oxygen into the ship. the thinking behind this was that there were still air pockets, then this would give any potential survivors more chance to keep breathing and to survive. they said there would be a assumption that there are still survivors. the maritime police were questioned about this and drawn on it, and it seemed to appear that they said they haven't actually done it yet because they couldn't get the oxygen in. the divers are unable to access these cabins, so it was not possibly to do that.

it is a plan that they have. they're not being very clear about how exactly that would happen at this point, though. >> paula hancock reporting from south korea this morning. sdmrimplt for the families and passengers aboard malaysia airlines flight 370, it's been 41 days of anguish, and still no answers. today the malaysian government announcing they will soon send a delegation to game beijing to brief the families on the search. the relatives have taken their fight to get more information on-line, posting a list of 26 questions for officials on everything from the black boxes to the air traffic control recording from the night the plane went missing. also this morning, we've learned that an oil sample from the indian ocean is not from an aircraft engine or hydraulic fuel. early tests ruling out that possibility. and with no debris found or electronic pulse detected in a week, the data from that blue fin 21 submarine becomes even more critical. the unmanned submersible finally completing its first full mission today.

still, authorities caution there is a long way to go. australia's top air accident investigator now saying the cost of a prolonged search could reach a quarter of a billion dollars if more private equipment is needed. miguel marquez joins us from perth with the latest. good morning, miguel. >> reporter: good morning there, carol. those discussions will be happening between all the countries involved. there is no indication that any country wants to give up this search. in fact, they are doubling down on it. the blue fin going down, we believe, for its fourth dive now to search for another 16 hours and then do another data dump. all of those resources are still up on the ocean. the ships on the surface of the ocean responding to what the pos ioedon see from the air and the p-3s what they see from the air. those ships can be directed anything they see on the ocean surface. a very big load of families that the oil was found not to be that

of an aircraft because they are hoping for any sort of physical evidence. although officials here still say that those pings that they got off the flight data recorders are the best information that that flight is down there and they say that they will continue to search that very specific area that they have right now until they can rule it out. they'll find another one if they do that, and they'll continue the search. carol. >> miguel marquez reporting live for us from perth, australia. i want to talk more about the cost of that search because that amount of money was mind-boggling. brian todd is live in washington with that part of the story. good morning, brian. >> good morning, carol. you were mentioning australia's top air accident investigator, martin dolan. he said a prolonged underseas search and salvage mission using privately owned equipment could cost up to $230 million more u.s. dollars. i just spoke to one of our experts, rob mccallum, an ocean search specialist. he does not believe that it

would cost that much, but this gentleman in australia, mr. dolan, one of the search investigators, said this was maybe a ballpark rough estimate. it's hard to really imagine exactly how much the costs are going to be when all is said and done, but investigators do seem to be at a point where they may be taking stock of where they are right now. malaysia's transportation manager said if the search of the indian ocean doesn't find debris from the plane, he said there will come a time when we need to regroup and reconsider, but then he said the search will always continue. meanwhile, we do have some new information on the cost of this particular phase of the search. getting this from sources close to the operation. an official with naval sea systems command says the u.s. navy has budgeted about $3.6 million just for its portion of this particular operation. now, that $3.6 million covers the deployment of the blue fin, of the towed pinger locator, which found those underwater signals more than a week ago. it also covers the cost for ten operators on board the ocean shield and transportation to the

region and back to the united states for those personnel and presumably for the equipment. again, that is just the u.s. navy's budget for this particular phase of the operation, including the blue fin and the towed pinger locator. it does not include the cost being footed by the australian government for the ocean shield and all of that related equipment, carol. >> all right, brian todd reporting live from washington. thank you. still to come on "the newsroom" calming the crisis in ukraine. secretary of state john kerry and his counterparts trying to do just that. actually, we're waiting for john kerry to start speaking from geneva. we'll talk about it all next. let me get this straight... [ female voice ] yes? lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. come on, would i lie about this? so i use lactaid® members are cottage cheese. ry. it's 100% real dairy without the lactose. so i can make these creamy dishes my family enjoys

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the situation in ukraine is increasingly tense. for the first time ukrainian troops killed pro-russian protesters after they attacked a ukrainian military base in the eastern part of the country. the fear here this more intense violence could invite russian troops to invade ukraine and annex eastern ukraine just like russia annexed crimea. vladimir putin held a marathon news conference that was a call-in session this morning. he dismiss the allegations that russian operatives were deliberately destabilizing ukraine and urged the united states to obey international law. with me now reza saya covering the most recent diplomatic meeting between john kerry and his russian counterpart. did anything come out of these talks? >> reporter: it's not clear yet because the talks are continuing. we can tell you, carol, coming into these talks there wasn't

much intrigue and drama because expectations were very low, but now we do have a little bit of intrigue because these talks are lasting much longer than we expected. we were told that these talks would end about 1:45 p.m. local time. it's now a little after 4:00 p.m. local time, and these closed-door meetings with all four sides are still taking place, and we're not sure why. are these four sides taking longer in an effort to hammer out some sort of agreement even if it's a symbolic one in an effort to tone down some of the rhetoric and soften some of the accusations that have been flying around? it's not clear. once these talks are over sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister is going to have a news conference followed by a joint news conference by catherine ashton, the u.s. foreign policy chief and u.s. secretary of state john kerry for washington. so much at stake. this is not just about ukraine. it's about u.s.-russia

relations. these are some big powers in the u.n. security council. if relations sour, they can certainly make life difficult for one another moving forward, and, of course, carol, the obama administration under intense pressure to make the right decisions in this crisis. we'll see what happens in these news conferences and what the outcome is of these talks. >> all right. we'll check back. reza sayah in geneva, switzerland this morning. the author of "row to the temple, truth, memory, ideas and ideals in the making of the russian revolution, 1987 to 1991." welcome, sir. >> pleasure. >> okay, so putin held this televised question and answer session for four hours, an epic session. listen to a bit of what he had to say. >> translator: i can remind you that russia's federation council granted the president the right to use armed forces in ukraine,

but i will not have to use that right and we will be able to solve all current issues in ukraine by political and diplomatic means. >> last hour i spoke with senator chris murphy. he says putin is simply lying, that putin has already made up his mind to invade eastern ukraine. is he right? >> i think putin's plan is this. you know when they annexed crimea, they were talking about the kosovo -- where it was declared eventually their independence. what i think he is trying to do here is to use what they call the libya precedent. in other words, to force the hand of the ukrainian authority. they have unfortunately done it. there were several people killed already. the pro-russian militants.

to start shooting at these special forces and pro-russian militants that are occupying half a dozen of ukrainian towns and cities, and then say, look, the west intraconveniented to protect the civilians. it's our right to intervene in eastern and southern ukraine to protect everybody, but particularly the russian speakers and ethnic russians. that's why i think these negotiations are not going to lead to anything at least at this point unless putin decides that he has done enough and he has enough of the leverage now to demand so-called federalization of ukraine which in effect makes eastern and southern provinces of ukraine the southern protector. >> senator murphy also said this. he said putin has become unhinged. listen to this. >> i think he is living in just a different reality than the rest of us here. i mean, there are enormous consequences that are going to come to russia because of this action, and he doesn't see that.

there's going to be enormous pain to his people, and there is a solution. i think the people of eastern ukraine have awe legitimate right to more self-governance, and we could have a dialogue with russia about that, but they seem so intent and he seems so intent on essentially re-establishing the old soviet union that he is not willing to engage in real diplomacy. this is a guy that's impossible to talk to. he is lying to us on a regular basis. >> so do you agree? i mean, is that what putin has on his mind, to restore the glory of the former soviet union? >> not 100%. what he wants to do is he wants a veto power over foreign policy and domestic arrangements of the largest post-soviet states. ukraine being so close to russia geographically, physically, historically, ethnically, he cannot let it go in the western direction, and so this is what

it's all about. whether putin will annex actually eastern, central, and southern ukraine, you doubt. this is too much responsibility. ten million people. huge territory. he can certainly make it almost separate from ukraine, and then continue to destabilize, punish, humiliate, and the current pro-western government of ukraine with the hope that there will be a crisis and chaos and eventually will return to russia's influence. >> going back to this unhinged and putin is lying and we can't talk to him. it's frightening because russia is a nuclear power, right? to call the leader of a country like russia unhinged, is he unhinged? >> he could pursue several persona, public persona at once. certainly in his seminole march 18 speech to the joint session of the russian parliament, he

did sound totally wild. i mean, he was alleging that the west has always conspired against russia. he used the term forced sex wal intercourse about the u.s. policy against financial institutions and the world corps and the world community. this level of vulgarity and frenzy i have not heard even when i lived in the soviet union. so i think he is projecting this emage of a man who is deeply hurt by alleged russian victimization by the west and would better be careful, we better be nice, we better bend over backwards. i think he is also open to very rationale thinking provided that he sees costs to his policy. so far i don't think he sees any. >> laeon aaron, fascinating discussion. thank you so much for your insight this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still to come in the newsroom, ever wondered what it is like to dip below the ocean's surface in a submarine?

it's quite difficult. claustrophobic even. martin savidge will actually -- he is down there right now. hi, martin. >> hey, carol. i got to say, you know, as much as there may be a bit of claustraphobia. the cost of retrieving any black box from this airplane, very difficult. we'll show you some of the problems next. ♪ with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. glucerna products help me keep everythibalanced. (crash) ugh! i'm good. well, almost everything. [male announcer] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars...

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zarchlgts good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. today in the indian ocean the blue fin 21 finally completed its first full mission. nothing found yet, but if that unmanned submersible was unable to find any traces of the missing plane, an alternative could be a man vehicle. cnn's martin savidge joins me now from vancouver where he has dipped below the ocean's surface to show the challenges even these vehicles could face. good morning, martin. >> good morning, carol. i'll start off by telling you the vehicle that we are in, which is the aquarius is only designed to go to a depth of about maybe 1,000 feet. this is not the vehicle that would be tasked with retrieving things at the bottom of the indian ocean where 387 -- mh 370 is. it gives you a very good idea, though, of the conditions they're up against. phil newton is the man who is

joining me here. we're right now working through a problem. problems are things that can exist when you are working in a submersible at depth. right now the issue we've got here is, what, the arm sort of -- >> the arm is -- we've just been maybe over taxing it in the last little while, and it's being a bit cranky at the moment. we need to get it clear and check it out and make sure that all the functions are working the way it is supposed to be working. >> reporter: this requires a lot of sort of many people communicating. we have a pilot that navigates in the back. you have phil up front who is manipulating with the mechanical arm. you have the ocean conditions out here. take a look. we're looking out there glass. this always worries me. what if the -- how thick is this glass? >> it's about this thick. three inches thick. >> it's a good three inches. it gives you a fantastic, you know, sort of panoramic view, and if you ever get any sense of

clausherphobia, it's great to have a look. what are the lights that are illuminating? we should point out it would be dog gone dark without them, right? >> we have an array of lights. 200 watts hmi lights and 300 watts hmi lights. these are the same lights that are used in hollywood to light up sets. they're very, very bright. we can't use too much light. otherwise, it illuminates the water just like turning your headlights on in the fog. >> reporter: right. you almost get too much light and then it bounces right back at you. >> that's right. >> reporter: the murkyness of the water, and we've talked about this, phil. at that potential depth, they talked about silt, and that's a problem because any movement of this vessel is going to kick it up, and we've seen that here. >> you see the way it hangs. once you kick it up, it hangs in a dust cloud, and you have to wait sometimes minutes, sometimes much longer for it to settle down and you have to be very careful and just inch your way along.

not kick it up further. it's -- you have to be very patient for this whole game. >> you know, the other thing, carol, is that i -- well, it's just out of view, but there is a black box down here that we've got, and the difficulty is that just one slight movement, maybe it's the current, maybe it's something else in the way it drifts here. you lose sight of it, and i have to say within three or four feet, it's gone. then trying to relocate it once again, it becomes a real challenge. >> sure does. >> absolutely. >> so you can appreciate that the finding the aircraft, of course, is the biggest challenge at this time, but once found, the very delicate task of locating and recovering the data recorder is a huge task, monumental task. not the least of the problems is the wreckage may well be scattered, and, you know, you could be delve intoing the midst

of the wreckage cutting with cable saws and that sort of thing. all in all, it's -- at that depth, it's a very difficult and very big challenge. >> reporter: last but not least, i should point out, you are going down in some giant submarines, say, that somebody may picture in a military operation. you are going down in a relatively -- not relatively. it's a dog gone small sphere that we're in. >> they have to make the thing small as you possibly can in order to make them with stand the pressure. the larger you make the submarine, the thicker the walls have to be, the heavier the subis and on and on. it is to keep the compartments as small as possible, and that's what we've done here. you can see -- >> i got -- >> i got a very good sense of that. i don't know if you can show poor jeff who sits in the back. he is the pilot. he is the man that has to sort of navigate. say hello, jeff.

how tall are you, jeff, by the way? you are about 6 something? >> 6 foot even. >> yeah. he is crammed back there trying to navigate. we've got a photographer in here. we've got phil here. you have me here who is remarkably adapting well. >> remarkably calm. >> thank you. we'll see how this goes. we're also laying down. that's the other way that this is operating. we do not have enough room to sit up, so it's sitting down and it's operating, and we could -- i should point out just in case anything could go wrong, not that anything will, how long could we stay down here? >> about three days. 72 hours. >> about 72 hours. it's a wonderful thought. there you have it. i mean, some of the challenges right now that we're trying to deal with relocate the black box and try to retrieve it. even at this depth which is nowhere near what they're dealing with, extremely difficult. >> yeah.

thank you so much. fascinating demonstration. it certainly does illustrate the difficulties in finding something so deep under, and you're not even that far deep down, right? so amazing. thank you so much. martin savidge. we'll be right back. (mom) when our little girl was born, we got a subaru.

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continuing our coverage of the missing malaysian airlines flight 370 now. a lot of hopes being pinned on the blue fin submarine vessel. if this vehicle does find traces of flight 370, what will the next steps in bringing the debris to the surface involve? marissa flores has more for you. >> reporter: this could be the key to solving the mystery of flight 370. it's a remotely operated vehicle, or r.o.b., for short. once wreckage of flight 370 is identified, an r.o.b. like this one is likely the next crucial step in finding the plane's black box. it's controlled from the surface using this joy stick. has lights to illuminate the stark black of the ocean deep.

cameras transmitting back footage in realtime. and high frequency sonar to combat the notoriously difficult visibility in the area of the indian ocean where the plane is believed to be. but most importantly, the r.o.b. has robotic arms called manipulators. >> jaws. close the jaws. >> reporter: they are essentially mechanical hands able to retrieve objects from the ocean floor far deeper than any human could with stand. >> stand and retract. >> reporter: a second manipulator can be equipped with tools for cutting through metal, such as on the fuselage of a plane. >> it would be idealic for a black box. no problem at all for an r.o.b. to pick it up, put it in a basket and take it up to the vessel. >> reporter: top priority for investigators is to retrieve both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

this r.o.b. call the trident xls can go to depths of around 10,000 feet, but the r.o.b. that's brought to the wreckage of flight 370 could have to with stand the pressure of around 15,000 feet of water. under water pulses were detected at that depth last week. and unlike the blue fin, searchers are currently using the r.o.b. is connected to the boat through a line called an umbilical and has a constant power source and is able to feed back information immediately. >> the r.o.b. can stay submerged for days. >> reporter: and the hope is with these capabilities, the r.o.b. will finally manage to bring some answers to the surface. rosa flores, cnn. i want to bres in les abbott, a cnn aviation analyst and a 777 captain, and rob mccallum, an ocean specialist

who led an expedition to the wreckage of the titanic. good morning, gentlemen. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. thanks for being here. rob, the blue fin has had some difficulties in its first few trips down under the indian ocean. are there any scenarios in which the r.o.b.'s would be deployed even if the blue fin fails to capture any specific data? >> no. you know, the blue fin and any sonar asset the analogy i would use is a blue fin is like a sonar or ultra soubd. it enables you to see the overall scene. the manned submersible is the surgical tool that you go in and do the mission with. although submersibles and r.o.v.'s have fine scale sonar for orientation purposes, they're not equipped to search broad areas. >> gotcha. les, officials say there's probably just a few days left in the air and surface search.

the data and ping that is they've got, any investigator will tell you that you go with the leads that you have. i think there may be a reanalysis just to be sure if these days with the blue fins don't turn up anything. the blue fin 21 doesn't turn anything, but, you know, it's certainly -- it's perplexing. i was disappointed about the oil slick not having evidence of being the airplane. i can't imagine how the families feel. >> i'm with you. it's just unbelievable that no sign of this plane has picked -- has been picked up for more than 40 days.

how would they reassess the search under the water? >> if the pinger reports don't pan out, then the only other thing that's left to do is to start working down that satellite gained or the aircraft track if you like start working our way down there and scanning either side of that with broad scale sonar, so, you know, we all know about the ark that the aircraft supposedly took. you deploy sonar on either side of that track, and work your way from south to north. >> gotcha. you know, i was just wondering about the criminal investigation because it's ongoing. although malaysian authorities aren't releasing much information. les, do you expect anything new to come of that in the coming days? no one has been able to find anything, you know, remotely suspicious about anyone on board that aircraft. >> well, carol, your guess is as

good as mine. that's not my field of expertise, of course. it's hard to say. i mean, it is an investigative process. maybe there's data that once again malaysians aren't releasing to us. there's no collusion between anybody that they can find. you know, it seems that the riddle just keeps remaining status quo. >> the mystery keeps getting deeper. thanks so much for your insight. i appreciate it. still to come in the newsroom, pro-russian forces get a heroes welcome for residents in one eastern ukraine ynian city. we'll take you there next.

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the conflict name game. when is somebody a terrorist and when is he a freedom fighter? that's now being played out in ukraine. pro-russian militants are now firmly in control of the eastern city of sloviansk. while the keefe government refers to these fires fighters as terrorists, the locals call them heroes. phil black has more for you. >> reporter: carol, the use rainian government says 300 pro-russian militants attacked a ukrainian national guard unit in the southern town. they were repelled, and the government says that three of the e-mail tants were killed. 13 injured. dozens more arrested. the government is calling this a win fwrsh you visit the towns in this region that are under the control of these pro-russian forces, it really feels like they have the upper hand. >> reporter: driving in s -- from the north you have to pass through two checkpoints. the first ukrainian police. they're organized with fortfied positions. the second is a little more improvised and enforced by men wearing masks.

we find many more in the town center. they're well armed. some don't like cameras, but they're mostly relaxed. a few are still getting comfortable with driving armored vehicles. they seized them from the ukrainian military only hours before. they're picking up guns and demanding independence. the government in kiev calls these men terrorists. in sloviansk, they're heroes. this is not the sort of atmosphere you expect to find in a town that is effectively under siege. it's not a celebration, but the people here are clearly very happy, and they feel a great deal of pride in those masked men who have made this small community world famous. locals come to see them and thank them. this boy is beaming having his picture taken. it's cool. he likes it, he says. photos with militants are very popular. even though you can't see their faces, the men are clearly

enjoying it. we hear women in the crowd complain about the mask. they can't see who is the most handsome. admiration for the men so is distrust for the national government in kiev, but there are different views on the town's future. some want to stay part of ukraine, but with more autonomy. "we just want kiev to leave us alone," this woman says. "we'll establish order here ourselves." others tell us they want the russian flag to fly her permanently. the people in this crowd are smiling while knowing the government is threatening to use force against them. a woman tells me they're confident because they feel soldiers would be just like the ones who used to drive these vehicles. they'll surrender before attacking their brothers. the ukrainian government has disbanded one of the military units that gave us its weapons, promising to prosecute those who have given up their weaponry and resources in this way.

but it doesn't change the fact that here on the ground the ukrainian government's authority is still weakening. and in an attempt to uchange tht using the military just isn't working. back to you. stunning new video from that deadly plant explosion in west texas last year. take a look at that. we'll talk to the man who shot this video about that day next. (vo) you are a business pro. maestro of project management.

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checking some top stories for you this morning, president obama welcomed a group of cyclers to the white house today, not just any cyclers. take a look. they're coming out of the white house one by one. they're part of the eighth annual wounded warrior project called soldier ride. now, this event helps raise awareness about the psychological and physical damages of war. these bike rides are lengthy. some of them take four or five days, involve hundreds of miles, and it's been a touching thing to watch this during the commercial break as these soldiers, some of whom, many of whom, are amputees come out of the white house to applause and pictures. good for them. shocking new video to tell you about. it shows the moment a fertilizer plant exploded in west texas. this time last year. the man who shot this video said he noticed flames from a distance, and he pulled out his cell phone to start recording. the blast destroyed more than 100 homes and damaged another 200. 15 people died including 9 first

responders. a year later investigators still have not determined what caused this blast. with all the cold rain and even snow that hammered parts of the nation this week, what will your easter weekend look like? well, the northeast will start to dry out. and parts of the southeast will see heavy rain with threats of flooding. in the central part of the country, some storms off and on but nothing too serious. for those of you in the northwest, pretty soggy but at least it won't be snowing. in documents made public by the national highway transportation safety authority, gm's luxury division, cadillac, fixed a faulty ignition switch back in 2006. testing engineers reported accidentally turning off ignition switches with their knees in the cadillac srx crossover. it's similar to the problem that caused a recall of more than 2 million gm compact cars this year. thank you so much for joining me today. i'm carol costello. at this hour, "berman "berman & michaela" after the

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he was responsible for hundreds of souls on board, but the captain of the sunken south korean ferry managed to escape and survive. only one lifeboat reportedly was deployed. now the search is on for almost 300 people still lost at sea. what has been spotted on the ocean floor in the search for flight 370? the answer now even more critical after an oil sample taken from the search area turns out not to be connected. and the hunt for the missing plane has gone deep under the indian ocean. our martin savidge is in a submarine taking a look at the difficulties of an underwater search. we will take you there live.