edition of "the lead" from boston. tune in at 4:00 p.m. eastern. follow me on twitter @jaketapper check for video blogs. that's it for "the lead ts q i'm jake tapper. i turn you over to wolf blitzer. he's right next door in "the situation room." >> jake, thanks very much. happenings now, sources reveal new details of flight 370 to cnn has the search continues, can these new clues with help to find the missing plane? >> caught on camera, a ferry disaster as it unfolds. do these images contain clues to the deadly accident?

and brink of war. why is the diplomatic deal being ignored? i'm wolf blitzer. nour in "the situation room" at this hour, we have fresh and dramatic information about what happened to malaysia flight 370 in the minutes it disappeared. we have crews standing by on four continents to bring you the latest information on the search and plus the fast-moving news from the ukraine crisis, the south korean ferry accident and today's deadly accident on mt. everest. our analysts are standing by here in "the situation room." let's go to malaysia where a source is giving c nchl n the most detailed understanding of what happened immediately after things started to go wrong aboard flight 370. nic robertson is joining us live from kuala lumpur.

the plane climbed to 39,000 feet after making the left turn deviation from its planned route on the way to beijing. what are we to make of that? >> reporter: once the aircraft reached 39,000 feet, it stayed there for 20 minutes as it began its flight across the malaysian pens lachlt the course was not able to give an interpretation or understanding of why the aircraft had made such a maneuver we had been told that it dropped in altitude and getting to a minimum of 4,000 feet across the sea and malaca straits. but the significance of this, again, does show control of the aircraft and does show that the

person flying it knew what they were doing and perhaps not in an emergency situation. but those are the details that we have, that it was above or had just entered vietnamese air space when it climbed to 39,000 feet after completing the turn. investigators say it really is not until they get the black boxes that they can make the determination more and better why that would have happened, wolf. >> nick, you're also reporting that the plane was equipped with four emergency locator transmitters like this one that either didn't activate or weren't picked up by the emergency monitoring satellite. some are suggesting potentially that could be, what, catastrophic mechanical failure? >> reporter: again, the source says it's not clear why they didn't go off. there are four of them. one on the rear door, one in the forward door, one in the cockpit, one in the fuselage.

the source said that normally when they come into contact with water or when there's a crash, they automatically go off, they have their own independent power source while they are in the aircraft. there's no reason that he's aware of that would mean that they didn't go off. they emit several different frequencies, ones that should be picked up more suitful for ships, one for aircraft. again, what the source is indicating is that those were very odd, his words. i suggested to him that perhaps if the plane came down very carefully, we'll remember that 737 landed on the hudson river and came down very carefully, very slowly. maybe the impact didn't trigger the locators to go off. maybe it then sank before the water could set the transmitters off, that may have been the scenario. again, he said he couldn't say but he thought that there would

have been some water getting into the aircraft that would have triggered them. but what this does, wolf, it really just raises -- and he was highlighting more questions about this investigation. every way you turn every strap and more information we get, it raises more questions but crucially, 12 questions about the elts, they haven't got any answers. we wrote to malaysian airlines asking them. they said that they wouldn't comment on this information bhil it's part of an investigation. clearly if they had gone off, it would have made finding this aircraft so much easier. >> it certainly would have. we're following the deep sea aerial search for debris for the

missing jet. it quickly resurfaced after a series of technical problems early in the latest dive. the problems were fixed. miguel marquez is joining us live now from perth, australia. what did you see, miguel? >> reporter: wolf, despite that search focusing on what is happening underneath the ocean, keep in mind the surface of the ocean has gone on for hundreds if not thousands. we went out with one from the royal new zealand air force to see just how tough their day is. this is what the search for flight 370 looks like. staring out windows and the monitors of high-tech equipment analyzing data in realtime.

all in the hopes of finding any debris. >> the search area is so unbelievably remote, it takes us almost five hours to get out here and we only have enough fuel for an hour and a half of searching before the nearly five-hour journey home. >> the air search may be winding down soon but right now the crew of this new zealand p-3 orion is not giving up. >> if we don't find a piece of the puzzle, one of the reasons we are here now continuing to search is we may find debris that may assist the investigators to put together. >> about three miles down, the fifth dive cut short, a problem with the navigation system could be fixed. we got a new look at the search drone undergoing maintenance on board the "ocean shield." search leaders say they have narrowed the area being scanned but the going is still slow and

with no evidence yet of the plane malaysian's defense minister tweeted the authorities are looking at deploying more underwater drones. it's been six weeks since flight 370 vanished. search teams are feeling the strain. >> the crew worked hard. everyone is working hard. we want our families back home but we're, working for the families of those m--370. >> reporter: no one suffering more than the families of those missing on board flight 370. another sign of the tension as flight 370 families are pushing back at authorities and demanding answers. they are now asking investigators to address very specific questions about the satellite data that led them to the current search area. now, it's just a little after

5:00 a.m. here in perth and we expect that the sixth dive of bluefin-21 is about to conclude very soon. then they will be able to download that data and go through it. it's chewed through 42 square miles so far. nothing to show for it but angus houston in an interview with the local newspaper here says they are still confident they are searching in the right place and they will find it soon. wolf? >> all right. thanks very much, miguel marquez in perth, australia. here in our situation room is peter goelz and tom fuentes. the fact that it went up in vietnamese air space as it was crossing back over the malaysian air force, the 39,000 feet from its 35,000, what does that tell us? >> it's more realistic than originally they said it could have climbed to 45,000 feet, which we were all skeptical

about. but i think it just confirms a little more that this plane was under human direction and, you know, the mystery is still there but it's under human direction and that's troubling. >> but we don't know if it was bad intentions or because of some sort of mechanical problem. >> right. we can't tell that yet because we don't have the data. >> if it was in the vietnamese air space for 15 or 20 minutes or so, as far as i know we haven't heard that they picked it up or heard it. what kind of relationship does the west have with the vietnamese? would they have shared that with malaysia? with australia? >> certainly with malaysia in the scope of the investigation, you would think. but one thing we don't know is

what the source of it is. i wonder if we have human intervention on the radar units. >> what do you mean? >> well, going back to the earliest part of this, humans didn't actually see what was on the radar the night of it. they had to go back later and figure out what they missed. we heard earlier the plane went up to 43,000, down to 20, back up to 35, made a smooth, left turn so it had to be on autopilot. i would like to know whose radar is this based on, whose analysis of the radar is it based on to know if it's really true or just another story we're hearing about what the plane might have done in the air. >> you want to weigh in? >> yeah. and when you're tracking a plane on primary radar without the tansponder, there is a margin of error. and the further the plane is away from the radar, the higher the margin of error. so we just don't know yet. >> we've been reporting and nic reported, there are four of these emergency locators.

they are supposed to be activated if there is a crash. as far as we know, there was no activation and no one picked up any signals from these elts, as they are called. what does that say? >> we don't know yet. but these are not crash resistant. you can lose the antenna and they won't signal. for instance, when the ron brown accident occurred, the elt -- >> former secretary of commerce? >> that's right. when that happened, the elt did not activate and it took them nine hours to find the wreckage. so it's not unusual that they don't activate. but to have all four not activate, that's unusual. >> it is pretty unusual. none of these apparently worked. >> one thing we'd like to learn later is just the whole maintenance regime of malaysian airlines just seems to be a lot of question about, you know, did they do the repairs that they are supposed to do or the regular maintenance that they are supposed to do. there's a lot of questions with that that have not been answered yet. >> now, the bluefin-21 is now down its fifth mission.

so far it's not detected anything significant. there's some indication from the transport minister that maybe they should add some more drones down there to do this search for at least the black box for some sort of wreckage s that a good idea? >> sure. if it's coordinated and done in tandem with the bluefin-21. you don't want to have a lot of independent searches but certainly if you have another drone, you should put it down in coordination. >> i know they are frustrated, tom, but this could go on for weeks, the search under water. it's a relatively -- doesn't seem like a huge area but it's relatively big when you look for something the size of this. >> especially at this point, they are so early at this part of the investigation, to all of a sudden be talking about, well, it's not working, let's bring in something else, that might be prema you are too. on the other hand, it is going to take a long time to get there and coordinate and put it on a different ship than the "ocean shield" and the crew that would

have to come with it to set it up and program it and put it down in the water. so i think that, you know, that we don't know what else is available out there to get out there on a short-term basis, how long it will take to deploy, what ship is ava veilable to get it to the site. >> richard quest is joining us from new york right now. richard, i want to get your thoughts on these two developments we've been reporting. one that it went up from 35,000, the malaysian airliner up to 39,000. it was in vietnamese air space for 15, 20 minutes. what do you make of that? >> the fact that it was in vietnamese air space is interesting but it's probably not surprising because when we have "good night malaysia flight 370," of course it was on the borders of that. and so within a few moments of that it would have crossed over after the hand-over, wolf, from

kuala lumpur to ho chi minh. now, the turn is what the whole story was about. what was happening at 1:19 to 1:22 when the transponder gets shut off. and if it seems that the plane climbed to 39,000 feet and then we get this supposed descent over the straits of malacca, it just makes the whole event that much more bizarre and difficult to understand, wolf. >> and what about the failure of those four emergency locator transmitters like this one? what does that say to you? >> another extraordinary development seemingly inexplicable. the very tool that is supposed to tell people where the plane has had an accident or where there's been an impact, and now

somebody will ask, were they switched off? they are not easily accessible so that raises another valid question about this. we know that there are four of them on board. they don't work under water but why they didn't report the impact if and when it happened will be one for the inquiry. the failure of the elt, wolf, has been one of the biggest conundrums in this drama. >> richard quest, thank you very much. peter goelz and tom fuentes, thank you. it looks like something from a movie but these are real images from a disaster at sea as it happened. there are new developments about the captain who abandoned the ship. they have just revised the death toll. and we're also live in eastern ukraine possibly on the brink of war despite the agreement to ease tension. which side is ignoring the

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an unfolding disaster unfolding at sea. we've seen the gripping shot of the ferry slowly capsize off the coast of south korea. 29 people are confirmed dead. kyung lah is joining us live from jindo. i know you have new information about the number of people missing, so many of them high school students. >> reporter: and this really speaks to the frustration of the families, wolf, because the numbers are constantly revising.

now, what has ticked up is the number of dead. there are now 29 people who are dead. we don't have identities on all of them. but what was revised down is the number of people who were rescued. it went down to 174. so that is where families are getting so frustrated because they feel that authorities don't have a handle of even the numbers of people involved in all of this. and this is happening as we're starting to see even more images, these frightening images of those final moments inside that ferry as it was capsizing. you can see that people are clinging to the walls. they are trying desperately to maintain balance as everything is tipping over. it's simply frightening. you can see the students who are absolutely terrified. this is certainly not helping the families who are involved here. we are also getting new details about the captain of the ship. overnight here in korea, which

was yesterday, the united states, he was charged with five criminal counts. they are a variety of counts. negligence leading to the sinking of the ship, abandoning the ship, causing bodily injury resulting in death and not seeking rescue from nearby ships. deface reporters here in korea. he was handcuffed. he was arrested along with two of his mates and he did admit that he was the one who issued that stay put order, the one that the parents say resulted in their children staying in their rooms and not running to their decks but he said he did it because there were no rescue ships nearby and he was afraid of the currents and freezing waters. wolf? >> one of the vice principals who was on board survived and then committed suicide because he felt so guilty. is that what happened? >> reporter: it is heavy

survivor's guilt and that's something that is a huge concern here on the dock. you see these parents standing at the water. they are huddled in blankets. you can see some of them right over my shoulder. they are not left here. there are counselors here that are concerned about the risk of suicide. so what happened here, according to the local officials, the high school where there were 300-plus students aboard for the four-day field trip, it was right nearby the gym where many of the families are gathered. he went and hung himself at a pine tree nearby. wolf? >> kyung, how many people are still missing? what's the latest number? do you have that? >> the number of missing is 273 but, wolf, as i was saying, those numbers are constantly fluctuating. the families are saying, the number is 273 now but will that change later in this is the

start of the fourth hunt day of looking for more divers that will be able to access the ship which is now completely submerged and try to find more people inside. wolf? >> kyung lah, we'll stay on top of this story. thank you. we're also following the crisis in ukraine. pro-russian militants are now rejecting an agreement to end their stand off with government forces while thousands of russian troops just over the border are adding to the tension. we're going there live. plus, a private american jet, look at this, suddenly appears on the tarmac in iran. what is it doing there? ♪

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very dramatic scenes playing out in eastern ukraine. take a look at this. the video allegedly shows troops on government tanks firing warning shots at civilians trying to stop them. cnn has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the video but there's clearly no easing of the crisis despite a flurry of diplomacy. we'll go live in a few moments. first, cnn's foreign affairs

reporter elise labott is joining us from the state department. what are you hearing over there as far as the u.s. is concerned? >> reporter: well, the u.s. is watching this situation on the ground very closely considering the deal yesterday in geneva looked very promising. today it's being ignored on the ground. on the ground, armed pro-russian militias barricaded public buildings, no evidence of the deal struck yesterday. the russian flag flying in defiance. this leader of the uprising says he didn't agree to a deal and that russia didn't sign anything on his behalf. his forces won't leave, he says, until the government in kiev, which they believe took power through a coup, steps down or until the last drop of blood is shed. in the eastern town of slovyansk, protesters are

digging in. the u.s. and russia hope the agreement reached in geneva would end a week-long standoff. but tonight, no one is really backing down. just hours ago, as the country's acting prime minister and president addressed the nation on tv with an appeal of unity -- >> we are all citizens of a sovereign and independent ukraine. >> reporter: ukraine's foreign minister left the door open to military action. if the rebels don't vacate the public buildings and lay down their arms. both the minister and washington put the onus on washington to rein the separatists in. >> we'll be watching whether russia does or does not uphold its responsibility to use its very considerable influence.

>> reporter: and wolf, this agreement makes no mention of the some 40,000 troops the u.s. says are amassed at the border with ukraine. the u.s. says that it expects russia to stop withdrawing them once the agreement stops being implemented but they are there for now, wolf. >> still a very tense moment. thanks very much, elise labott, at the state department. let's go to ukraine now. fred pleitgen is live. what are you seeing and hearing over there, fred? >> reporter: the latest is that the interim government is a lot more skeptical about the deal yesterday. it was able to speak to the prime minister last night and felt that the deal was better than he expected out of the meeting but now, of course, the mood is very different. not only have those separatists in donetsk say that they are not leaving the buildings.

for instance, they feel that not only the pro-russians to vacate the buildings, they also say that behind me here, that of course it became a symbol for the revolution in ukraine has to be vacated as well. the people who are there have to vacate as well. they also say that what they call ultra nationalists ukrainian militia need to disarm. it's a big list that the russians have put forward that makes thing more difficult. on the other hand, the ukrainian government says that they are willing to take steps and grant them more autonomy and they are willing to take those steps. however, the buildings need to be vacated before that. otherwise, they are threatening military action. i actually spoke to a military expert a couple of hours ago. he's not sure what the current state of the ukrainian military and the failures that we have seen from ukrainian military on the ground may be able to oust

those protesters even if they moved in there with force. >> thanks very much, fred pleitgen. let's get more from our foreign affairs reporter elise labott as well as ian for "the daily beast" and julia ioffe. the setting is ukraine, eli, but a lot of people think this is a battle that is eyeball to eyeball between president obama and president putin. how do you see it? >> once again, sergey lavrov has made a problem to john kerry only to see that the words were meaningless less than 24 hours later. it was lavrov on the phone that said there was no imminent action only to be proven wrong by events, as it were. so in that respect, is the united states even negotiating with the right guy? in the most terrible interpretation of this is that

lavrov doesn't know what moscow is doing. we had a very different impression the day before. >> julia, what does he say to himself when he sees these threats? >> he says, yeah, right. i don't think he sees barack obama as a serious threat. as for sergey lavrov, he's a very good messenger and skilled messenger of the putin line and that's to buy more time to put everybody at ease and to strike again. this is it what the people that i talk to in kiev were saying, is that in this calm, we know that moscow is regrouping and that it's about to strike again. >> what's the feeling there at the state departent, elise? >> reporter: well, wolf, they know that the russians could definitely put their influence, as susan rice said, on the russian separatists, the

pro-russian separatists. but at the same time, they feel that this agreement is very favorable to russia. it not only stops sanctions in its tracks but it gives autonomy, constitutional reform. for him to effectively have control over eastern ukraine without having to invade. so they think that he has a lot of reason to implement this agreement and if he doesn't, they say, sanctions are ready to go. >> echlli, a new russian plane , in your words, u.s. officials spooked right now. explain what you have learned. >> there is something called the open skies agreement which is post cold war treaty that allows russian surveillance planes to monitor nuclear missiles and in exchange western could do that in russia. >> to be able to fly over the air space? >> it would be able to fly over. and it's advanced enough that the joints chief of staff as well as leaders at the u.s.

intelligence committee have urged the state department not to certify this latest plane. this predates the ukraine crisis but it's coming to a head now. this week there was a deputy meeting. top officials talked about the policy differences. it couldn't reach a consensus and has delayed decision. that plays into it as zell they've got new technology that has spooked u.s. officials. >> yes, it does. >> what could it potentially do? >> well, part of it is how the rada radars are configured but it could get a panoramic view and a lot of this is classified assessment but some of this is eked out in the congressional letters and the other part of it is that it's a resolution of the digital cameras is higher than it was before. >> you know, julia, if the u.s. were to bar russians from flying over u.s. spaces, the russians would retaliate and bar the u.s. from flying over russian air

space and the whole u.s./russia cooperation, the arms control agreement could collapse. >> it's already starting to collapse, at least around the edges. earlier this year president vladimir putin said the checks established under various post cold war arm treaties were two invasive and he would put a stop to them and that's when barack obama wanted to expand his, you know, agenda of nuclear nonproliferation and vladimir putin basically poured cold water on it. >> do you think there's any administration by the obama administration to provide more significant weaponry to ukraine? >> we haven't seen anything like that. we keep hearing the terms, nonlethal aid. secretary of defense hagel said even if there was a land invasion of ukraine, the united states would not add troops on the ground. now, those calculations could change but for now the message

is we are not arming -- >> yesterday the president said there was no u.s. military options. when ukrainians hear that, what do they think? >> well, today you had former prime minister having for aid but the u.s. is putting pressure on kiev not to fire and not to shoot and to restrain, to act in a restrained manner. they are praising them publicly for their restraint but in private they are pushing not to draw russia into an armed conflict. >> julia, eli, elise, thanks to you as well. there's another plane mystery in the news today. what is this u.s. plane doing at an airport in all places tehran. a search for survivors after an avalanche on the slopes of one of the most dangerous mountains. ♪ [ female announcer ] the sun powers life. ♪

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just getting this word in to "the situation room." the white house saying president obama has signed a new law designed to prevent iran's designated u.n. ambassador from entering the united states as a result of bipartisan outrage over iran's decision to appoint a man involved in the militant groups sfonsab groups responsible for the kidnapping of diplomats and holding them for 444 days. that man not coming to the united states to be iran's ambassador to the u natnited

nations. this comes amid a u.s. jet that turned up at a tehran airport. suzanne malveaux has that story for us. what have you learned? >> an unidentified u.s. plane sitting there at the tehran airport. why is it sitting in a highly visible area? these are a couple of the questions that journalists are asking now because of the united states' strict sanctions that forbid most american companies from doing business in iran. a six-wing aircraft captured in a photograph by "the new york times" sits at the airport in iran. is someone breaking the law? >> the iranian transactions and sanctions regulations prohibit the ex por tags of goohibi ex at

u.s. aircraft from flying to iran. >> reporter: the state department is investigating but it's the treasury department that is taking the lead. and will enforce if appropriate u.s. sanctions. >> you can travel to iran but you have to get permission from the government and clarity as to the things you can do and the things you can't do. one of the first questions here will be whoever made this trip, did they apply to the treasury department, you know, for permission with a clear understanding of how you can spend money in iran and how you can't spend money in iran. >> reporter: adding to the mystery, a spokesperson for the airport said no u.s. plane landed there at all. according to federal aviation records, this plane with tale number n604ap is owned by the bank of utah held in a trust for a group of investors. we got in touch with the bank which confirmed it owns the

plane but doesn't operate it and didn't say why it was sitting in iran or who flew it there. a spokesman said the trust relationship is confidential. additional information must come from the beneficiary. the bank's trust agreement do not allow aircraft to be used in any illegal activity. we were able to track the plane's recent whereabouts. last october, the plane was spotted in ghana and the uk. in january, switzerland at the time of the world economic forum. february, back to the uk and the next month returning to ghana. so we're now just hearing from the iranian news agency just moments ago that a ministry spokesperson says the u.s. plane was chartered by ghana's presidential office and was cari carrying a high-ranking delegation. u.s. officials will still be investigating. since this was an american plane, whether or not any trade laws were broken because, as we're told by the state

department today, that the administration generally prohibits u.s.-registered aircraft from flying to iran. this comes at a time of negotiation over a nuclear deal. tough, tough sanctions on iran. this is a very serious investigation and a very sensitive situation. >> and it raises serious questions. did they pay with the bank of utah for permission to fly this plane? were american pilots involved? what was going on? who made money as a result of this deal? >> we still don't know. we do not know but investigators, the faa as well as treshasury will be looking a all of those issues. >> suzanne, thank you. this is the deadliest day recorded on the tallest mountain. up next, a dozen sherpa die on mt. everest. ahead at the top of the hour, startling new details about malaysian airlines flight 370.

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it's a potentially deadly journey that's claimed so many lives over the years. today marks the single deadliest day on mt. everest. here we details of an avalanche that killed at least a dozen people. >> wolf, ever since one of the most dangerous places in the world, but even if has never experienced an accident as deadly a this. tonight there is a frantic search for four people still trapped under tons of snow. survivors say the avalanche which apparently was not captured on camera rolled down

the mountain with a roar of thunder killing at least a dozen people. tonight there's a frantic search for four men who are still missing. six others made it out alive. three are in critical condition. the men were in an area called popcorn field filled with giant chunks of ice. >> it's basically russian roulette. >> popcorn field gets its name from the refrigerator sized chunks of ice that the climbers have to make their way over. it's not just a walk in the part. >> reporter: all of the dead were ethnic sherpa often called the heroes of the himalayas. they live near the mountains acting mostly as guides for other climbers. when the average hit they were fixing hopes for next month when the heavy climbing season begins. they started at base camp after 6:30 a.m. this morning. they hiked up the mountain. they'd gotten a mile and a half up the mountain, 19,000 feet. that's where they met danger. >> reporter: experts say the everest avalanche was more

forceful than this one in colorado in february captured on video by a snowmobiler. in that case, hi friends were close and able to pull him out. everest base camp was much farther making a fast rescue harder. >> when you lying in your tent, it feels like thunder rumbling and you can feel vibration in your tent. it's scary because of the way the acoustics work in the valley. >> now, rescuers were able to pull out the bodies of the dead today. some of the injures were helicoptered out. they are still searching for their four missing. wolf, there are 300 climbers approved to climb next month. their using 400 of these guides. >> very dangerous, dangerous operation. thanks very much for that report. coming up, the breaking news we're following. surprising details about ma layer that flight 370. a source telling cnn previously unreleased information about the plane's flight path and emergency transmitter. more breaking news, we

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only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. happening now, breaking news on the flight 370 investigation. we have new information about the mysterious turn off course. are authorities sharing everything they know? also ahead -- cnn uncovers another chilling terrorist video. stand by for an exclusive report on its message and the potential threat to american targets right now. plus, dangerous new defiance in ukraine. government forces try to regain control. they're refusing to lay down their weapons. and new video of frightened passengers trying to escape a sunken ferry.

the ship's captain now facing charges and the search for survivors growing more desperate. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're following breaking development this hour in the flight 370 mystery. there's been another glitch in the underwater search for the plane. we learned more about the jet's flight path and the critical moments when it first veered off course and vanished. we'll have a live report from the staging area. cnn's miguel marquez is standing by. we have our team of experts ins situation room. let's get the latest from justice correspondent pamela brown. >> wolf, tonight a source tells cnn more details are shedding light on the early moments when flight 370 went missing and which country airspace tv flying it when it start to turn around. a malaysian aviation source

tells cnn flight 370 made its dramatic west wad turn in vietnamese airspace. air traffic control never made contact with the plane. the plane continued to fly at 39,000 feet for at least 20 minutes as it crossed back over the malaysian peninsula before starting to descend. that change in altitude is one of the many mysteries investigators are trying to figure out. the new report on the beginning of the plane's journey comes as the bluefin-21 continues to look for the flight's final resting place. tonight the underwater sofar vehicle is in the middle of its sixth mission. it was cut short earlier today. a problem with a navigation system had to be prepared, again slowing down the search. >> it's extraordinarily difficult. then you're talking about unchartered territory. it's like looking to try to see what's going on in the at ig through the front door key hole. >> reporter: more than 4,600

square miles have been searched. so far, no sonar images from the bluefin's missions have been released to the public. >> it's going to be a game of patience. 15 scare miles a day, every day we get a little more information back and can write off the area that is searched. we don't have to go back to that. it's done. >> reporter: overnight the malaysian transport minister leading the investigation said on twitter a special committee is now considering if more unmanned subs are needed to map the ocean floor. underwater searches can take a long time. it took vehicles similar to bluefin 78 days over the course of 2 years to find the wreckage of air france 447 and that was after degrbris was found. the search above is set to wrap up soon. >> it's not that surprising over such a vast area and long period of time that no debris has been found. it's disappointing for us, absolutely. >> reporter: meantime, in

beijing, chinese families gathered for a prayer service in a hotel after chinese police reprevented them from entering a park. groups published these documents here pushing investigators to double check the satellite data and explain malaysia's initial response. >> pamela, i want you to stand by. we have more from you coming up. it's early saturday morning in australia. time for planes to take off in search of debris for the missing plane. cnn's miguel is joining us from perth, australia. you actually got to fly with an air search team earlier. >> reporter: we did, indeed. royal new zealand air force team and p-3 oroin aircraft. the area they're searching is so unbelievably remote.

an hour and half worth's of gas to search the area they're tasked with. those are happening every single day, getting ready to go up. probably about an hour now for today. both the p-3s, p-8s, not searching one area in the southern indian ocean but two, three different areas searching different patches of the ocean where maybe, possibly, given the number of days this airliner they believe went down where it did, where that debris may have ended up. the folks we hooked up with yesterday at the new zealand air force are the only p-3s to have seen something in the water and successfully hooked up a ship to it to exhale pick it up and examine it. that turned out to be bread basket basically not related to mh-370. it gives you an idea how difficult it is to see something from the area and direct traffic

on the ocean from it. >> are you getting any indication how much longer they're going to continue the aerial search? >> reporter: look, there is frustration with the aerial search because it is long, long hours for these guys. they are being taxed to the very limit of their capabilities and their gears' abilities as with el. the planes have be serviced off. there was word it may be days. for as frustrating as it is for them, they keep in mind the families of mh-370, their frustrations are much greater and understand the world is focused on this story. they're very excecompetitive as well. they want to come up with something for malaysia flight 370. they're waiting to hear from they higher ups as to how long it lasts. it could be a few days. if angus houston is right what he told a local newspaper, they believe they're in the right

spot and will find it on the education floor, that search on the ocean surface will end. wolf? >> please thank those crews for all their excellent work. thanks very much, miguel marquez. let's bring in our panel. pamela brown. along with former oceanographer, van gerley. peter goelz and law enforcement an liz, tom fuentes. what does it say to you, it went from 35,000, normal cruising up to 39,000 feet after it made that surprising left turn after transponders stopped working. spent 15s in vietnamese airspace and eventually flew over the malaysian peninsula. >> i think it confirms it was under human control. somebody was directing and flying that plane. now, do we know why? we don't know. but it was under human control. i think, you know, the more we

get information about this and confirm it, the better understanding we have of the flight path and what might have been happenening. >> that 39,000 is near the maximum. could go up to 41,000. that's about it. pamela, how did this play into your reporting over the path few days that the co-pilot had his cell phone on trying to establish a signal with the cell tower. >> we know as you point out, there was some sort of -- i should actually rewind a little bit. this information has been shared with u.s. investigators, data that the co-pilots -- data from it was detected by a cell tower. what nick is reporting from a source does square with how that would be possible because basically this source is saying that it was 39,000 feet over the south china sea and over part of the malaysian peninsula, so, and it could -- he said after that that it went down in altitude. we don't know how much. we heard previously it went down

from 4,000 feet 100 miles off the west coast. in order for that phone to hit the cell tower, it had to be around 10,000 feet. it does go in line with what we've been reporting. >> you know the malaysian authorities. you worked with them. why is this system coming out piecemeal? why isn't there a way of releasing this information at least for the benefit of the families? >> they don't want to release it in the first place. they've been closed mouthed from the beginning. these are not official proclamations we're getting. i continue to be very skeptical of how does the source know what the source knows? which radar system is being analyzed? who's doing the analysis? how is this being leaked out? because of so many variations of how high that plane went, how low it came down to, the direction it went. we have one phone trying to connect with the tower or connecting with the tower. but what about the other 240 passengers? there had to be more phones on

on that plane that didn't get shut off. there are so many mysterious aspects and the information coming out of that channel isn't helping to clarify anything. >> do you see any greater clarity as a result of this new information that we're just learning? >> not really, wolf. the piece i'm focused on is the underwater search. i'm surprised the australians vice president said how big an area they're focused. they hinted they're focused on a tighter area. so think, unfortunately, it's still a waiting game on the under seaside. it's going to take several weeks, a month to get to the area. look at ha what the bluefin has done so far, it's covered 15% of the total area. >> you're not frustrated saying this is a failure by any mean. >> absolutely not. you have to methodically work your way through the area and

takes time. it's going to take a lot more time. >> the other disturbing information we're getting involves an emergency locator transmitter, peter, as you well know, there are four of these aboard a boeing 777. they're suppose to send a message tl been a problem. if it hits water or there's a crash. four of them if nour different parts of the plane and none of them sent any message or at least nothing was connected. that raises a lot of questions. >> it does. these things are not armored like the black box, so it can't really function it it's a very violent crash. none of them sent out a message that was picked up by one of the satellites. it's very mysterious. >> very mysterious, indeed. what do you say? >> we don't know the maintenance regime of the airliner. that's yet to be discussed also down the line of what the

airline did in terms of all of the service. >> hold on for a moment. i want go to back to perth, a t austral australia. geoffrey anonymous is standing by, editor in chief of airlinerating airlineratings.com. what do you make of the poor emergency locator transmitters? when the plane disappeared, whether it went in the water, whether it crashed or whatever. there was no indication from not one of them that there was a problem. >> indeed, wolf. this is just one more facet of what is just an extraordinary mystery. at every twist and turn, we appear to have something that we've never come across before. we've never lost an airliner for seven weeks. yes, it does raise questions about the maintenance of those items on the boeing 777. that airplane was delivered in 2004. i'm not exactly sure how often these have to be checked to

ensure the factory is serviced and working. so it's not an old airplane by normal standards, but, again, it just raises questions and there are so many questions even when we find the airplane. eventually. there's still many, many questions unanswered. >> geoffrey, that bluefin, underwater drone that's been searching the bottom of the indian ocean, the floor over there, fifth mission was aborted. now on its sixth mission. what are you hearing about how it's going? >> look, there's still a very high level of confidence, wolf. i mean, with the search for air france 447, i think it took 18 missions before they actually found the wreckage. and they had lots of -- a number of aborts. the difference there was there was no international media scrutiny of day by day what was going on. here, of course, we have intense

interest every hour. every minute of what's going on. and we are seeing, you know, a live operation of a bluefin-21. a very expensive exotic piece working in an extreme environment. we have to expect the fact it's not going to work perfectly every time. >> does it make sense, van, to put another one in the water at the same time or would that confuse or complicate the search? >> really comes down, wolf, to how big an area they're trying to cover. they haven't release ed what th my primary search area is. if it's a broader area, you can run con current operations. the issue is getting the piece of gear there and finding support infrastructure like ships. >> you think they should be sending more equipment in, at least if possibility? >> i think we ought to be prepared as van said. we don't know what the size of

the search area is. if it's big enough, put another piece down and let's get to work on it. >> we know the search area based on the pings that came supposedly from one of these flight date to recorders like this one. this is a ping. one lasted for two hours. they were convinced that's the real deal. in order for that ping to actually have come from a black box, they have a relatively modest area they have to search. >> i'm not sure how modest it is given the equipment that's searching it right now. that's the issue here, the short range of that bluefin each day it goes down, compared to the size of the area which as van said we don't know exactly how big that area is, which raises another issue, we're always krit k criticizing the malaysians for not being forthcoming. >> based on your information, they're looking in the right area. >> that is the general sense.

this takes time. with air france, there were four extensive searches under water to find the wreckage. it took nines days to finally locate the wreckage. the best point, what they believe to be the best point, they're working out from there and it's going to take a while. geoffrey geoffrey, when we hear malaysian, australian officials saying they may have to expand the search area, what does that say to you? >> i mean, what it says, if they don't find it in the most logical spot, they will have to expand it further. but, i mean, it is very, very early days. i think some of these comments are probably unhelpful. we've still got angus husten saying we are working in the rite spot. remember, with air france 447, we didn't find it where we expected to find it. we had debris on the surface. we knew a lot more about air

france 447 than mh-370 and found the debris somewhere away from where we expected to find it. i'm confident in angus houston. he says we're looking in the right area. i think we'll find something hopefully very soon. >> the difference is that air france disaster, they never heard any pings at all from those two black boxes. this time they believe they heard pings. all right, guys. geoffrey thomas from perth, australia, peter, van, pamela, thank to you as well. stiltexclusive. new terrorist message on video. why are u.s. officials concerned? stand by for the latest on a ferry disaster and the fate of those trapped teenagers. "hashtag love dad" when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp". our aarp tek program helps people find better ways to

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let's get to a story right now. breaking exclusively right here on cnn. a group closely affiliated with al qaeda released new video calling for more terrorist attacks. it's the second time this week we've seen high resolution images of al qaeda affiliated terrorists. pentagon correspondent barbara starr studied the video, broke the story about the first video, now the second video. >> wolf, a lot of these al qaeda videos are meant as propaganda meant to be seen by the world. when the cia and pentagon look at them, they're looking frame

by frame for any clue about where the next attack may be coming from. this time it's a video of fighters from al qaeda's dangerous affiliate al shabaab. their faces hidden calling for new recruits and more attacks. recently posted on the internet, it's clearly a problpaganda and recruiting video. this time, the threat? we will blow you up until we finish you off. a chilling reminder of the assault on nairobi's west gate mall that killed 67 people. these men say it's not that westgate was enough, there are still hundreds of men who are wishing for such an operation. >> we certainly can't dismiss their ability to carry out those kinds of terrorist atax. >> reporter: al shabaab is in the u.s. cross hairs. in january a drone strike failed to kill the orderer. last october, navy s.e.a.l.s

under heavy gunfire had to abandon a compound in southern somalia when civilians got in the way. the s.e.a.l.s had been sent to get a senior planner for al shabaab. he was seen in this video first broadcast by cnf. wahashi is number two if al qae qaeda. u.s. officials tell cnn it's believed this daring gathering was shot in the remote mountains of southern yemen, an al qaeda strong hold. wahashi coordinates al qaeda's affiliate. the connection between al qaeda groups in somalia and yemen was partially disrupted when a middle man was picked up by the u.s. >> he was very familiar with the leadership of al qaeda in yemen.

he spoke at length to u.s. interrogators. >> reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn the group has gone on an internal rampage brutally killing several people they believe are inform mants for the u.s. now, this video aside, there is a lot of worry right now because al qaeda in yemen has gone quiet, almost too quiet. a lot of them are turning away from using their cell phones, encrypting chat rooms, going back to more old-fashioned communication if you will, couriers, now that u.s. officials say makes it harder but not impossible for them to track what these al qaeda affiliates may be up. >> almost like under silence right now. barbara starr doing excellent reporting for us. thank you very much. let's dig deeper about this chilling new video. joining us, national security an lice peter berg and cnn

intelligence and security analyst, bob baer. what's the significant, do you think, bob, of this new video coming out from al shabaab? they're a pretty brutal group. >> wolf, first of all, i think they want to change the subject. al qaeda isn't doing well in syria. they're in the middle of sectarian civil war in iraq and want to focus on an outside enemy. they haven't really struck the united states or western europe for almost a decade now. i think they would like to go on the offensive again. their probably planning operations as we speak. we have to assume -- what i find interesting is they've gotten to the point where they can shed their cell phones and e-mail and the rest of it and meet and use kor couriers. they've learned. they're going back to old-fashioned techniques. >> reporter: do you think they learned about the leaks from u.s. surveillance capabilities?

>> absolutely. there's so much on the national security a a agency and sites. they talk about it, know about it. they read the newspapers. they watch cnn. they know about all these leaks. and they are smart guys are accounting for it and they're going off grid. >> do you see a connection, peter, between these two released videos -- both pretty high-tech, they're high definition resolution. one of them al qaeda in the arab y arabian peninsula video, they show faces. the other, al shabaab, they don't show faces. do you see a connection between these two videos? >> they can be coincidental. they've cooperated in the past. they changed training tactics, had personnel come here. these groups are kind of embedded with each other now. they both identify -- both self-identified as al qaeda.

and, but the timing of the two is coincidental. >> the argument i've heard is they're both designed basically, bob points out for propaganda purpose to recruit. to find new additional members, if you will. >> shabaab, the one in somalia, has tended to focus on attacks -- al qaeda in the arab yan peninsula have tried to attack american targets. the attacks are different and the capacity is different. al shabaab is a local uncertainty rather than a terrorist group. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, barbara, when u.s. officials assess, analyze these two videos, you point out accurately they're looking it frame by frame by frame. if faces are in the al shabaab video, what they looking for? >> nobody's face in that video is totally covered. they're looking at things like,

believe it or not, the shape of eyes, the shape of noses, the tone of skin to try and determine where some of these fighters come from. in vthis video, they believe a number of them are kenyans, not somalis. why is that important? al shabaab would like to drive kenya out of somalia where it's been trying to work on some of the peace keeping efforts and trying to convince kenyans they should catch their lot with al qaeda. i think both bob and peter obviously are completely correct. the videos aren't tied to each other but one of the underlying themes u.s. officials will te you 13 years after 9/11, what worries them are these al qaeda affiliates. they may be regional, may be trying to attack the united states, but this is vale really al qaeda 13 years later in so many places and driven by

ideology, have financing, have capability. they certainly have expensive video equipment. this is what worries people. they're not going away. these affiliates continue to recruit and continue to plot and plan. >> bob, how much of a threat do you believe these two groups, al shabaab and al qaeda in the a b arainian peninsula pose to the u.s.? >> i think the ones based in somalia, or yemen, themselves, are not -- what they're looking for are looking for lone wolves, for instance, in the united states. there's a big somali community, for instance, in the midwest. the fbi office in chicago is intensely fo lly focused on thae if there are recruits. remember, the weapons they're able to develop are made from hardware stores. a little practice. they pose a real danger. aspirational now, but the fbi is worried about crossing this