altitudes. so maybe a better option would be to make a u-turn. but the crew -- without the cockpit voice recorder we don't know what the crew was thinking or what they were doing. >> we don't. our thoughts with all of the families, ken, tim, mary, thank you very much. i'm poppy harlow. thank you for spending part of your evening with us. our coverage continues. we'll hand it over to our international network. >> hello and welcome, everyone to cnn's special coverage of the search for missing airasia 8501. >> let's begin with that urgent search under way off the coast of indonesia for any sign of that missing flight and the 162 people on board. >> indeed.

162 people on board, their families of course going through a desperate time. but right now in indonesian search and rescue officials say they believe the jet is at the bottom of the sea. >> this is families anxiously awaiting news on the fate of their loved ones. here is what we know right now. ships, helicopters, planes from several countries are going to be taking part in this search. >> that comes some 28 hours after the airasia plane disappeared on route to singapore. >> shortly before communication was lost the captain of the plane asked for a change in altitude because of bad weather. there were a lot of thunderstorms in the area. the ceo of air asia, says they are focused on the relatives of those on board. >> very devastated by what's happened. it's unbelievable. but we do not know what's happened yet. so we'll wait for the accident investigation to maybe find out

what's happened. our concern right now is for the relatives and for the next of kin. there is nothing more important to us for our crews' family and for the passengers' family that we look after them. that's our number one priority at the moment. >> the ceo of airasia speaking earlier. let's had to surabaya and andrew steven who is joins us now live with the latest. must come to you with this line that we're getting out of jakarta that officials there, indonesian air officials there believe this aircraft is now at the bottom of the sea. i know that a lot of family members are there where you are in surabaya. have they heard that news? >> at this stage, we can only assume that they have because there has been a private briefing here for the family members by members from airasia and also from official government people. so we assume that they have been

told. that meeting is now finished and the families have been kept separate from the media. as you see the media packed behind me, there's a press conference going on at the moment repeating quite a lot of what we heard in jakarta arta. that was a closed door meeting. glancing at the families they were grim-faced not showing overt signs of emotions. and even when that meeting broke up, we didn't see and i certainly wasn't aware, and i was talking to people a couple of airasia people who came out and said there weren't any big emotional scenes there. but this is a devastating time for them. that news came from jakarta, the plane may be on the bottom of the sea. that is not confirmed. that is conjecture. it's based on where the plane last made contact, where its coordinates were when it last made contact.

it was over open sea. and if it was in trouble shortly after that, which is the working assumption. there are a lot of vessels working. we're four hours into this search on the second day and still no sign yet. >> and andrew you mentioned the search it is of course now daylight where you are, which makes searching easier than it has been the last few hours. what sort of efforts are involved? this is a multinational search effort. >> that's right, michael. there are vessels coming from malaysia singapore is sending an aircraft. australia is also sending a surveillance plane which was heavily used in the search for mh370. and indonesia now, reports of up to 12 surface vessels and helicopters, and reconnaissance planes heading into that area.

the area has been divided into four. so they'll go through each sector quadrants, and tick them off, if you like as they can say there's no debris in this particular area. but we don't know how long this is going to take michael. it is a shallow part of the north java sea. so it does work in favor of the search. but also we've just been hearing that perhaps the emergency transmitter beacon from the airplane may not have been set off. now automatically it should go off when the plane makes a hard contact with the sea. and that hasn't gone off. as far as we're aware. we're still trying to work to confirm this but that could be a critical issue as well. and the other thing the indonesians say, if it is under the water, indonesia doesn't necessarily have the latest most sophisticated equipment to actually try to locate this plane. the sonar needed and the imaging

needed to try and locate the plane. so we could see this international effort widen quite considerably from here. >> andrew stevens in surabaya in indonesia, covering that aspect of this tragedy for us. thanks andrew. >> very important point that it's not confirmed, that they say they assume that the plane is at the bottom of the sea. >> the interesting thing, the authorities have handled this so much differently to mh370, and it makes you wonder they wouldn't have said that if they didn't have reason for it. >> they do say early, but incomplete data. the key is going to be understanding from those analysts that will be joining us over the next couple of hours, what data they have that led them to this conclusion that this air asia flight is now at the bottom of the sea. >> let's try to get a better understanding of the plane's disappearance, also the challenges of the search. we're joined now by the former inspector general of the

aviation department mary shafo, great to have your expertise on this. when you look at how the authorities have been handling this so far, in terms of their interactions with the families what they have and what they have not said as well. do you see this announcement or this comment that it's at the bottom of the ocean, perhaps coming from some sort of data that we haven't yet heard about? >> i certainly hope so. because to deliver that information to the families and i've worked with hundreds of families over the years, they hang on every word. and it would have been the most devastating news possible because they all hang on to hope. there are many who will want to hope and expect that their families are in life rafts, that they managed to float in the flotation devices and for them to hear this news from authorities, the authorities must have the information and the airline must have additional information, additional radar coordinates, quite possibly satellite imaging.

they've been searching long enough maybe even some kind of eyewitness or reports from a ship and maybe even debris. but they have to be really sure of that before they tell that to the families and that's the kind of news that the families must hear first. they should not hear that from the news. >> and mary talk to us about what this means for the search and rescue operation. we're still going to call it that until we're told otherwise. what does it mean now that we're talking about the possibility of this aircraft being at the bottom of the water? we had been told previously it was a visual on the surface, of course. >> right, what happens now, things get moved into very high gear. now that they have announced that they think they know where it is the assets will move into the area. they literally can start moving in the assets to do the search and recovery. they will move in and this is compared to other ocean crashes that have occurred. this is fairly shallow water. they can use divers. they don't necessarily have to

have a lot of submersibles. they will move in the equipment to start locating and listen for the pingers and black boxes. and the number one priority is of course to look for the people. they need to look for the passengers and crew and they have to be respectful in every sense of the word in every way they can, with persons who were lost or possibly any survivors. but that is the number one priority. >> and mary we do know that the pilot made this request to gain altitude there were storms in the area. but crucially, there was no report of a mayday. and that sort of does point to something catastrophic going wrong. although i do know from covering mh370, the rule i believe, in aviation is aviate navigate, and then communicate. so a mayday is not necessarily going to be the first thing on your mind.

>> in the many crash investigations that i've worked, often there is no mayday or emergency, there just isn't time. sometimes pilots don't realize how much trouble they're really in. or something goes wrong mechanically and they're fighting to save the plane. but i can tell you over the years in all the cockpit voice recordings i've heard, the pilots are fighting until the very end. so i'm going to assume until i hear otherwise that that's what they were doing, fighting to save the plane and fighting to save their passengers and just too busy to call air traffic control. >> mary we focus on this issue of the weather. because the pilot asked for a deviation of the route, with storms in the area. how much information would the pilots have had then in the cockpit as to the continues that they were flying into? >> well they would have a lot of information, because they have on-board radar, it's forward-looking radar. so they can see how things look ahead of them. they can get information from air traffic control.

they can get weather reports. they have warnings to pilots about everything from winds aloft and things that other pilots have experienced and whether there's other planes enduring turbulence at the time and their own airline has -- should have weather information. so they had a lot of weather. to me it says that this was their last hope. they were desperately trying to get out of this weather, because you don't want to climb into what they call the anvil cloud. the top of a thunderhead looks like an anvil and off the end of that anvil is just tremendous winds, hail just this wicked weather. so you really don't want to climb up into that. so i think that the pilots just were trying to find a way out of this sea of red on the radar it looks red on red thunderstorms. >> i know you've discussed this earlier on air too as you've been giving your expertise to our coverage but it is interesting this analogy we kept hearing. if you can find your iphone, why

don't can't you find a plane? and this issis really in your wheel house. in the military they have recorders that deploy, shoot out of the plane and give off signal on impact but they haven't been put into commercial airliners, presumably for financial reasons. is that your understanding and really is that good enough these days? >> no and in fact the deployable black boxes are antiquated as well. we have the capability it's already out there. we have the capability for realtime streaming of data from the aircraft. in fact air france 447 partially did it. it was the aircraft itself that told its airline that it was in trouble, that systems were spooling down, that it was losing system after system. we have that ability right now and it's inexcusable, because people know about malaysia 370, but there have been almost a dozen crashes in recent history, not like in the last year but over the last decade where

we've had to have this frantic search for black boxes and there is really no excuse. about a sixth, or maybe more of the fleet of aircraft modern aircraft are already fitting with the equipment, but you have to subscribe to the service. so i think that there is just no excuse going forward. but it's going to take government action you know the aviation nations around the world have to get together and decide we are going to require this on all future aircraft. and that's the only way it will happen. >> it seems extraordinary. mary we'll be speaking again. really appreciate having you on as always. former inspector general of the u.s. department of transportation. >> thanks mary. >> hundreds and hundreds of lives lost in the last year. >> i know. >> and this stuff's not out there. >> and again, as you pointed out, it's a question that everyone has right now, why can they not install this technology? >> money. >> hopefully this will bring about a change. that's the hope. another urgent story we're

following for you closely here at cnn, rescue efforts continue on a passenger ferry that caught fire on its way to italy. >> check out this dramatic video we got in a few hours ago shot by a passenger on the deck of burning ship. you can see the inferno inside that porthole. >> you can see the fire. you can see the ferocity of the flames as you look at these pictures. one person has died. italy's coast guard says the victim was a man who attempted to escape the fire by leaping off the ship. >> scores have been rescued, but nearly 300 people are still there, still on that ship. they remain on board. >> just seemed extraordinary. all these hours later, the fire is believed to have broken out in the ship's garage the area where they keep the vehicles after leaving port in northwestern greece. the smoke was the major issue. >> people were talking about

their shoes melting while they're freezing because it's so cold on the decks. >> terrible conditions. people hypothermia may be an issue at this stage. efforts continue at this hour to get those people to safety. >> joining us now by telephone from rome bobby, we will still almost 300 people on the ship when we last spoke. what's the latest now? >> well the italian navy has just tweeted their update. they say that they have recovered 221 people and there are 257 people left on the ship. so they're making some progress right now. this fire is also contained, according to the italian coast guard. one of the new bits of information is that the italian navy said that they have lowered some medical personnel onto the ship and that is presumably to treat the people suffering from hypothermia. the mayday call came out almost 24 hours ago. it's almost 4:30 in the morning

in italy and that call came at 4:30 yesterday morning. so the ship has been on fire for 24 hours. it is very, very hot ship. and the people the passengers who had to leave their cabins and leave the area inside the ship have been outside that entire time. they've been outside when the tug boats were spraying the water to try to put out the ship. they are freezing literally freezing out there. and as you mentioned before they were complaining, many people said they could feel the heat of the burning fire underneath them on the decks above the ship but yet they were so cold from the elements outside, rough seas high winds, and the constant straining of the ship to try to put out the fire. one can only imagine how awful that would be plus the fear that the ship you're on is burning. 257 people still have not seen dry land yet. they've suffered this 24 hours now. >> good point. imagine being on the deck,

you're freezing as it is and getting water sprayed all over the boat as well. not very easy for us sitting here to ponder this. but tell us why it's taken so long to get so few people comparatively off. i know the challenge has been enormous. >> high seas and strong winds have been the biggest factor here. it's been very difficult to get the rescue ships close to the ship. >> 150 people within the first three hours of emergency were able to lose the life boats, because they were still functioning. after the first three hours, the ship -- the ferry lost all power. with that they lost the capacity to operate the electronic arms that drop the life boats. so the life boats are still, many of them hanging on the side of the ship. the people on the ship say they weren't able to get down on the life boats. it's a very tall ship. jumping into the water from the

ship would be into the cold water, would be a very dangerous way to get off the ship and you couldn't get to the lower decks to get closer to the sea level because of the fire. so people really were stranded. many of the passengers who have been rescued have been calling relatives and calling the italian and greek press, some of the things they were saying they felt like mice on a burning ships. so you can imagine the agony they've gone through, those who have gotten off the ship and yet the very many more that are still on the ship. the captain is still on the ship and still coordinating the effort rather heroically from what we've heard. he's trying to keep people as calm and warm as possible and just really trying to help the efforts of the rescue operation at this point. >> unbelievable. barbie thanks so much. >> you've got to imagine it's a

monumental task trying to keep people calm under such conditions. >> apparently they didn't have the helicopters overnight in the dark that were equipped from night-time rescue so they were coming off in twos and threes. >> that seems remarkable that requests wouldn't have gone out to other nations in the region to provide those assets on a time when people are on a ship with flames around them. >> not all that far from port but they couldn't get a tow rope on them because of the sea conditions. >> well searchers are back out now looking for air asia flight 8501. >> paula hancocks will have details on this massive search for the plane and hopefully some survivors. we'll be right back. no matter who you are, if you have

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>> welcome back everyone. you are watching cnn's continuing coverage of the search for that missing airasia 8501. crews are searching for any sign of the missing aircraft. the top officials say based on radar data the jet is likely at the bottom of the sea. early conjecture. >> it is. they're, working off the data they have and when they lost contact with the plane. you have ships and helicopter and aircraft from several countries now taking part in this search. now 28 hours or so after the plane disappeared. it was of course enroute to singapore after taking off from surabaya in indonesia.

>> on board, 162 people. 155 were indonesians. shortly before communication was lost, the captain of the plane asked for a change in altitude because of bad weather. >> let's go now to cnn's paula hancocks who joins us on the line from indonesia, where some of the search is being launched. paint a picture for us what's going on there, paula. >> well michael, i've just landed here at the airport. and on the runway i can see there's three helicopters, there's one search and rescue one navy one army. we've been speaking to them on board, and they said they did one sortie today and didn't find anything. but they're refueling now and hoping to get back in the air just as soon as possible. the one good thing at this point is that weather conditions are far better today than they were yesterday. now, obviously that was a concern for the search and rescue operation, many officials were worried about that storms

we've seen in the area were going to continue. there's still the potential for some rain and visibility being objective there, but we do know from those officials going and looking at these areas that conditions are better. but they simply say, we don't know where we're supposed to be looking. this is what one man was telling me this one official saying that they hope they can narrow it down at some point. we heard from the search and rescue agency who also said it wasn't a very broad search location. so of course the question is now a race against time to try and narrow down the search location and find out exactly what's happened. this island is maybe nine hours by boat to the area where the plane lost contact with air control. so it's still a fair way away. of course this plane was going across water, but there are islands dotted around. and we're seeing a staging

point, where the search and rescue operation is being staged and also we are being told that there are also a make shift morgue being set up in case depending on what the search and rescue operation finds. >> and paula, it's my understanding that this broad area they're looking in is also a very busy shipping lane. with that in mind, with the assets that have been deployed, are you getting a sense there's confidence they will indeed find this aircraft soon? >> well certainly there are a lot of assets involved. we know that indonesia search and rescue agency itself has seven ships out there, not including ships that are just there anyway who can keep an eye out as well. we know malaysia has brought vessels over. we know singapore has offered at least one search plane. australia as well, has offered an orion. so all the countries in the neighboring vicinity are helping

and with this massive search and rescue operation. obviously a very desperate time for the relatives of those passengers and crew on board. hoping for a miracle of course but as you say, the transport ministry suggesting that it may be bad news and as i say, the people here are preparing for both scenarios. they have ambulances on stand by. they also have a morgue just in case. so they really don't know at this point what they're going to find. >> paula hancocks joining us on the line from indonesia. paula, we appreciate it. we'll continue to check in with you. thanks so much. she makes a point. they're prepared for either turn of events. >> exactly. as you said shallow water, heavily trafficked area the feeling is they're going to find the plane. >> yeah this is the thing that we want to keep pointing out. i know immediately people want to jump to the conclusion that this is just like mh370 but

nothing like it. we're talking about very different conditions. we'll continue to follow this breaking story. after a short break, we'll be right back. stay with us.

>> welcome back everyone to cnn's continuing coverage of the search for that air asia flight 8501 ships, planes and helicopters are searching a broad area for some sign of that flight. the chief of indonesia's search

and rescue say his early assumption is that the plane is at the bottom of the sea. >> they lost contact with the plane about 24 hours ago. one of the pilots had asked to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather. >> weather could have played a role for the disappearance of the plane. pedram weather center stage in focus here. and just bring us up to speed with conditions especially as we now hear there was lightning, thunder, in the region at the time this flight lost contact. >> absolutely. not a single one of the elements there could have played a role in bringing the plane down. of course it was a culmination of everything that came together if you were to ask me any particular part of the world between the months of april and october, whether weather is as bad as they come it's right here in the java sea over

indonesia. we do have scattered thunderstorms about, but the large-scale complex of storms the past 30 days has been centered across that region. show you what we're dealing with in this region. around the equator from october to april, winds meeting from two hem spheres. forces the air to rise and create some of the highest thunderstorms on our planet. the average thunderstorm is around twet,000 feet. this particular storm in the wind of the aircraft was up to 53,000 feet high. here are the anvil clouds that have been referred to. now we have downdrafts updrafts behind it, winds coming at you if you're flying into them. the pilot asked to go up to 38,000 feet. you can see where the last point of contact was, right here. this is the thunderstorm of concern. we had clearing ahead of it.

but that does not mean the sky is clear. that indicates cool air coming down to the surface, significant downdrafts in place. want to show you the satellite imagery for the region. look at this thunderstorm in the path of this plane that was flying. very organized in nature. you see how it collapsed right behind me. it went from a massive storm to nothing. that means it had tremendous downdrafts associated with it and it could have played a role with this airplane and what has occurred there in the past 24 hours. >> we'll continue to assess what conditions were like in the hours ahead. stay with us for that and we'll continue with our coverage of the loss of qz8501. also, rescuers in the adriatic working to get passengers off that burning ferry. we'll tell you what's being looked at as a possible cause of that disaster. exactly the way you want it ... until boom, it's bedtime! your mattress is a battleground of thwarted desire.

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♪♪ welcome back to cnn's special coverage of the search for missing air asia flight 8501. >> thanks for your company. more than a day after air asia 8501 disappeared in indonesian airspace the search for the plane once again under way in daylight hours, which is a very good thing. >> the australian defense force is deploying to assist the

search and seven helicopters and two ships are joining the planes already hovering over the water. relatives are anxious for information. >> reporter: it's an agonizing wait for answers for the families of the 162 people on board airasia qz8501. >> my fiancee and his family was on that plane. it was supposed to be their last vacation for us got married. >> the monitor at the airport not showing the status instead reading, go to info counter. >> families learned more from twitter with air asia ceo tony fernandez saying airasia indonesia regrets to confirm that qz8501 from surabaya to singapore has lost contact.

before communication was lost, pilot asked for permission to get to a higher altitude. >> it's possible the playboy was in distress. the pilot's reaction will be looked at. >> authorities say there were clouds in the region but did not want to speculate if severe weather played a role in the plane's disappearance. airasia's iconic logo going from red to gray changing more than a color, but the mood. >> as rescue teams are activated, and family members rush to take a glance at a flight manifest posted at the airport, perhaps hoping their loved one somehow missed the ill-fated flight. >> thoughts and players have been circulating on social media all day long for those family members. the other thing that people are asking how is it possible that we can trace a cell phone down

to the block, yet a plane can be lost? rosea flores cnn, new york. >> well let's bring in captain desmond ross a former pilot and aviation security expert who joins us now from sydney australia. captain ross good to have you with us. as we look at the situation at hand right now, we hear this news. again, we want to stress to your viewers, it's not confirmed, but the head of the indonesian search and rescue agency saying he believes it's his guess at this point, that the aircraft is at the bottom of the sea. what do you make of what search and rescue operators are facing right now? >> it can be very difficult. i worked in that area for ten years. i know the indonesian nation quite well and the conditions. some of those thunderstorms can get up to 60 65,000 feet. they're enormous. the winds and the waves on the water will be quite high. it's difficult to find stuff in

rolling water, boiling water sometimes. so the conditions are difficult. i'm very interested in the comment that he thinks it could be at the bottom of the ocean. i think i know why he's suggesting that. there's been no mention at all of any broadcast from the emergency locator transmit nerter in the tail of the aircraft. all aircraft have one. it's a transmitter that sends a signal to a satellite on impact. it's triggered by an impact. so if the aircraft hits land or waurmt water, it should go off. they're carried on yachts. they're on all sorts of equipment. that signal is picked up by monitoring stations including one in australia. that tells you there's an emergency and provides you with a homing signal where you can go more or less directly to the downed aircraft. that's not been referred to at

all. this comment now that maybe the aircraft is at the bottom of the ocean could be an explanation of that. because you would not hear it if the aircraft was under a couple hundred meters of water. it is still speculation. i think it's very important that everybody understands it's speculation. and we do not know for certain that this event has been caused by the weather. the weather is undoubtedly a related factor to whatever has happened but it's a modern a-320 with very good flight management systems, very good radar on board. it paints a picture for the pilots of where the storm cells are, up to 300 nautical miles ahead of their track. the captain of the aircraft can see where the storm cells are and he can find a way around them or over them. so it's very interesting. and a lot of questions to be answered. >> and you raise an interesting point there too that they were climbing apparently had asked for permission to climb.

and i've called a friend of mine who is an aviation expert he happens to also be in australia. had a lock at some of the radar tracking and saw they were at 36,300 feet or something, and 350 knots. he was sort of speculating as we all are at the moment that that was a bit slow. is that a risk in this situation when you're climbing to get above or around a thunderstorm what happens if your speed is a little too slow? >> if any circumstance if your speed is a bit too slow that's not good. it also can be not good if it's too fast. there's a high-speed stall and a slow-speed stall. as you go higher the operating band becomes narrower and narrower narrower. it's all to do with aerodynamics and the wing of the aircraft. when uryou're at low altitude there are speeds you can

operate. but as you go higher it's a narrow pyramid, and you can end up in a situation at high altitude where you only have 30 knots or so to play with. but the flight management system of the aircraft is intended to compensate for all of that. and the low speed could be an indication simply that the aircraft was in a climb, rather than a cruise at that point. i'm not sure i've not seen the figures you're referring to. but i'd like to know more about that before i make too many comments on it. >> and just quickly, too, the no mayday aspect of this as a pilot, you know the aviation navigate and communicate theory you're not surprised, or are you? >> not really. certainly the priority of the two pilots is to save the aircraft, to fly it to try to get it into a manageable situation if that's what was going on. they could have possibly been hit by a bolt of lightning,

which could have taken out some of the avionics but aircraft are designed to withstand that. aircraft get hit every day of the week and without any major effects. so again, that's not necessarily an accurate statement to say that lightning might have stopped the avionics system from working. the questions in my mind number one, he knew there was a weather problem, asked for a change of altitude he could also have gone around it, left or right of the storm cell. or he had another option to do a 180-degree turn and go back to surabaya and land where it was safe. why did he persevere into what was bad weather? if this is what happened. or is weather a bit of a red herring at the moment or did something else happen? we don't know at the moment and won't know until the flight data recorders are recovered. skpngets we've been looking at

the flying hours of the pilots of this flight. the captain had 20,000 flying hours, about 7,000 on the airbus. the co-pilot had something like 2,100 or so. when you hear those numbers what does that tell you, in terms of experience when dealing with the kind of weather conditions we're told were happening at the time this flight lost contact with air traffic control. >> well the captain was obviously very experienced. i suspect he's probably seen a lot of these sorts of things before if he's operated in that region for any length of time. if he's operated in that region for any time he would understand the weather patterns that exist throughout the year. right now it's the moon soon season. the southeast trades are blowing. this is normal weather for this time of year up there. he and all the other pilots operating up there would know that. so i think that the aircraft was in capable hands and we do need to make a point that airasia has

a very good safety record so far. this to the best of my knowledge, is the first major events. they may have had minor accidents before but nothing of any great significance that's led to media coverage. so i think they've got well-trained crews and good maintenance. and it's immensely regrettable and just pure bad luck or coincidence that three malaysian aircraft should have gone in the one year. mh370, mh 17 and now 8501. >> a real tragedy. captain ross in sydney appreciate your expertise. thanks so much. we'll check in with you later. and the captain makes a good point, airasia has been around since 2001. i think they've carried 220 million passengers without incident. >> it's flourishing in southeast

asia. it's no frills. they say themselves they don't compromise on safety. flying the airbus 320, this is the work horse of the skies. we know this. this is a very reputable aircraft. >> and it was only six years old. >> absolutely. >> we are continuing to follow this and also another story that is continuing to unfold the dramatic rescue ongoing in the adriatic sea. >> we'll get the latest on ia burning passenger ferry off the coast of greece. we'll be right back. do stay with us.

>> welcome back everyone. another urgent story we're following for you here on the cnn, efforts to rescue people stuck on a burning passenger ferry for more than a day. >> can you imagine? and can you imagine having a look at this video, what those people are going through, where you can see the fires burning fiercely inside this ship. there it is. this was shot by somebody

obviously on board. we do know that one person has died. italy's coast guard telling us that that victim was a man who obviously terrified, attempted to escape the fire by jumping off the ship. >> truly tragic. 221 people have now been resk yud, but listen to this. at least 257 people still are on that ship. they remain on board in what has been described as freezing conditions. >> can't go inside because of the smoke and fire. they're stuck on the decks and water being hosed to try to keep the fire contained. it's just a recipe for hypothermia. and there have been cases of that. you got oil rigs packed tightly together in the ferry's garage area that's being looked at as a possible cause of the fire. movement of those -- >> friction. >> yeah friction creating perhaps a spark that ignited something. >> officials say the fire is now contained, but say the ship is still too unstable to be moved

significantly. we spoke to barbie a short time ago, she said medical personnel had been dropped down to the ship to basically tend to the people who are out there enduring these horrific conditions. >> let's take a look at the conditions that the rescue crews are up against. we were hearing last night it was too rough to get a line on to try to tow this ship. it was too rough to get in close to get people off. what's the situation? >> still pretty rough out there. i don't foresee an improvement in the weather until monday afternoon and monday evening and then another storm on tuesday that kicks up the winds. storm system came on sunday, the ferry between ferry, in waves with ten-foot high waves. so even if there was no fire on

board, it would be a rough ride going through this region as the ferry would certainly be rocked pretty significantly. and you look at the temperatures. they would be the last thing you'd want to do when it's about 41 degrees fahrenheit or 3 or 4 celsius, to be outside on the deck in this weather with gusty winds, massive swells. the pattern remains the same. this is a wind perspective across the region. puts it roughly around 20 miles per hour. gusty at this moment. take you through monday afternoon, dies off a little bit. wind speeds come down to maybe 15 miles per hour. and then tuesday, picks back up. any rescue should be done as early as possible monday because the weather will go down hill as we go towards tuesday. temperatures in the java sea it's about 82 fahrenheit 28 celsius, sea surface at 15

celsius, or 59 fahrenheit. you don't want to be in these waters. take a look, 10 to 15 celsius, between 50 and 59 fahrenheit. the best case scenario you'll have a couple of hours of survival. if you're fit, and younger and used to these temperatures you can perhaps extend that up to six hours. but that's what you're looking at. and going back to the java sea, you see water temperatures in excess of 26 celsius, about 80 degrees fahrenheit giving you an indefinite time of survival. so big difference across these waters. >> pedram appreciate it. thank you. it's so cold it's kind of hard to fathom what people are dealing with. we saw a mother and a child being winched up earlier in a basket but just terrible conditions. people talking about the titanic. >> and the shoes burning while their bodies are freezing, the shoes are burning because of the

heat underneath. and still 257 people to get off. >> a lot of work to be done. we'll continue to follow that story and also continue our coverage on the loss of qz8501. >> and we know it's an airbus a-320. we'll be right back. when heartburn comes creeping up on you... fight back with relief so smooth... ...it's fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue ...and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum, tum tum tum...♪ smoothies! only from tums. oh, i love game night. ooh, it's a house and a car! so far, you're horrible at this, flo. yeah, no talent for drawing, flo. house! car! oh, raise the roof! no one? remember when we used to raise the roof, diane?

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welcome back everyone to cnn's continuing coverage of that missing airasia flight 8501. one can only imagine what the relatives of those on board that flight are going through right now because there's been no sign of the aircraft. and we know that airport officials have met privately with dozens of the passengers'

relatives in indonesia. >> they are at the moment as we speak, planes helicopters, and ships from a number of countries, all searching out there, scanning the ocean for any sign of the aircraft. airasia lost contact with the plane as it traveled from surabaya to singapore. >> we know one of the pilots asked to fly at higher altitude because of bad weather. based on the information so far, not confirmed yet, but based on the information they have at the moment the assumption is, the plane is at the bottom of the sea. >> the coordinates estimation is how he put it, makes them believe that. air asia say malaysia-based airline, traveled to about 100 or so destinations. as questions mount about the floot's disappearance, cnn's rene marsh takes a look at this particular plane and the safety record of the fleet. >> well we know this is a newer

aircraft. roughly six years old. the delivery date october 2008. now, as far as flight time we're told by airbus it has about 23,000 flight hours. it's what you would call a work horse for commercial aviation. it is a well-traveled aircraft. the safety record for the a-320, really good when you consider the millions of flights this family of aircraft has made. now, at this point, airbus is very careful with the language it is using. it is not dipping into the arena of speculation. they say they are waiting and they are collecting information. they're making it very clear that they are ready and willing to work with investigators once it moves on to the investigative stage. we also know that here in the united states the national transportation safety board, they have opened up the lines of communication. they've been in contact with airbus the manufacturer of the aircraft. they've also been in touch with

the french equivalent of the ntsb. and we're told they're been in touch with the indonesians and the indonesians will likely lead the investigation. at this point, the ntsb says they are monitoring the situation. they are ready to provide some technical assistance if they are asked for it. back to you. >> yeah i mean that's the question will they ask for help, the indonesians? with a lot of regional support will they reach out to the ntsb here in the states? we don't know yet. >> as we've been saying, they're treating it a lot differently to how we saw the mh370 issue treated. we'll have more at the top of the hour. >> we'll also have more on the other big story we're following for you here on cnn, the latest on the ferry on fire off the coast of greece with nearly 300 people trapped on board. stay with cnn, we'll be right back.

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>> hello and welcome everyone to cnn's special coverage of