"nightly news." >> we'll see you at 6:00. is it the plain? new satellite images from china, do they really show wreckage from flight 370? tonight, late developments on the missing airliner as the search expands once again. deadly explosion, a massive blast in new york city, at least two are dead, dozens injured as the firefighters search for the missing in the still smoldering rubble. and a crisis, a stolen car with a young child trapped inside, a dramatic chase, three different vehicles carjacked along the way. all of it playing out on live television. "nightly news" begins now. >> from nbc news headquarters in

new york this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening, i'm ann curry in for brian, today, with a number of new developments on the missing plane with 239 people on board, including late today five days after the plane disappeared the release of three grainy satellite photos from china. china's state news agency says the photographs were taken along the plane's flight path. and that what we're looking at here may be part of the wreckage. the veteran ntsb investigator greg fife has studied the photographs and will weigh in on the report in a moment. but first, we go to tom costello with all the breaking details. >> reporter: hi, ann, if true this could be breaking news for the people looking for the disappearing flight 370. it disappeared early saturday morning. these images were taken on sunday from a government satellite over the south china sea. the images according to the chinese shows three objects that seem to be floating in the

ocean, large pieces, 43 x 59, 56 x 62, and 78 x 72. importantly, these images are identified as being in the very area of the south china sea over which the plane was reported half way between malaysia and vietnam. the coordinates put the wreckage south of vietnam. and this is an area that has been searched heavily by dozens of ships, plane, helicopters and from a dozen navys. again if the images show the plane debris then the plane never made a u-turn and headed back towards malaysia, and the strait of malacca, as the military suggested the past two days. the development comes as the defined search zone grew to 35,000 square miles. to the gulf of thailand, to the west, the strait of malacca, and the sea, with the indian navy joining the search pursuing the theory that the plane did double back. the images are correct they will focus on whether or not the crash was human error or something else.

and keep in mind u.s. intelligence agencies say the u.s. satellites did not pick up any indication of an explosion in the sky that night. i spoke to authorities, their radar shows the plane made a jar to the right, part of the normal flight pattern to beijing, then dropped off the radar, the transponder stopped responding and the crews stopped responding to radio calls. u.s. military and intelligence agencies tell nbc news they have no information on the chinese images. importantly, the chinese have been vocal on their criticism of the malaysians and how the search was conducted. ann, back to you. >> all right, tom, thank you, we're joined by aviation expert greg fife, a senior air specialist with the national transportation safety board, a man who is highly experienced and a veteran pilot. greg, thank you for joining us. do you believe the images we see now late today are showing us the plane's wreckage? >> based on the resolution of the images i'm skeptical at this

point. normally if you have pieces of aircraft or pieces this large you would expect to see a large debris field. because this is a very large piece or pieces of aircraft. so you would expect to see not only the 70-foot by 72-foot piece of structure if this is an airplane, but all the debris that would go with it. seat cushions, seats, the water is not that deep there. >> what you're saying is you're not banking on it. so in fact if this is not the wreckage and the plane did in fact make a turn as we heard earlier today just heard from tom costello could we possibly be looking at a criminal investigation here? >> i think that still has to be considered given the fact that we have had varying information in the last five days. nothing has been confirmed. and the stuff that we thought was confirmed, some of the information has been basically retracted. so i think the investigators will have to continue to pursue

the criminal act of this as well as this possibly being an accident. >> so you're saying that you would endorse that the search continues not along the flight path as we saw along the images according to the state news agency, that that is where they took those photographs. you're saying we should still be looking in the indian ocean? >> we need to vet, we need to validate what is on the satellite image. somebody needs to look and actually identify that as aircraft part or parts. but you can't give up where that radar image was coming from because there are a number of radar points. they were very firm in saying we had this airplane tracked so you must continue along that path, as well, and possibly even further. >> all right, greg fife, much more to talk about as the story develops. thank you for your perspective, very valuable. meanwhile, we'll turn to new york city where there is a desperate search underway for nine people still unaccounted for after the massive explosion that destroyed two buildings, and rocked an entire neighborhood. at least three people are dead,

scores injured, some of them in critical condition. nbc's ron allen is on scene for us and has more. >> reporter: good evening, ann, even with rain falling here the fire is still so intense that the firefighters have not been able to completely put it out. that is making the search for survivors extremely difficult. at last count this blast injured as many as 70 people. a blast that was felt and heard nearly a mile away. 9:31 a.m., without warning an explosion rocks an urban new york community. east harlem, the streets packed with people. >> we heard a huge explosion and thought that the train had exploded. >> boom, and my windows rattled. >> reporter: more than 200 firefighters responded. the battle of the blaze lasted into the afternoon. before the explosion, these two buildings had 15 apartments, one had a piano store, the other, home to a church. now reduced to rubble and

billowing smoke. >> i was literally walking by with my son in the stroller ten minutes before the blast happened. it is horrible, horrible. >> reporter: hundreds of evacuated nearby buildings, then a frantic search to find neighbors and loved ones. this woman pled with police to let her pass through the barricades sealing off the area to try to find her cousins. >> the house is right next door where it blew up. and i got to know, i got to find out. >> reporter: very quickly, officials said a gas leak had likely caused the blast. a neighbor had reported a problem minutes before the explosion. and workers were on their way. >> this is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people. we know we've lost two people already. >> reporter: word of a gas leak was no surprise to ruben berrero who had left moments before the explosion with his family. he said he smelled gas yesterday and said it was worse a month

ago. >> i mean, literally you couldn't take a walk in the building and take two steps without feeling nauseous, without your head hurting. >> reporter: crews worked near the blast scene trying to make sure the neighborhood is safe. tonight dozens of families are not able to go home and many more have lost everything. the destruction is really massive and intense. and the impact is widespread. there are still dozens of firefighters out here trying to get the situation completely under control. also tonight there are federal investigators here from the national transportation safety board, the agency that also investigates pipeline explosions here tonight to try to keep the situation under control. back to you, ann. >> all right, ron allen, thank you for reporting on the story. meanwhile, in san francisco tonight investigators are trying to determine if welding work was the cause of a huge fire that tore through an apartment complex under construction, completely engulfing it in flames yesterday afternoon.

the smoke was seen for miles and nearby areas were evacuated as crews battled the flames for hours. two firefighters suffered minor injuries. in a show of solidarity today, president obama met with ukraine's acting president at the white house during the ongoing tensions with russia. senator john mccain plans to lead a delegation of lawmakers to ukraine tomorrow. tonight, we continue our special coverage on the syria children of war. more than 140,000 people have been killed so far since the war began there three years ago this week. at least 10,000 of them have been children with many more thousand wounded. and there is no end in sight. we have reports now from both sides of syria's border with bill neely in damascus and chief medical doctor nancy snyderman

in lebanon. we begin at damascus, bill, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, ann, there was a startling moment for some children here in damascus today. it is not unusual, but it shows why the casualty rate for children in this war are among the highest ever recorded in the middle east. what was unusual today was to see syria's leader out here in public for the first time in months. president assad met women and children who fled the fighting and he promised them help. but it is his troops who have driven most syrians from their homes. this family now lives in a box on the sidewalk, six children who escaped the deadly siege, their father suffering a stroke. an 8-year-old now their breadwinner, their sister kidnapped at 14. my heart is broken, says her mother. i wonder if she is cold or hungry. i just want her back. a child's life here can be brutal living in a park in dirt and war. prey to disease, food scarce. we want life back the way it was, she says, then, a blast.

people are dying here, we just want to have fun he says. then another. the boys flinch. but it is not over and it is not far away. shells are raining on us, he says. there is a panic in the playground, let's go a man shouts, fast, they don't know which way to turn. war is no game. innocence here is being ripped from a generation. bill neely, nbc news, damascus. i'm dr. nancy snyderman in lebanon. we're traveling parallel to the syrian border to check up on a woman we met yesterday who checked out of the hospital against medical advice just three hours after giving birth to a new baby. word has it she is not feeling well so we'll go to this refugee camp to check on her and the living conditions. the refugee camp where we found 28-year-old miriam is isolated, bitterly cold, and the

conditions horrible. it is the worst i've seen. she shares a small tent with her family, now five children, including the baby boy born yesterday. it is a mud floor and it is wet. there is no insulation, it is just plastic. and this is how people are living in between their homeland and a country that is housing them but they're still not citizens. her husband, yassir, takes us inside the tent where we find miriam lying on a thin, damp mattress. lying next to her is her new baby. the sound you hear is the rain on the tarp. i just saw a leak a few minutes ago and then the lights went out. for the 38,000 children who are born in lebanon but are of syrian heritage, this is a tough way to start a new life. miriam describes feeling cold, exhausted and just terrible. her husband has brought medicine prescribed by one of the doctors. this is so muddy, no drainage,

and yet the person who owns this land is charging the people $400 a year to be here. that doesn't sound like a lot of money, but when you have none it's an astronomical price. there is no happy ending here, just reminders everywhere that in this ongoing crisis children's lives are on the line. in the last 48 hours we've seen moments of joy like this newborn nursery, but outside, a cold, drenching, pouring rain, which reminds us, of course, of the on going misery of so many of the syrian children. as for the little girl with the polio-like symptoms, no word yet on the outcome, we'll keep tabs on her and we'll have updates when we're stateside. >> all right, thank you so much, dr. nancy snyderman and bill neely reporting. and as we reported there are a number of organizations working at great risk to help syria's

children. we've posted information about a number of these agencies on our website tonight at nbcnews.com. and still ahead, a rescue mission, a high speed chase, a stolen car and child trapped inside with a stranger. tonight, the dramatic race. and later, a blizzard on the move tonight making treacherous travel for millions of people as yet another big storm hits hard.

outside denver, a 4-year-old boy is back with his family tonight and a suspect is in custody following a dangerous police chase that unfolded in the middle of the morning rush hour. and it all played out on live television. we get more now from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: got a high speed chase, apparently somebody took a car in longmont.

>> he has gone both left shoulder and right shoulder. >> reporter: police gave the suspect room. this guy is going like a rocket ship, fearing for the safety of a 4-year-old boy inside the stolen car. the chase lasted over an hour. he has carjacked a silver van. the suspect stole three vehicles. >> it is very dangerous and we're lucky that there was a news helicopter overhead kind of following this guy. he wasn't going to stop for anybody. >> tremendously high rate of speed. >> reporter: veteran koa news reporter john morrissey has never seen anything like it. >> approaching a stop sign now and not even thinking about stopping. >> it could have been as bad as you imagined. i mean, he passed loaded school buses, he was in heavy traffic going the wrong way for 15 miles on the interstate. >> reporter: he t-boned a car, more than half a dozen cars were rammed. he is doing over 100 miles an hour easily. this state trooper was hit and seriously injured. >> and now he is carjacking the

other vehicle, throwing the young lady to the ground. she is fighting him. >> reporter: the car chase ended with this collision. >> there is two police officers coming right straight at him. right straight at him. right there. >> reporter: police have their man. >> the suspect is on his stomach. this is over. >> reporter: tonight, 28-year-old ryan stone is in custody. and that 4-year-old boy clutching a teddy bear is safe back with his family. a wild pursuit that played out on live tv. few will forget. miguel almaguer, nbc news los angeles. and when we come back, just eight days until spring. another big hit in this brutal winter for millions of people. move tonight from the midwest to

the northeast, blizzard-like whiteout conditions making

for treacherous travel for millions of people. authorities say weather is to blame for this deadly 50-vehicle pile-up involving tractor-trailers on the ohio turnpike. two people were killed and rescue workers are still trying to reach people who may be trapped. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is in upstate new york, right in the thick of of the storm. mike, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, ann, heavy snow, whipping winds and whiteout conditions, we're certainly getting the worst of the storm here in western new york state. and although they did get more snow in chicago and detroit, they didn't get the blizzards we have been stuck in the middle of since mid morning here in rochester. these winds over 50 miles an hour, that combined with a foot of snow in some spots led to three-foot drifts. tonight temperatures tumble here into the single numbers. and more snow on the way. the forecast, if you're a skier

and love march skiing you are in good shape. over a foot of snow will fall at least in some of the ski resorts. new york city you will miss this one, probably few complaints after this snowy winter, and in boston, after the gusty northwest winds you will see an inch or two of snow. >> all right, thank you so much, mike seidel. and get inside, thank you so much. meantime, retired u.s. general ola lee mize has died. he was a recipient of the medal of honor and served in the korean war. he volunteered for combat, and received the medal for defending his men and holding back the enemy during the day-long attack. despite his own wounds he killed ten or more enemy soldiers singleal handedly. he later served three tours in vietnam. ola lee mize was 82-year-old old and his death leaves 74 recipients of the medal of honor. and when we come back, one woman's on-line search that is also a remarkable lesson in forgiveness. and finally tonight, a story

about an outpouring of kindness over the internet for a woman abandoned as a baby years ago. nbc's rehema ellis reports on what she is now looking for.

>> reporter: 27-year-old catherine is a married mother of three boys and an emt devoted to saving lives. but today she longs for details about how her own life was saved. >> my parents who adopted me, i am just so thankful. >> reporter: catherine was 12 years old working on a story for school when she learned her birth made headlines in september of 1986. a tiny baby just hours old was found here at this burger king, wrapped in a red sweater, abandoned in the bathroom floor. the baby's mother was never found. when catherine heard the story she was ashamed and even blamed herself. >> i was actually very upset. i kept thinking what did i do that my own birth mother didn't want me? >> reporter: catherine's parents told her she was born from their heart but that didn't stop her from looking everywhere for her roots, even while responding to emergency calls, as an emt.

>> maybe this could be my mom, every time i went in the houses i would look around and see if there were pictures. see if anyone looks like me at all. >> reporter: a few days ago, her adopted mother, brenda hollis, suggested she used facebook to get some answers. catherine posted a plea for help to find her birth mother and it has become one of the most popular items on the site. shared more than 31,000 times. do you have any anger in your heart for your birth mother? >> not at all. not at all. i am completely over that. i am so happy that she took care of me. i want to hug her and just say thank you. because she could have thrown me away. >> reporter: for now, catherine and her husband, michael, have a full life, caring for mason, gavin, and jackson. >> drive over to mommy. let me see. >> reporter: but they're ready to share it with a mother she has never known. rehema ellis, nbc news, allen town, pennsylvania. a daughter to be truly proud of. that is our broadcast this wednesday evening.

i'm ann curry, and for all of us here at nbc news, thank you and good night. right now at 6:00, answering a craigslist ad turned dangerous for a bay area woman. she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun when she showed up to meet a seller. >> i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. it's a day she wants to forget about. a south bay woman was kidnapped and held for ransom in her neighborhood and it started with craigslist. damian trujillo has the interview and her warning for other online shoppers, damion. >> reporter: that's right.

the woman told me she came to this point to buy iphones but left her money at home because she wanted to prevent a robbery. it was a lot of cash. two men pulled out a gun, kidnapped her, took her to the bank and brought her back here with the intent of getting their money. police are still looking at surveillance footage to see if they captured the alleged monday night robbery ask kidnapping. the victim is still in shock over the incident. she asked us not to identify her at all. how scary was it? >> very scary. what do you feel when someone point a gun in your head? >> reporter: the woman says she agreed to meet who she thought was a craigslist seller here but the two men that met her, pulled a gun, kidnapped her and took her to a local bank to withdraw cash. that failed so the men brought her to target. >> they told her to get on her phone to call somebody and provide money. >> reporter: a friend showed up