>> one point how much, 1.3 million some-odd -- >> that's a drop in the bucket in terms the oceans. >> thank you for coming. my colleague wolf blitzer right now. right now, an object of interest washes ashore on the coast of australia. is it from malaysia airlines frig flight 370? the death toll rises in the south korea sunken ferry. divers have found no air pockets where passengers could be trapped. russia's foreign minister ramping up the rhetoric, saying americans are running the show in ukraine. this, as u.s. paratroopers begin training in the region. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we're live this hour in five continents. we begin today with a possible new lead in the search for

malaysia airlines fright 370. australian officials say they've recovered an object of interest, in their words, on the western australia coast, near the town of augusta, about 186 miles south of perth. the object is being described as a piece of sheet metal with rivets. it's being sent to investigators in perth to determine whether it's a piece of the plane. the object was found more than 1,000 miles from the site of the underwater search. a high-tech drone finished its tenth mission in that area today without locating any, repeat, any, jet debris. more resources could be brought into the search zone soon. our own erin mclaughlin is on the scene for us, once again joining us from perth. first off, what are officials actually telling you about that new so-called object of interest? >> hi, wolf. well, we understand it was found about 186 miles from here to the south of perth.

the head of the safety bureau martin dolan telling cnn the atsb is currently analyzing photographs of this object. he described it as a metal sheet with rivets. we're also hearing from a source inside the defense force describing it as having a fiberglass coating, described as a rectangular object but torn and misshapen. dolan adding a note of caution, saying that the more the authorities and the atsb are looking at these images, the less excited they are getting about it. now, we are aware of australian media reports that multiple objects have been found. so far, cnn has been unable to confirm that. we're also trying to get more information about the size of the objects. our sources -- some of our sources saying they've only seen one photograph of this object and, therefore, it's difficult to determine scale. now, there have been plenty of false leads in this search so

far. every lead, authorities say, they're taking seriously as important as either to rule in or rule out. it remains unclear at the moment if they're planning to rule this out any time soon. >> malaysian officials also said they may be bringing in more assets, their word, assets, to the search zone. what exactly are they considering? >> it's also something we're hearing from australian officials. david johnston, a defense minister, was quoted in the media today as saying they're considering more underwater submersibles that have more capability, capable of going into deeper waters. he said submersibles like the ones used in the hmas sydney wreckage find and also the submersibles used to find the titanic. this underwater area they're searching now, they've managed to rule about 80% out. so australian and malaysian authorities now thinking very seriously about next steps,

planning for the long term, possibly a search operation. we're hearing through july, wolf. >> erin mclaughlin in perth for us, thank you. what's the significance of this new so-called object of interest? our panel of experts will join us. we will discuss. let's turn to that ferry tragedy in south korea now. a huge memorial fills part of the high school near seoul where so many of the victims were students. classes are set to resume tomorrow. the school is without most of its sophomores who are on a class trip aboard the ferry. the flowers, they cover their desks. one week later, hopes have all but vanished of finding any more survivors. rescue divers say they've found no air pockets on the third and fourth decks of the sunken ship. the death toll now stands at 159. another 143 are still missing. it's possible not all of the victims will be found. will ripley's joining us now

from jindo, south korea, that's the launching area for the search operation. so, will, will some bodies, they may have drifted away from the accident site where the ferry first sank. what's being done to try to find them? >> well, we know that that has happened, wolf, some of the bodies drifted out of the ferry just a couple of days ago. a girl was found in a life jacket floating out to sea. so what they've done is they've set up ships around the perimeter with these large nets that they're hopeful will catch any bodies that are drifting away from the actual ferry. of course, wolf, the intensive search does continue. the divers in the ferry as we speak searching cabins on the fourth floor and expanding their search up to the fifth floor after that big surprise yesterday when they finally reached the cafeteria, a area where a lot of people were having breakfast. they thought they might find a lot of people. as far as they know right now, they haven't found anyone in the cafeteria. >> i understand two more crew members have been arrested.

what's the latest on that front, will? >> four new arrests overnight, wolf, bringing the total to 11 crew members facing charges including the captain. there's a lot of scrutiny right now on the owner of the ferry company and also just the business model in general. there's accusations of tax evasion, the home of the owner, the office of the owner, was searched. there are questions about how much cargo was in the ship and also new today a south korean lawmaker is actually saying that there was expansion done on the ship that increased the capacity by about 100 passengers and he's questioning whether that expansion may have made the ship unsafe or unstable in some way. it's something that some of the crew months are also talking about. >> will ripley, reporting for us from south korea. we'll stay in close touch with you. by the way, we're going to have more on the ferry sinking later this hour. a maritime safety expert will join us to talk about the emergency procedures that should have been followed on that

stricken ship. it has stoked the worst east-west tensions since the cold war. u.s. troops now arriving in poland, heading to three other nations along the baltic sea. in a move the u.s. says is in response to the crisis in ukraine. for its part, russia's also mobilizing its military with previously unplanned drills in the caspian sea. earlier today, the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov said russia would respond if its interests were attacked in ukraine. >> if we are attacked, we will certainly respond. if our interests legitimate interests, the interests of russians, had been attacked directly like they were in south ossetia, for example, i don't see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law. russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the russian federations. >> let's bring in our own

frederick pleekten. what kind of message is russia sending? >> they're certainly sending the message the u.s. isn't going to back down. it's hard to overstate the significance these troops have. the u.s. is sending 600 troops into three eastern european countries that are all members of nato. but it certainly is something these countries have been asking for for a very long time. they also feel that any sort of boots on the ground the u.s. has will act as a deterrent against any sort of possible russian aggression. you also had the visit of vice president biden here yesterday, wolf, where he reassured the ukrainian government the u.s. will stand by them. he announced a significant aid package. about $50 million to he the democratic process here. especially geared towards those elections that will be held here on may 25th. the u.s. believes those are very important. the big issue here for the u.s. is helping ukraine achieve energy independence from russia

because the u.s. believes that's a big chip of blackmail that the russias are using at this point in time simply because ukraine is so dependent on russian gas, wolf. >> as you know, fred, the acting ukrainian presented has calleded for a renewal of what he calls anti-terror measures, calling off that easter holiday truce. what's the latest on that front? >> well, there were several very significant incidents. on the one hand, there was a politician in an eastern town in ukraine who was found dead and apparently had torture marks on his body and the ukrainians say it was pro-russian separatists who killed him. the russians for their part are saying it was a ukrainian militia. another incident where apparently a ukrainian plane flying over one of these towns held by russian separatists was fired on, sustained several bullet holes but was able to return to its space. saying they're moving their military into the east of the country. they've also told us some of the

details about how they plan to do some of this. they say they're going to try to plan the perimeters around these towns. they're electing some checkpoints. they're going to launch raids into these towns to try to oust these separatists. you'd cra the ukrainians are saying this some going to take a couple of days. they're saying it's questionable whether the ukrainian military is capable of conducting such very sophisticated and dedicated counterinsurgency operations, wolf. >> they say they think russian special forces are pretty convinced russian special forces are behind those efforts to seize government buildings in ukraine. what is moscow saying about that? >> moscow is saying it had no part whatsoever in this. there are pictures that apparently are showing russian soldiers on the ground, showing russians who have apparently been active for instance in the southern ossetia campaign in georgia in 2005. the russian sep ra tichts are

saying some of these people are ex-military, some are citizens, however, they are not currently active duty russian military or russian secret service. they're saying they have no part of this. this is a grassroots uprising. they're also hearing the russians are going to protect these people. so a very real threat of russian intervention in the east of ukraine. meanwhile, the russians continue to deny they have forces on the ground. the u.s. and ukraine say it's absolutely not the case, that at the very least the events happening in the east of the country are from the russian federation, wolf. >> all right, fred, thank you. i'll speak live with congressman mike rogers to talk about the crisis in ukraine as well as the u.s. drone strikes in yemen. one of al qaeda's master bombers, was he killed in that strike? that's coming up shortly. president obama has arrived in asia. first stop, japan where he met with the prime minister. the president reassured tokyo of

its u.s. support in its dispute with china over islands in the south china sea. it will be a week of diplomacy and building economic ties. there are also planned stops in south korea, malaysia and the philippines. the trip comes as the president tries to show asian leaders the u.s. remains committed, deeply committed, to the region. a school attack on more than 200 girls kidnapped. we're going live to nigeria on the horror unfolding after militants went on a rampage. what about that so-called object of interest found on the australian coast? could it be linked to flight 370? our panel of experts standing by to weigh in. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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search for flight 370, a potential new lead. officials now say they've recovered what they describe as an object of interest on the coast of western australia. it appears to be a piece of sheet metal with rivets, possible fiberglass coating on one side. officials are cautious, they say it's possible this has nothing to do with the plane, but they insist they're taking the discovery seriously and will investigate it thoroughly. let's bring in our experts. aviation consultant ken christensen. cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes. ken, let me start with you. you hear the descriptions. they haven't released a photograph yet. we don't know much more but they're taking it very seriously. how seriously does it sound to you? >> i think they should look at the object, but fiberglass and metal that says boat, if it's composite, carbon fiber and metal, aircraft rivets, flush

riv rivets, that says airplane. >> it shouldn't take long to determine if it's from a plane or a boat. >> no, but people would picked it up and looked at it, if they're not airplane people, they would have a problem with it. i would take a picture and shoot that off and let somebody from boeing look at that or anybody from the airline. >> boeing is the maker of the 777. they could presumably determine quickly whether or not that's the wreckage. if it were, that would be the first piece of wreckage that would emerge. that would potentially be a significant clue as to what's going on over there, if they had a piece of the plane. >> that would be huge. it would also indicate the earlier cyclones had blown debris much further toward australia than they thought in the beginning. it would confirm completely that the plane went south. >> there were horrible hurricane-like conditions. is it possible a piece of metal

wreckage could have come all the way from let's say nearly 1,000 miles or so off shore all the way to the shore over the past few weeks? >> absolutely. i mean, we're over a month -- we're over 30 days into this. that wreckage could have gone 1,000, 2,000 miles at this point. >> could have gone that far. >> yes. >> the officials say the more they look at it the less excited apparently they're getting. so a parentally some of the initial indications are maybe it's not, maybe it's something else. there's a lot of junk that's out there in the indian ocean at all times any how. a lot of it eventually winds up on the shore of australia. so it could be anything. let's note get, you know, all that excited yet that they actually found this because, as you know, there have been a lot of false leads over these past several weeks. >> follow the debris field and verify. >> are you still convinced they're looking in the right place right now? >> no. >> are you? >> i was, with the underwater locator transmitter.

>> with the pings from the so-called black boxes. >> could it have been tossed in the water and given the same acoustical -- they can take one of those and throw them in the water, or is it from the actual wreckage? until you see wreckage you cannot confirm the airplane entered the water there. i agree with tom on that. >> they may have to at some point start from scratch if this object of interest turns out to be another false lead. >> true. >> there seem to be a lot of face saving and everything so that's why -- that's a flag of concern for me. >> and they're increasingly getting frustrated because there are all these questions, legitimate questions, that the family members, tom, have. for example, they want access too the flight log book, the recordings. those are legitimate questions. but malaysian authorities are not making this stuff available. >> they're not making it available. they're not discussing it in a way that would give confidence to the family also. they appear to be hiding

important information for whatever reason and all of the aviation information is not necessarily part of the criminal investigation. there's a lot they could reveal. to look at the radar information, so they're given the appearance of hiding something, whether they are or not. >> standby because we have more to discuss. our viewers are sending in a lot of good questions about this search for flight 370. we'll get answers from our panel of experts. stand by for that. attack in yemen called massive and unprecedented. u.s. and yemeni forces killing 65 suspected terrorists. i'll speak live this hour with the chairman of the house intelligence committee mike rogers. we'll get details on the operation. also coming up, did passenger safety fall by the wayside in the ferry that sank one week ago? a maritime safety expert will

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i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. a large loss of life in south korea highlights how quickly a bad situation at sea can turn disastrous. compounding the tragedy, new video showing the captain being treated after his rescue. some survivors say he and his crew were among the first people saved. just seeing the captain and other officers fleeing the ship could have created more panic among the passengers and led to even more deaths. that's the suspicion. william doherty is a maritime safety expert with nexus consulting. he's a veteran of the u.s. coast guard, retired u.s. navy kaftca

captain. did the ferry captain and crew pay enough attention to safety based on all the evidence we have now a week later? >> yes, good afternoon, wolf. based on the evidence that we have to date, it appears safety was not a high priority at any time in the operation of this ferry, from training, drilling, and most importantly, the attitude of safety. safety starts from the top down. in times of an emergency like this, the most important thing for the captain or the person in command would be to instill that confidence not only in the crew but in the passengers that, one, he knew the right thing to do and that his crew had been trained in doing it. two, that he was going to do the right thing. neither one of those two qualities came through in this situation, clearly. >> certainly looks like that. there are now some reports the

ship may have had some serious steering issues a couple of weeks ago before obviously the incident. that would be a red flag, right? >> well, yes, in several areas. ships operate today under a three-tier safety oversight. and the third tier would be international safety management. a report -- i looked today in the korean news agency. saying there was a report two weeks ago of a steering loss caused by a power failure. and it had been reported in writing to the management, the company operator, and there is absolutely no evidence at all of the office following up on that. that steering failure could have happened again during this tragedy and been the root cause of the problem. but, again, you know, failure to follow up on reported

nonconformities is a serious violation of safety management. >> very quickly, bill, if you're a passenger on a ship and it looks like no one is in charge and there's a serious problem, what should you do? >> well, that vacuum is definitely a betrayal of trust with respect to the -- for the captain and the crew. at that particular time, that's when we look for the officers and the crew to give us the safety guidance and to tell us where to go. from a passenger, it's crowd management. one of the responsibilities of the crew would have been to organize the passengers. let them know what was going on. and where they should be positioning themselves for a rescue. not to be sent down below. >> they obviously didn't do

that. >> my concern more than anything else would be the age of these passengers. >> most of them were high school kids, sophomores in high school. we've got to run, bill, thanks very much. hold your thought because we'll continue this conversation on another day. but it's a heartbreaking situation to be sure. will doherty joining us. the irs is under fire once again. we'll take a closer look at why some irs employees still got their bonuses even though they had their own tax problems. and the crisis in ukraine prompting the u.s. to send troops to poland and the baltics. we're going to talk to the chairman of the house intelligence committee, congressman mike roger, going to find out what this means. ♪

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if your pill isn't giving you the control you need... ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans. the irs is back in damage control mode. this, after an audit reviewed irs employees who were having trouble with their own tax issues still were being paid bonuses. some of those employees had underreported their income, made late payments or lied about their tax liabilities. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. what's going on here, how does this stuff happen? >> it's crazy. it's hard to explain because it defies rationality. some of these people who sketched performance bonuses received these bonuses after they had been disciplined for intentionally underreporting their tax liabilities. it's absolutely crazy.

so the inspector general of the treasury issued this report. it said, while not specifically prohibited by irs policies, and i'll get back to that, providing awards to employees with conduct issues, especially the failure to pay taxes owed to the federal government, appears to be in conflict with the irs' charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration. ya think? of course, of course it's in conflict. here's the problem. here's the irs' explanation, which is that linking conduct to your bonus for rank and file is a union matter. and it is prohibited for union employees. this doesn't mean people at higher levels, their bonuses are ranked to conduct. but at lower levels, that is not the case. the irs says obviously they're taking another look at these rules, wolf. but it is a matter, still, that they have to knee gonegotiate w

unions. >> there's serious money involved too. >> millions of dollars of tax money, our money. >> this follows about a year or so ago the other controversy involving the irs, that they allegedly, at least some elements, were targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny for tax exempt status. >> right, this is one thing on top of another. the house oversight committee led by republican darrell issa just earlier this month voted top irs official, former top list official lois learner in contempt of congress. it has still yet to go to the house floor. >> because she refuses to testify. >> so the question that's still out there about the irs generally is, is this ban nallty? were they targeting these tax exempt groups and challenging their tax exempt status, these groups who did political work, or were they just stupid and only targeting republicans? democrats say both sides were

targeted. so, you know, the question here is it's a balance between stupidity and banality and neither one is a good answer. >> gloria, thanks. let's take a quick look at the markets. right now, see the dow jones industrial, down a little bit, down six points or so. investors have been cautious about lackluster new housing numbers and mixed earnings reports. frantic parents searching for their daughters. now more than 200 schoolgirls taken hostage as their school is burned to the ground. we're going live to nigeria for a special report. also, the u.s. sending troops to poland and the baltics as the crisis in ukraine escalates. we'll talk to the chairman of the house intelligence committee.

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time now for a quick check of the headlines crossing the cnn newsdesk. divers say they've found no air pockets in the sunken ferry off the coast of south korea. more than 140 people are still missing. chances of finding survivors are now described as slim. authorities are examining a piece of sheet metal recovered on the west coast of australia to see if it's from missing malaysian airlines 370. an underwater search failed to find any sign of the 777 on the ocean bottom. still ahead, we'll try to answer some of your questions about the mystery. while tensions remain high in ukraine, u.s. troops arrive in neighboring poland for military exercises. russia's foreign minister complains the u.s. is calling the shots in the region. nato estimates russia has deployed 40,000 troops near its border with ukraine. this is making former soviet states very nervous. the u.s. is trying to reassure its nato allies in eastern

europe and flexing its muscles by sending paratroopers to poland and three baltic states, all nato allies. representative mike rogers is chairman of the committee. he's joining us now. good idea to have these exercises in poland, lithuania, al nato allies? >> it's a great idea. you need to reassure our allies we will be there, we're not walking away from argour nato commitments. do i think we could do larger nato exercises in a place like poland, i do. this is a very good start and a very good sign to let putin know that we won't tolerate, the united states won't tolerate any inclusion into nato states. i also think and hope we can get to a better position, a u.s. position, in ukraine. >> putin knows that an attack on a nato ally, whether poland or these baltic states, that's an attack on all nato allies, given

article five of nato, he's not going to be that reckless. >> again, we're not dealing with somebody who has the same rationale thought process we may have thought even two years ago. he's made decisions based on what he thinks the position of both nato and the u.s. are. and currently, he is not certain that that will evoke a nato response. we're having a hard time getting our european allies even centered around sanctions on what his actions in ukraine and georgia. they've walked away from the nato talks with georgia because of the invasion in south ossetia in georgia. >> that was back in 2008. >> they said they wouldn't be there long. they built full-time bases for their fsb officers along the borders. i have been on the border and seen these sites. they have schools, they have playgrounds. these are not temporariry facilities, they're there for good. i think all the indicators led

putin to believe he can be more bold, a lot more aggressive. there's judst not a lot nato an the u.s. can do. you don't want to push this too far. i think this is a good step by the administration to show we will back our nato countries and allies. >> let's talk about this joint u.s./yemeni air strike, drone strike, in yemen, aimed at al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. here's the key question, did they kill the master bomb maker ibrahim al asiri who presumably was targeted? >> can't talk about specific operations, but i can tell you that there's been no confirmation that the bombmaker has been killed. i can tell you that this is someone that we worry about greatly. this is somebody who has -- gets up in the morning and tries to device methods to get around security to get bombs on airplanes to blow them up either over a body of water or over the united states or over europe. this is a truly dangerous human being affiliated with one of our

most dangerous al qaeda affiliates and that's aqap. >> because we're hearing from yemeni sources that they did kill -- one of these strikes did kill a saudi citizen. they're doing dna testing. sending the body in effect to saudi arabia to check if this is, in fact, ibrahim al asiri. u.s. officials are being much more cautious. >> until you find out who that individual is, it's right to be cautious. the united states has gone down a path of saying yes, an individual was killed and found out several weeks later that this individual was not taken out. so i think it's prudent to be cautious. we'll know the right answer. if this is, in fact, al asiri, this is a big moment in disrupting al qaeda in the arabian peninsula operations of which we know specifically are targeted to the united states. >> can you at least confirm he was targeted? >> well, i can't talk about a specific operation, but i can tell you that the bombmaker has been someone of interest for our

counterterrorism efforts and has been on the high priority list to take off the battlefield. >> i'll take that as a confirmation, although you're not confirming it officially. was this most recent attack, and it was pretty elaborate, choppers, drones, hellfire missiles, going in, directly linked to that dramatic video that came out, in fact, right here on cnn, thanks to barbara starr, and her excellent reporting, was it linked to the release of that video, which sort of showed 100 of these guys, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, boasting on pretty dramatic video. >> there's been a little bit of a tug in war in the administration, even those of us in the national security committees in congress about how to get that policy right. there's been a little pullback on some of these air strike operations targeting individuals we know to be dangerous to the united states. so it's not directly related.

it has an impact. so when you see that, it is a psychological boost to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they've had these meetings before. and you have to remember, the hardest part of this is not the air strike portion of this event, it's all of the intelligence gathering that goes into it. and it is significant. most people don't get to see that and rightly so. but it is very sophisticated, very significant. we have people who have worked on these problems for years and years, become experts on individuals and compounds and where they go. so that you make sure that when -- if there is an air strike ordered, it is exactly right, has very little civilian collateral damage. so when you see a case like this, it wouldn't be just a short-term event, this would be something that had a long lead-up, could be weeks, months, even years in some cases. >> on this issue of drone strikes, you support the administration? >> absolutely. now, in some cases, i think they pulled back too far, which we can probably talk about another

day. >> congressman roger, thank you. the search for flight 370 about to enter a new phase and that's ushering a whole new set of important question, many of them from you, our viewers. we're going to try to answer some of those questions. and more than 200 girls abducted after militants in nigeria have attacked their school. we're going live to nigeria for a special report.

what happened to the girls, where they were taken? what do we know? >> wolf, what we know is last monday evening, armed attackers stormed the government college in the middle of the night. carted them away in buses, vans, and trucks. we understand that these girls are being held by an islamic terrorist group and they have most likely taken the girls to an area on the border, a heavily and very dense forest. the problem with trying to storm into that forest to rescue these girls because the military has

said they are conducting a search and rescue operation. because it's been several days, now this is prime boko haram territory. this is one of the areas that he was talking about. this is their territory. the military is meant to go into the territory while they are entrenched in a defensive position. this has happened time and time again. if you try to storm an enemy position that are holding hostages, typically those hostages are killed. that is where the military and intelligence sources believe the young girls are being held. >> it's known for bombing

churches and assassinating politicians. what is their goal? what do they want? >> they are seeking to establish s shia law. that means that western education is a sin. they have attacked churches, mosques, any targets of opportunity that they come across is right for an attack. the girls were taken because in other instances when young women have been taken, they force them into marriage. that is what they're looking for. >> on the scene for us in nigria. we will stay in constant touch with you for updates. questions about the ongoing search standby we're going try

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>> as the search for missing malaysian airlines flight entered the 48th day. you have been sending in your questions. let's try to get some answers. joining us once again, aviation consultant. cnn law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the fbi. here is a question. what independent analysis has been done of the enmar data, the ack akous -- -- i don't know and they haven't talked about it.

>> showed where the ping came upon all of us and it was in that article. >> right. that's just like a big line position as you get from gps. so they followed that line down to see where that area was and how much fuel was on the aircraft. >> i'm a retired pilot, 3,000 pl plus. do you have any clue on that? >> i don't. most airplanes, asian air carriers and u.s. air carriers,

the mail goes back and forth. >> a lot of people are wondering did they check all the cargo to make sure there was nothing potentially explosive. >> we knew they carried lithium ion batteries so obviously malaysian authorities know what went on that plane. >> that is why you can't release a lot of things. >> some countries are more forthcoming on how they search that. >> if flight 370 landed in tact, is there a possibility of the pinger signals being 17 miles apart? do you have an answer to that? >> no. >> if the flight landed in tact, in the water, sank, is there a

possibility of the pinger signals from the two so-called black boxes being 17 miles apart if it landed in tact. >> if it landed in tact then the boxes would be in tacts. >> there are four pinger detections 17 miles apart some of them. >> normally wouldn't expect them to be that physically far apart on the bottom. they should be, you know, maybe a mile or two is one thing, but 17 miles is is a different manner. >> it's a whole different world. >> thanks very much kevin and tom. good analysis. that's it for me.

i'll be back, 5:00 p.m. eastern, another special two-hour edition. newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> here we begin the hour with a potentially huge development. here we go. a quote, object of interest, has washed up on the coast of australia about 180 miles south of perth. it is a large piece of metal. one side is covered with fiberglass and rivets, similar to what could be found on the exterior of the airplane. it is being called serious but after six and a half weeks of false leads and conflicting information, authorities are being very cautious about this. in the meantime, cyclone