need to be told what their right are. the malaysians haven't even told them yet. >> yeah. thank you, guys. appreciate all of you again this evening. i'm don lemon. thank you very much for watching. that's it for us tonight. "ac 360" start right now. good evening, there's breaking news tonight. growing doubt about what has seemed to be an encouraging discovery. a piece of metallic debris that washed occupy a western australia beach. one of several new developments in the investigation that we'll address tonight. also in the hour ahead, as the search for the missing in the south korean ferry continues, a remarkable story of the ferry crew member who did not abandon ship. this is her. she stayed and saved dozens of young lives while sacrificing her own. and later, only on "360," a report that we think is truly outrageous. what our exclusive investigation reveals about a v.a. hospital that kept patients, veterans, waiting months for care. some 40 people died waiting, and one doctor says the hospital covered up their delays with lies. tonight, we are keeping them

honest. we begin with the new discoveries, possible new directions and growing questions in the search for flight 370. the discovery that piece of debris that washed ashore in the far southwestern corner of australia where an early assessment is in. there's word that the bluefin 21 has less than 10% more ocean bottom to cover in the search area. it may take far longer to do that than we've been previously told. several weeks instead of a couple days. deepening questions about how the search is being conducted and why we haven't yet seen a single image from it. there's also talk of widening the search area. in the words of one expert, "rethinking everything, everything on the table." and beijing and malaysia, growing demands for transparency by authorities and family members. a lot to cover. with michael holm in perth and michel marquez where they found the debris. let's start with you, the number to augusta, what do we know about it? what did it look like? >> reporter: yeah, local officials are saying it looked like about eight-feet tall. it was a couple of feet wide. it was metal attached to fiber glass with rivets.

it was very promising. local reports saying that the person held on it for a couple of days, took it to a local airport and got it to investigators. photographs were taken of it. sent to not only can bettera and investigators here but -- canbera and investigators here but to the u.s. and boeing aircraft, as well. >> now what are authorities saying about it? i mean, there seems to be skepticism. >> yeah. this is going to be of great frustration to folks because they're now heavily discounting and saying probably this is not part of mh 370. i can tell you that police and public here across the area are very, very focused. people walking up and down the beach saying they have been looking for pieces of mh 370 in case it came here. police saying down in the towns we stopped in on the way down here saying they knew about it. they had sent it to the -- the piece itself to perth so it could be in investigators' hands in case they needed to look into it more. >> thank you very much. let's bring in michael holmes now. the latest on the search. what is it?

>> reporter: yeah, bluefin 21 heard just a short time ago that it has completed mission 11. mission 12 is underway. the search officials are telling us now 90% of that let's call it focused search area that we've been reporting on has been scanned. the news is saying nothing of significance seen. a few days ago, it was suggested the entire area would be covered by week's end. that seems to be looking likely by the numbers. it was a complicated -- it was complicated yesterday when the australian defense minister said it could take two weeks to finish off this area. no explanation why at the moment he believed. that some experts saying the remaining area could involve deeper water. but with 90% covered, one imagines this focused area is going wrap up soon. >> and the next phase of the search, do we know any details about it? >> reporter: yeah, there's been consultations with malaysia, china, and the united states on what the next phase of the search for the plane might be. details likely to be announced

next week. but we can say pretty much with some certainty it's going to involve that wider arc of several hundred miles along the suspected flight path just to the north really of where they're looking now. also likely that more assets would be brought in. we're talking about powerful side-scan sonar equipment. but this time instead of going down on its own, it would be towed behind a ship. there's one, for example, called the "orion" which sends back real-time data. and of course being towed, it doesn't have to resurface like the bluefin. it also has the ability to go much deeper than the bluefin. >> all right. michael holmes, appreciate the update. joining us is cnn aviation correspondent, richard quest, in kuala lumpur. and author of "why planes crash" and accident investigator. and director of special projects at woods hole oceanographic institution, he co-led the search for france flight 477. we heard from the australian defense minister saying it could

take another two weeks to cover this last 10%. does that -- >> the only thing i can think of is if they're going to go slower and slower for some reason, or if they're going to go back over some areas or fill in gaps maybe. something like that. but it's hard to understand exactly why. it's going to take so much more time. >> richard, there's a preliminaryiary report in the plane's disappearance, prepared by malaysia since the international civil aviation organization, malaysian officials haven't released it publicly. i think you have details of what's in it. >> yeah. i asked at the press conference yesterday whether the report had been sent as was required by annex 13. the malaysian officials confirmed that, yes, a report has been sent to montreal as required. i then asked about -- i was told about the safety recommendation in the report. let me read you -- it's been confirmed, the safety recommendation that the malaysians are asking, it says it's recommended that icao examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard for

real-time tracking the commercial air transport aircraft. now that's pretty much stating the obvious. bearing in mind that several weeks now, possibly months, will be spent trying to find a plane that wasn't tracked in real time. the only issue really is why the preliminary report, which tends to be noncontroversial, a basic statement of facts that are already known. why that hasn't been released by the malaysian authorities. i will be asking that. in every case that i can remember so far, the report is always pretty much released when it's sent to icao. >> david, you're familiar with what's typically in these kind of preliminary reports. would the questions that the families want answered typically be cleared up by the information in that report? because as richard quest has reported the last couple of days, they have very good questions. questions which, frankly, i'm surprised have not already been answered for the families. >> yeah. they're easily answered questions.

i don't know why they haven't been answered. there's no explanation for that. but what's in the preliminary report, anderson, is not earth-shattering information, there is a synopsis piece, but the synopsis piece is not actually required because they haven't found any actual wreckage of the aircraft. what would be in there now might be a little bit sensitive, would be the names and the certificate numbers and qualifications of the pilots. and also the air traffic control people, the people who were involved in moving the aircraft. one control center to the other, those names would be in the report, as well. and identifiers for who they are. they might be sensitive about that. that's no reason not to redact that information and release it which is typically what's done at this phase of the investigation. >> you know, we focus a lot on the technology, the bluefin 21, the side-scan sonar and stuff. but let's talk about the human side of all of this. what it's like for people who have been undertaking this search. when you were involved in the search for 447, you were given 95% certainty that the plane

would be northbound a particular area. >> that's right. >> and you searched aggressively in that area. >> for two months the team was out there. we talk about the benefit of air france 447, that we had floating debris. and that floating debris was retro drifted to the spot. we were told 95% in this big book, two months of day and night, 24/7. that team worked their heart and soul out and ended one nothing. it's a horrible thing because you have self-doubt. you have criticism from the outside -- >> personally for the people involved in the search, like they -- it's devastating. absolutely. busytive -- positively devastat. put your heart and sole interest the mission and people say these guys couldn't produce after all. that's a tough one. as a co-leader, when you get together to talk about next steps, you do have to go through self doubt, did we do something wrong. >> what do you do? you go back to the data and try to reanalyze -- >> you have to have confidence. you have to fall back on your confidence in your team, technology, and plan.

get together with them. and in our case it was the bea and the airbus air france, they all had confidence in us. that's reassuring. then it was a matter of sitting in a room with a clean, white board, and going through what we know, what we don't know, what do we do next. there was a long period before we knew where to go, what to do. >> is there any more explanation of why the questions that the family members have asked, that you've been reporting on all week, why those questions have not been answered? has been their been an attempt in the last 24 hours to even answer the basic questions? >> reporter: now that i'm aware of. i think we're waiting for this more senior technical team to go beijing to provide answers. but in the next few hours, certainly we'll be asking again about when these questions will be. and why they've not been answered -- look, there are two

distinct groups of questions. there are those family members that choose on which to believe that the plane landed somewhere in afghanistan or whatever. and they are to some extent dismissed in their questions. then there are the deep, factual questions which will require some detailed technical knowledge. that's going to take time. what we need to understand is why that information hasn't been provided. since in many cases it's not controversial. >> good question. we'll continue to try to find the answer to that. there's a lot more to talk about. first let's return to the debris and try to drill down on why there is so much skepticism about it. simply put, it's because in this part of the indian ocean, there's just a lot of debris, a lot of junk. it's not the way we would like to think of the sea as a big junkyard, but that's the reality. as randi kaye discovered that's what it is in this region. debris that you might see -- in our homes, all around our homes. here's a toy grenade. here is a paint brush handle.

here's a toy leg from a -- a baby. flip-flops. >> reporter: not items from a la landfill but from the ocean. more specific, the indian ocean, essentially a garbage patch swirling with trash and overflowing with plastic. the massive rotating current spins counterclockwise. marcus erickson is the director of research in california. he says geyers are like plastic soup. >> that's typical of what the material looks like. >> reporter: in 2010, he sailed through the indian ocean geyer. the same area where search teams are looking for doomed flight 370. >> what we found there were things like derelict fishing nets, multicolored buoys. the little buoys like the one behind me. lots of buckets and crates. other goods like bottles and bottle cap and bags and forks and knives. there was so much stuff already there. the aircraft, when they debriefed the aircraft, it's

blending interest all that. >> reporter: one reason making finding the missing plane such a challenge. recently a chinese ship in search of the airplane came across trash -- trash instead. even sea life can't tell the difference. fish, sea lions, birds, they ingest this junk thinking it might be food. >> i heard about there being 300,000-police pusz in the aircraft. there are -- 300,000-plus pieces in the aircraft. there are more. >> there are two in the pacific and two in the atlantic. they form when ocean currents bounce off the continents and create a vortex of swirling water which pulls debris from the shores to the center of the ocean. the geyer is thought to be two million square miles. keep in mind, the entire united states is under four million square miles. and this garbage patch isn't just huge, it's on the move.

tramping about half a mile per hair or about 1 miles per day. and -- 12 miles per day. and it may be carrying parts of the plane with it. >> it's moved away from the crash site, maybe 150 miles by now. it's dispersed, as well. it's joining the background of other debris. >> reporter: leaving search teams to play catchup as they try to track down flight 370. randi kaye, cnn, new york. we'll take a short break. set your dvr so you never miss "360." next, an up-close look at the new tools that will take the search farther and deeper. we'll talk about when they'll number action. later, america's veterans, we owe them everything. we promise speedy health care. what an exclusive investigation reveals about how badly one v.a. hospital broke that promise to hundreds of spoisht including this one's father-in-law. >> they kaled you and said -- >> i said, what is this -- she says, we have a primary for him.

i said, really, you're a little too late, sweetheart. >> her father-in-law was dead because he had to waited for care, according to one doctor. he was stuck on a secret waiting list that the hospital kept, a secret list. while cooking up a bogus one for public consumption. we're keeping them honest tonight. [ male announcer ] hey, look at you! you're an emailing, texting, master of the digital universe. but do you protect yourself? ♪ apparently not. when you access everything, you give everyone access to everything about you. but that's ok. while you do your thing... [ alert rings ] we'll be here at lifelock, doing our thing. watching out for things your credit card alone can't. [ alert rings ] and relentlessly protecting your identity. get lifelock protection and live life free. [ alert rings ] but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself.

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new word from officials on bringing assets from flight 370. you've probably heard and seen a lot about the bluefin search vehicle. those we mentioned at the. we have yet to see images from it. by now you might be aware of the bluefin's limitations. tonight we show some of the other tools waiting in the wings that surpass it. >> reporter: the names are intriguing. the arena 6,000, orion, trite an xls, dorado, autonomous vehicles and remotely operated. ares and rovs, they can search deeper than the current lean used bluefin. technology that could be called into service. >> the idea of the block box not a problem at all -- black box not a problem at all to put it in the basket and recover it. >> reporter: this is the triton rov in florida, connected to a ship by an umbilical cord. the auvs are not connected.

this is the orion, owned by the u.s. navy, run by phoenix international. vehicles like this send sound signals to the sea floor which paint a picture of what's on the bottom. this vehicle can go a mile deeper than the bluefin and stay down for weeks at a time. the bluefin only lasts about 24 hours. then the rena 6,000, also an auv. the team has not yet been asked to help in the search. the team from woods hole, massachusetts, already had dramatic success locating the wreckage of air france flight 447 two years after it crashed in the south atlantic ocean. the discovery only possible because of this auv. this is the initial shot of the air france debris captured by the rema 6,000. >> they can go up and down mountains up 40 degrees in sleep. they are stable so you get really good data almost all the time. >> reporter: another auv that could be used, the dora do, base

ted -- dorado, based in toronto. >> we have seasoner electronics. >> reporter: the other option is manned submarines or second m s submersibles. this vehicle that resembles a spaceship is a manned submersible based in florida. this sub located wreckage in the atlantic ocean after the tragic explosion of the space shuttle "challenger" in 1986. the sub is about 24-feet long. it's also about 11-feet tall. it weighs about 28,000 pounds. it has enough oxygen and emergency provisions aboard for people to survive underwater for up to five days. this sub is retired, though. other subs that can go even deeper could be brought into action along with auvs and rovs, ready to assist if asked.

gary tuchman, cnn, los angeles. >> let's turn back to our panel. richard and david, david, for full disclosure, the rema 6,000, your pride and joy. you're from woods hole, that's where gary was during the report. besides that, are there -- what other vehicles do you think at this search phase would work in a search like this and was the bluefin 21 not the right -- >> no, i think bluefin was. in fact, remember, the idea was what captain mathews called a tactical survey. they had the pinger, they were going to throw the dart. bluefin was fine. got the job done and still got a lot of days to go. and the club that can work deep in some of the sea floor here is deep, 6,000 meters. in some places deeper, that's very small. so there's a -- there's a menu of vehicles that could do the trick. you so the orion, that's a towed sonar. >> and you can have multiple

pieces going at once. >> they have to take a close look at what the potential survey's answers are. are they deep, shallow, rugged terrain, gentle terrain. then you can fit these vehicles. they're all good at something. especially because it's something none of them could replace. then you need to fit the vehicle to the surveyor. the first thing is to find out where the next survey is expect then pick the vehicles. >> is there consensus between the malaysians and australians and other nations participating in the search, the right assets are in the water and there are enough of them at this point? >> reporter: that's the interesting part of the next part of the investigation, anderson. what we learned yesterday from the malaysian authorities is they're going to have that very discussion with angus houston. what is -- what are the next assets? do they need some of these -- do they need more of them, do they need different types? who's going to provide them, who's going to pay for them. there are some deep pockets that are available.

the malaysians do have access to funds, their own and others. that will all be part of the next discussion. and what i think is really interesting is what david just said because everything got to where they are now in a hurry. they had 30 days to hear theapins. they had to get down afterwards to see if they could find it. everything you're looking at was put together very, very fast. now you start the deep understanding of the terrain, the different types, the different assets, the payment mechanisms, the short of thing -- the sort of thing, anderson, that goes into a long-term search, that may go down once, twice, three or four times over the next two or three years. >> do you, david, do you believe they're looking in the right place? i mean, do you have to trust -- >> well, it's a place they had to look. they had theapins, the inmarsat

data. everything pointed to this area. i said all along i don't know how you leave the area if you're confident that those pingers, thoseapins were from the black box -- those pings were from the black boxes, how do you leave and think about any place else? maybe expanding that bull's eye to include maybe two or three times wider than they've been looking skpou a looking now and use sonar. you see where every pebble is. i don't know how you leave this place before you take that area of the sea floor apart completely. >> thank you very much. for more on the story, go to cnn.com. coming up tonight, fading hope of finding anybody alive aboard the sunken south korean ferry as bodies are recovered and divers find now air pockets in the parts of the ship where passengers were believed to be. a live update next. the remarkable story of one crew member on board that ferry. 22-year-old woman who stayed on board to help passengers while the captain and other crew members left. she alone is credited with

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now, it has been more than a week since south korea's ferry disaster and hope is starting to fade that anyone is alive inside that sunken ship. official are calling it a search and rescue mission, and divers have not found any air pockets on the decks where most of the passengers were. 174 people were rescued when the ferry sank, no one has been found alive since then, instead, the death toll just keeps growing. so far, 159 bodies found, 143 people are still missing. what caused the ferry to sink, that is still under investigation.

11 crew members including the captain have been arrested. kyung lah has more on the latest from south korea. so the death toll rising, but the divers behind you are still on a mission to rescue passengers who they hope are still alive, right? >> reporter: very much a rescue, and this may, anderson, may be a case of what you say versus what you know. everyone here is calling it a rescue. it certainly does appear to be a rescue mission if you look at the number of divers in those orange boats and black boats they are still going under the water to look for people. but this has apparently moved beyond that given all the facts that we know that you just said, no air pockets, no survivors for a week, why are they still calling this a rescue? the government being extraordinarily careful with

what they call this, given this unbearable loss. hundreds of families losing their children. and if you think of it this way, almost an entire sophomore class was wiped out in one single high school. so this is just an unbelievable loss, anderson. >> and kyung, do authorities at this point have any idea? are they any closer to figuring out what may have caused this to happen? >> they say they won't know conclusively until they get into the ship. they are looking at sea floor, and whether or not there were problems with the ship. mechanical issues. whether there were balance issues, because this ship was retrofitted when it was purchased from japan. it was made to be bigger, to hold 200-plus more passengers. there were cabin issues, was it carrying too much cargo? the coast guard telling us they won't know the answer to that until they're able to lift this ship off the sea floor using the giant cranes that you see around this area. and then the other thing that

they're looking at is the financial backing of the owner. the owner who runs the marine company. he is a curious figure. he is known as the millionaire with no face. his company was in the red. he runs it with his sons, and there are a lot of questions of whether or not maybe it was finances before lives that happened in this case. >> kyung lah, appreciate the update. thanks. of the 174 people who survived the ferry disaster, dozens of them are alive because of a crew member, according to a passenger, she helped others get out and lost her own life. paula hancock has more on the story. >> reporter: a mother cries, i love you, i'm sorry, as her daughter's coffin passes by. park-ji-young was just 22, a crew member on the ill-fated ferry. a crew member who gave up her life so others could live. these men were part of a group of 17 school friends heading to

jeju island for their 60th birthdays. four of them are still missing. they say they owe their lives to park. he describes how the ship listed so much the wall became the floor. an open door made the gap between them and the exit too great to step over. her colleague was lying on the floor, he says, hanging onto the microphone telling passengers not to move. park took the keys from him, forced her way to the door, closed it and locked it to keep it shut so that passengers could walk across. she was right next to the exit, he says, she could easily have escaped. that door saved so many lives it was like the bridge of life. i asked, how many lives? they estimate around 50 escaped through that exit. that is nearly a third of all passengers who made it out alive, helped by just one woman. she was just a girl, says this man, but she was so brave.

if every crew member on that boat was as brave as she was the disaster would not have been this bad. among the first to be rescued, kim says the captain and other crew members were already on dry land by the time he got there. while the captain ran away to save his own life, she gave her life to save others, says this family friend. we are so proud of her. park's relatives don't want to talk publicly but tell cnn they want to follow her example of thinking of others, although they say they could never do anything as courageous. park dropped out of college two years ago when her father passed away to help support her family. she was transferred to the sewol just six months ago, a step up within the company. praised for her professionalism, and ultimately for her courage. >> heroic young woman. paula hancocks joins us now, i heard there was a private family service for her today.

what else do we know about her and her actions? >> reporter: well, anderson, survivors say that while she was on the ship she was giving out life jackets to a number of the students that we do know managed to escape. and she was doing this all the time. she didn't have a life jacket on herself, she was making sure others were okay first and also making sure they could get to one side of the ferry which was under water and sinking fast to the other side where they could actually escape. and all the while she was doing this, she was on her walkie talkie, and she was trying to get guidance from those that were higher up in power, but that guidance, as we know, did not come. we also know that one of the survivors said to me he really wished she had escaped. and that he wished he had held on to her and helped her outside. they say they felt very guilty that she had not managed to escape but that she had saved

dozens of lives. >> and amazing, she was handing out life jackets to others even though she herself did not have one, paula, thank you. and up next, the v.a. hospital that says one doctor was cooking the books while 40 patients waited months for medical care. some died while waiting. we're keeping them honest tonight. plus, the father of the california teenager who apparently stowed away in the wheel well of the 767. he is speaking out tonight. just, i bundled home and auto with state farm, saved 760 bucks. love this guy. so sorry. okay, does it bother anybody else that the mime is talking? frrreeeeaky! [ male announcer ] savings worth talking about. state farm.

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tonight, a "ac360" exclusive, the most disturbing example yet of an ongoing investigation of u.s. vets dying while they wait for care at the v.a. hospitals. as a result of our previous reporting, congress launched an investigation. now we've uncovered just how far one v.a. hospital went to hide the outrageously long wait times. 40 vets died while waiting for care at this hospital. that would be shocking enough. keeping them honest, though, there's more. a doctor who left the hospital said that managers actually kept two wait lists, a sham list that made the hospital look like the model of efficiency and a secret list that showed the deadly reality. here is drew griffith.

>> reporter: it was a plan by top management at this veteran's hospital in phoenix, arizona to hide as many as 1600 veterans. waiting many months just to get a doctor's appointment. cnn has learned at least 40 veterans left waiting for care, many who are on that secret list are now dead. and what is worse? according to multiple sources, the management's plan included shredding the evidence to hide the fact there was a waiting list at all. >> we've heard as many as 40 veterans here in arizona in the phoenix area could have died waiting for care. >> that is correct. the number is actually higher. >> reporter: dr. sam foot just retired after spending 24 years with the v.a. health system here in arizona, the veteran doctor says the hospital did have a

list that showed the v.a. was providing timely appointments within 14 days. but that was a sham. >> the only record that you have ever been there requesting care was on that secret list. and they wouldn't take you off that secret list until you had an appointment time that was less than 14 days so it would give the appearance that they were improving greatly the waiting times, when in reality it had been six, nine, and in some cases 21 months. >> reporter: in the case of a 71-year-old u.s. navy veteran named thomas breen, the wait ended much longer. >> he started bleeding in his urine. if said we have to get you to the doctor. >> reporter: he said his father, so proud of his military service would go nowhere for v.a. treatment. and on september 28th, with blood in his urine and cancer, teddy and his wife rushed him to the emergency room where he was examined and told to wait. >> all they wrote on his chart, must have primary doctor,

urgency. and they sent him home. >> reporter: this is a copy of mr. barn's v.a. medical chart, stating on the top, urgency, that he should be seen by a primary care physician or uroligist. -- urologist. did anybody call? >> no -- >> you called? >> we called numerous times. i got a response, would you like to hear the response? well, you know, we have other patients critical as well. it is a seven-month waiting list and you're going to have to have patience. >> reporter: sally kept calling, day after day, through september, late october, november, and then she no longer had a reason to call. november 30th, 2013, thomas breen died, the bleeding was from inoperable stage-four bladder cancer. >> they called me december 6th,

he is dead already. >> they called you and said? >> i said what is this regarding? she says we have a primary for him. i said really, you're a little too late, sweetheart. >> reporter: dr. foot says that mr. breen is a perfect example of a veteran who needed an urgent appointment with a primary care doctor, and instead was put on the secret waiting list where he remained hidden. and if you died waiting for an appointment, you didn't exist? >> they could just remove you from that list and there was no record that you ever came to the v.a. for care. >> pretty convenient. >> pretty sad. >> reporter: cnn has obtained emails showing top management, including the phoenix v.a. director, knew about the actual wait times and knew about the off the books list and defended the use to her staff, which makes this statement to cnn from hellman all the more strange. "it is disheartening to hear allegations about the veterans being compromised," the director

writes. "and we are open to any collaborative discussion that assists in our goal to continually improve patient care." sam foot says that response is stunning. >> this was all planned and it was planned by the very highest authorities here in phoenix. >> correct, this was a plan that involved the director, the associate director, the assistant director, the chief of nursing along with the medical chief of staff. in collaboration with the chief of has. >> basically, you have medical directors cooking the books? >> correct. >> reporter: the phoenix v.a.'s off-the-backs waiting list has gotten the attention of the house veteran affairs committee, the chief has been investigating delays in care at veteran hospitals across the country. in a hearing this month he later learned even the under-secretary for health of the v.a. was not being told the truth about the secret list. were you made aware of the unofficial list in any part of

your look back? >> mr. chairman, i was not. >> reporter: congress has now ordered all records in phoenix, secret or not, be preserved. that would include the record of a 71-year-old navy veteran named thomas breen. >> this is unbelievable, drew, incredible reporting. this waiting list for care, secret or not, must still exist which means vets must still be waiting to see a doctor. what is the v.a. doing about it? >> anderson, later, they sent us yet another statement. they acknowledge they have been having trouble but are improving wait times. we have no way of telling if this is true or not and the v.a. in phoenix will simply not answer our questions about the reporting and secret lists, and the fact that they're trying to hide the fact that the veterans are on that secret list. >> no one is held accountable. and the v.a. itself doesn't really seem to have an answer for any of this.

>> this is now the third story we've reported about veterans dying while they wait for care at v.a. hospitals on your show, anderson. it happened in georgia, south carolina, texas, florida. now phoenix where the management tried to hide the true waiting list and still we get no answers from the veteran's administration. as far as we can tell absolutely no one is being held accountable for this. and one more thing, but for this committee and congress, one committee, all of these politicians who campaign on taking care of veterans including congressmen, senators and in the white house, they don't seem to be paying much attention. >> it is incredible, this is our third reporting on this matter. and the v.a. doesn't seem to be talking to us. incredible reporting. up next, we'll hear from a california father whose son attempted to climb into a wheel well. also, the deadly climb on mt. everest, and how a sherpa, the mountain guide saved this man's life. guy: hey captain obvious, watch this!

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the father of the 15-year-old california boy who apparently stowed away in a wheel well on a flight to maui says he was as shocked as everybody else when he heard his

son had done that. the dad, a native of somalia, said he was so confused when he got a call from the police and asked for explanation. he said he did not receive education when he was in africa. since we came here he had a lot of learning problems at school, he was not good in math and science. the father said he was always talking about going to africa where his grandparents still lived. the teen told investigators, though, that is not where he was going. he had a fight, ran away, and climbed into the first plane he saw. he is still hospitalized in hawaii and is expected back in california soon. dan simon joins us, dan, we have this photo that shows the wheel well that allegedly held the 15-year-old stowaway. shows a lot of footprints on it. do we know if the footprints are from this young man? >> reporter: hey, anderson, we can't say for sure those are the footprints. it's a picture shared an awful

lot on social media. that gives a sense of the fascination that people have with this story. we're here in the neighborhood where the family lives, there are media crews staking out the family's home around the clock. there is just a tremendous amount of interest here on what happened. >> the father did speak out today, as we said i just read some of his comments. what else did he say? did he say a lot more? >> reporter: well, he gave this interview in his native tongue to somalia, they put it on their website, the bottom line here is the father says this is a young man, a teenager who had some emotional problems. he was having problems learning in school. it seemed like he was homesick, the family moved to california i guess fairly recently from africa. he doesn't say when, i guess the teenager was having problems adjusting. so add it all up.

we have been saying this, this is a teenager who acted out in a very irrational way to say the least. and what more can you say? it is just a miracle that he survived. >> the airport manager who spoke to the teen when he arrived also spoke to the teen, did he have any insights? >> reporter: well, yes, he did. i mean, he talked about the impressions that he had when he first encountered this young man, i guess security had apprehended him. i guess they asked him lengthy questions and this is what he had to say. >> obviously, being up 30,000 feet for that period of time would be pretty interesting. and you know, he mentioned that he blacked out. so you know he must have been out for that whole time. we did get him some food prior to the paramedics getting here. we asked him if he was hungry. he indicated, yes, he was. we got him some maui-style teriyaki meatballs and rice.

and a package of cookies and a bottle of water. >> reporter: well, in terms of what is next in this case we know that the boy is still in the hospital. he is being monitored. we're told that he is in pretty stable condition. that he is doing okay. the father said he is still being monitored by health professionals. and according to the father he will be returned to california relatively soon. we don't have a time line on that. but the word that we were given was soon. >> all right, dan simon, thank you very much. >> and next, the troops arrive in poland for a show of force. the show in ukraine continues. and next, a climber describing how a sherpa saved his life on the deadly climb up to mt. everest. with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [male announcer] glucerna...

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susan hendricks joins us for the "ac360" news and business bulletin. >> anderson, a group of paratroopers arrived in poland for exercises with the troops. that is in response to the ongoing crisis in ukraine. the brother-in-law of britain's prince charles has died in new york after suffering a head injury in a fall. he was the brother of camilla, duchess of cornwall. in a statement, the family said they are devastated. on mt. everest, dozens of

sherpa guides reportedly walked off the job today after the deaths of 16 of their colleagues in last week's avalanche. the american climber on the left witnessed the disaster and said his sherpa on the right saved his life. >> when the avalanche came down, it was -- it was a bit overwhelming. and a lot of thoughts go through your head quickly. but the sherpa is so used to this situation. and they have been up through that ice fall so many times he just quickly, you know, he just quickly started yelling get down, get down and just kind of pushed me behind the large block of ice. pretty amazing the climber was not hurt. and this was tweeted, it shows the outside of the international space station space station today. he and another astronaut replaced the backup computer.

he said it was a little difficult in the space suit, it was a little short, but he got it done. >> all right, that does it for us, we'll see you for another edition of "ac360," hope you join us. cnn tonight starts now. good evening, i'm bill weir. every day his son asks, any word on mom? and he struggles on what to tell him. an object of interest turned out to be one more in a long line of false leads. a young woman gave out so many life jackets to the passengers on the sinking ferry. and in the uat