that is all in for this evening. the rachel maddow show starts right now, good evening, rachel. tony adams says objects related to the malaysian airlines claim may have been spotted using satellite imagery. however, he says locating these objects will be difficult, and they could turn out to be unrelated to the case. he says he has spoken to his counterpart. air force is being sent to the area. three aircraft are being deployed to help in that search. flight 370 had 235 people on board and disappeared more than a week ago. there have been many false leads, and we will bring you more information as it becomes available to us. now, back to the program.

i did that because i have really long story tonight. >> cut him off, i need that time. >> i just added back in that last paragraph in d-1. thanks very much. it is true, i didn't cut lee fang's mike, but we have a big exclusive story on tonight's show coming out of colorado. it's an upsetting story. it started with what looked like a crime story, but ended up being much much more than that, and we have that exclusive coming up ahead this hour. we're going to start tonight with president obama. he gave a round of interviews to local news stations around the country tonight including this one to nbc's station in san diego knsd. san diego a heavily military town, and reporter mark mullen asked president obama tonight if he as president had a message for american troops about the potential use of american military force in response to russia's recent actions in

taking over parts of ukraine. watch how president obama responded. >> message to troops about whether the use of force militarily in ukraine is possible? >> we are not going to be getting into a military excursion in ukraine. russia right now is violating international law and the sovereignty of another country. we are going to continue to ratchet up the pressure on russia as it continues down its current course. i think the ukrainians would acknowledge that for us, to engage russia militarily would not be appropriate and wouldn't be good for ukraine either. >> there will be no u.s. military excursion in the ukraine, the u.s. will in his words continue to ratchet up the pressure on russia. as russia continues down its current course.

here is one of the manifestations of russia's current course. can you tell the difference between these two maps? it is a very subtle difference. the hint is that these are both maps of russia, the map on the left is what russia looked like before yesterday. the map on the right is what it says it ought to look like as of today. the where's waldo difference between these two maps is right over there on the edge, crimea. the map on the right is what russia looks like if you take at face value russia's assertions that crimea is part of russia, it's the annexation by russia that's turned into a full blown international crisis. it's also turned into a headache for map makers. they're not trying to make a

political point just trying to make accurate maps. the good folks at wikepedia changed their map of russia to include that little bit of crimea. then they changed their map back again today. they made crimea its own neon green color. national geographic which does a lot of things said today that as far as they're concerned, once the russian parliament votes to absorb crimea, which is a vote that's imminent and inevitable. that vote in russia will settle the matter for them when it comes to maps. we map the world as it is, not as people would like it to be. which might remind you of donald rumsfeld, but there's no connection. the world as it is today means basically the surrender of crimea to russia. as the new york times reporter said this afternoon, bowing to

the reality of the military occupation of the crimea government. ukraine has drawn up plans to evacuate all of the military personnel and their families. the ukrainian government announcing it would relocate all those 25,000 people to mainland ukraine. you may remember when we spoke with richard engel, he said that the issue of the ukrainian service members in crimea, inside a place that no longer considers itself to be part of ukraine, richard suggested live with us last night, that could be the next major flashpoint for setting off a shooting war in the region. he suggested that the fate of those ukrainian service members still stuck in crimea was a crucial matter and time sensitive matter, and it was is this afternoon when the ukrainian government said yes, they have to go. the times posted this photo today of ukrainian naval

officers carrying their suitcases and clothes out of their own headquarters as masked russian forces stood by. there is something of a crisis about the fate of these service members and whether or not they're going to have safe pass around out of crimea, there is a bit of a crisis about this 25,000 or so people, it's not really the way it was supposed to go. the ukrainian government said it struck a deal, specifically about ukrainian bases and the personnel that are serving there. the russians said they would allow those bases to receive supplies, and the russians promised not to provoke any sort of confrontation over the military bases. the ukrainians serving on those bases would be left in peace, at least through the end of this week.

the truce was supposed to last until friday, march 21st, but russia has totally violated that deal as we saw yesterday, russian forces started swarming the bases. a ukrainian captain was seriously injured. the attackers in those killings were dressed in the uniforms of the armed forces of the russian federation, they were not wearing any official insignia. those shootings, that violation of the truce that happened yesterday. today prorussia militia men stormed into ukraine's naval headquarters and detained the commander of the navy. we have video of the head of russia's black sea fleet walking past a crowd today. we also saw pro russian forces

taking down ukrainian insignia from the walls of that naval base. this wasn't supposed to happen, right? it was supposed to have been a deal that those bases would be safe, the personnel on the bases would be safe until the end of this week, the bases would be left alone. the russians did not hold up their end of that deal. so much for that deal, so much for that promise. vladimir putin has promised his expansionist adventure in that region will stop with crimea he has no plans to invade or take over any other parts of ukraine. do you believe that promise? russia has amassed thousands of troops along the border that russia shares with the eastern part of ukraine proper. this is the border with eastern ukraine. according to one senior american military official, it's like the russian troops are on a hair trigger.

quoting nbc news tonight, crimea is accessible only by air or sea, u.s. officials speculate they may seize a slice of eastern ukraine by military force in order to provide a land bridge directly from russia to crimea richard engel tweeted these pictures today, refusing to allow ukrainian troops to supply their own military base in eastern ukraine. this is a picture of the militia milling around outside and blocking access to a ukrainian base. this is not in crimea, this is not where russia has supposedly taken over. this is a new place, this is eastern ukraine. this is the part of the country that vladimir putin said he has zero interest in and he's not planning on taking. president obama says this is not going to be an american shooting war against russia over the issue of ukraine. president obama also said that what russia is doing is

unacceptable, secretary of state john kerry has also been very explicit about that, he said yesterday it is in his word a hardline for the u.s. if putin pushes further into eastern ukraine. if it is a hardline for this administration, if this administration says that is absolutely unacceptable and the administration is very clear that we are not using military force, we are not going to go to war over ukraine, what is the american government going to do

an object possibly related to the missing lisin airlines plane has been spotted. however, he says looking the objects will be difficult, and the could turn out to be unrelated to the case. he says -- three additional aircraft also been deployed. they had 233 people on board when they disappeared more than a week ago. we are expecting more

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is use of force in ukraine possible? >> we are not going to be getting into a military excursion in ukraine. i think even the ukrainians would acknowledge for us to engage russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for ukraine either. >> joining us now is chris murphy, a democrat of connecticut. a member of the senate foreign relations committee. thank you for being with us tonight, i appreciate your time. president obama is being very clear and blunt that there will not be and there will be never be an american military excursion in ukraine on this issue.

do you agree with president obama and his decision to be so blunt about that? >> he's right, it wouldn't be good for the united states. it wouldn't be good for the ukraine ultimately. that doesn't mean there is an effort that is worthwhile to try to staff up the ukrainian military in the long run. they certainly are dramatically underfunded. and that really should be our long term effort. but right now, we have to pursue a diplomatic path, and we have to make this really hurt for russia. they marched into crimea, they simply didn't believe that there would be a price to pay from the united states and europe, and there's still a chance that we can make them think differently if we move beyond these sanctions on individuals, move to real sanctions on the russian economy in the coming days and weeks. >> what kind of price to pay do you think might be meaningful american leverage? how severe would the sanctions have to be, where do you think they should be targeted and does

the president have power to do that sort of thing on his own or does that require congress ap action? >> i think we're going to move in congress on the sanctions bill that will give him broad authority, you saw 50,000 russians out on the streets this last weekend and if you exact some real pain on the russian economy. that does mean sanctioning the oil companies, freezing the assets of banks and stopping european companies from doing business with russian banks, then you will start to see a free fall of the economy within russia. that will make putin think differently. that requires europe to work with us, and right now there is a question as to whether europe is willing to go off pain of their own, when you cut off gas to germany, that cuts off some money. if we do that together, then putin's got a problem on his

hands and he's going to certainly stall plans into eastern ukraine. >> the issue about the russian banks specifically, i think we've seen with the experience of sanctions on iran, that when iranian banks were sanctioned, when they could not function in the international economy any more, and iranian banking became a single nation experience, that cratered the iranian economy more than anything else that had been done with them on sanctions and it happened very fast and there was unrest in iran because of this, it was an incredibly effective pressure point. what do you think president obama would have to be to be able to rally the world to do that, it can't be a unilateral decision, it has to be a national decision, it took a long time to get people around to the idea that that should happen for iran, is this diplomatically in the realm of the possible? >> i think it is, in part because there is a real sense of nervousness along the eastern edge of nato today.

five years ago, it was preposterous to think russia would move on ukraine. five years from now, who knows where his sights will be. why it ultimately will work, what putin is worried about is the kind of unrest we saw. he's worried that that is going to happen in moscow, he's going to shut down that kind of democracy on the border in the former soviet republican as quickly as possible. if you see this economic unrest and very quickly putin may think differently about this, it's similar to yanokovich regime. >> the numbers of russian troops masked very near the border is a breathtakingly large number of troops and it's a well balanced set of troops in terms of the way they are equipped if they did want to roll across that border in large numbers. if president putin did something in short order, he's moving for

quickly than sanctions can move. is there some immediate response that you think the united states should meet out at that point or do you think it's one foot in front of the other in terms of lining up sanctions that really is our best response. >> i think there's nonlethal assistance we can give the ukrainian military so they have the ability to stand. when we heard in kiev, the ukrainians in that section of the country are going to fight, so russia is going to have blood on their hands, all of that will start to change the world calculus on this issue, and also i think change the mood in moscow, so the united states may not be able to diplomatically change this situation before putin moves, but a move into eastern ukraine has consequences in and of itself that will change how the world reacts and change the problem putin will have on his hand with respect to public support inside his own country.

>> chris murphy, member of the senate foreign relations committee, thank you for your time tonight. it's invaluable to have you here. thanks. >> thanks, rachel. we'll be right back, we have a story tonight, an exclusive out of colorado, which again i will tell you is a little bit of an upsetting story, it's an important one and a big one, and that story is coming up. stay with us. how did we do it last time? i don't know... i forget. feeding your lawn need not be so difficult neighbors. get a load of this bad boy. whoa. this snap spreader system from scotts is snap-crackin' simple -- just snap, lock, and go. [ scott ] feed your lawn. feed it! once wrote something on a sheet of paper and placed it in his factory for all to see.

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a federal grand jury in north carolina convened today

into duke energy's massive coal ash spill on super bowl sunday. while that was happening state officials released results from their latest water tests of the dan river. the most recent checks of the river show aluminum down street from the spill that still exceed water safety standards. there were protests over the possibility that duke energy is going to make its own customers pay for the cleanup. duke has threatened to to do that to their customers even though the coal ash ponds are not their customer's responsibilities, they're their own. the state of kentucky also wants in on that act and that story is ahead. stay with us.

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are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. in 2006 a graduate student at the university of colorado got into some legal trouble, very serious legal trouble. his name was homaidan al turki. he had a housekeeper, a young woman from indonesia.

in this criminal case he was accused of keeping her as a slave in that home for more than four years. he was also accused of sexually assaulting her. in 2006 despite his claims he was innocent, the charges were motivated by bias, the grad student was convicted on charges. he was convicted of theft, extortion and unlawful sexual contact by use of force. he's now serving what amounts to an unusually flexible sentence, his sentence is eight years to life. a sentence that he started serving at this colorado prison in 2006. his home country of saudi arabia, has repeatedly advocated for his interests. they put up $400,000 for his bail during the trial. this youtube video from 2010 which asks president obama to pardon him, it's been viewed more than a million times on youtube, the u.s. ambassador to saudi arabia during the bush administration, even asked the attorney general from the state of colorado to travel to saudi

arabia to discuss the case with the saudi royal family including the king, king abdullah. the attorney general explained the u.s. ambassador over there and the state department felt there was enough of a concern to send over a representative of colorado to explain to them our we have some breaking news for you. we are awaiting a news conference from australian maritime authorities about a new satellite images in the search for missing malaysian airlines flight 370. there are two objects possibly related to the case. the information is new and incredible, however she cautions that locating them may be difficult and that they could turn out to be unrelated to the case. we are awaiting to hear what the maritime safety authority has to say in australia. you are looking at a live picture coming to you out of

australia, south of sydney. what we want to do is hear what they have to say about these objects. we are cautioning you with the information simply because even the prime minister says this may not be related. as of last week, we talked a lot about the satellite imagery from china which was put out there. there was talk about whether that was the aircraft. that turned out not to be the case. we are urging a lot of caution as we wait on this information, but at the same time, this has taken well over a week. we are waiting to see where on earth this play could possibly be. this search has grown so wide, and so many countries are involved here the latest information is what we are hearing right now. let's take a lesson. >> my colleague from the defense. i will make an opening statement before we open up for questions. all times that i use will be

expressed in australian eastern daylight savings time or camera time. australian maritime safety authority is coordinating a search for the missing malaysian airline craft with the assistance from the australian defence force, the royal new zealand air force and the united states navy. the rescue coordination has received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft flight mh70. there was an expert assessment of that satellite imagery this morning, 20th of march. the images were captured by satellite. they may not be related to the aircraft. the assessment of these images was provided by the italian guillaume spatial intelligence organization, ago or.

that has been the focus of the 7 search operation since monday, 17th of march. the image is in the vicinity of the search area defined and searched in the past two days. for their images are expected after commercial satellites were redirected to take high-resolution images of the areas in interest. these will be provided in due course. four aircraft have been net result oriented to locate the objects, approximately 2,500 kilometers southeast of perth as a result of this information. a royal australian air force aircraft arrived in the area about 1:50 p.m. this afternoon. further, three aircraft have been tasked to the area later today, including a royal new

zealand air force craft in the united states navy, poseidon aircraft. the poseidon aircraft should be on the scene now. the second postilion o'brien departed at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon and should be on the scene at 6:00 p.m. this afternoon. the new zealand is due to depart at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon and should be on scene at 8:00 p.m. a royalist billion airforce hercules aircraft has been tasked to dropped -- these assist r c c australia by assisting in drift modeling. they will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of locating the object becomes

protracted. a ship issued on monday is expected to arrive in the area about 6 p.m., having been diverted by rcc australia. she is a quick to recover any objects located and proven to be from the flight. the focus is to continue the search operation with all available ships and aircraft. the ships and aircraft are searching. any signs of the missing aircraft. weather conditions are moderate in the southern indian ocean where the search is taking place. however, pork visibility has been reported, and this will hamper both air and satellite

efforts. there is grave concerns for the passengers and crew on board. i must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate and may not be related to the search. i will now be happy to take any questions. >> what do they appear to be? >> the objects are relatively in distinct on the imagery. i don't profess to be an expert in assessing the imagery, but those who are experts indicate they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects that are of reasonable size and probably awash with water. >> can you give us this size, like the size of a basket full or a seat cushion or much larger? >> much larger than that. the largest image that i have seen is assessed as being 24 meters. there is another one -- at and

another number of images in the general area. >> almost two hours ago, and report back? >> the aircraft has reported on the weather on the scene. that is where i get the information that there is poor visibility in the area. perhaps we could talk about that separately. >> is that relocated, the wreckage that was spotted on the satellite? >> no, there have been no sightings yet. >> what with the ship do if they do fine the objects or will they pick them up? >> and aircraft will find an object, if it is fineable, and report back at an accurate gps

position. but shipp would proceed to the area to attempt to see it. that would be our first chance to get a close-up look at what the objects might be and progressively advance the identification of whether they are associated with the search or not. >> when was the satellite imagery captured, what time, what they? >> we were provided it from the australian ago earlier this morning. i will ask him to speak to the imagery. >> the imagery is captured by satellite passing over various areas. the task of this is very difficult, going through frame by frame. at the moment, this imagery was discovered to reveal possible object that might indicate a degree field. we have passed it across.

>> as the foremost experts, is it fair to say that he believed it is credibly debris from the plane that we can draw a conclusion? >> quite simply, it is credible enough to divert their research to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field. if you want to elaborate any further on that. >> the elaboration i would make on that is that we have been in this business of doing search and rescue in using satellite images before, and they do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good. so we will hold our views on that until we have decided it close up. >> who spotted the debris in the first place? what satellite? >> i simply do not know. >> when do we expect to receive further satellite imagery?

>> we will continue to provide all kinds of support to this. the ability to retest assets, commercial and others, to enable us to support this research will become a priority. i am unable to give you advice on when additional and the jury or whether that imagery might even hold any further clues. >> you said the other day that the water here was very deep. is there a more a specific idea of how deep the water is and what would be the nature of the search? >> i apologize. i remember taking that question, but i did not take in any further. it be 7,000 meters deep. i am speculating a plane floor, but i will check and get the information back to you this time. [ indiscernible question ] >> we will check it and get the information back to you this time. >> how many flying out? >> that area is now four hours

flight time. they spend two hours on station once we get into the search area. >> how much fuel have they got? >> two hours of endurance, two hours of search time. i can't give you how many pounds or gallons of fuel that might be. >> what would your advice be to the families who have been waiting for over 12 days, the news of this plane? >> i would advise that we are doing its best to find anyone who may have survived. if indeed the aircraft came into this of an accord day and if indeed these objects sighted by satellite are associated with the aircraft that will put us into a more accurate search area than the one we have at the moment. >> is it surprising that you

have detected these objects so soon? >> i do not want to draw up to many conclusions from this. we have two separate forms of analysis your. you might recall on the slide here the two yellow arrows pointing to the analysis done by the united states national transportation safety board about the movements of the aircraft. we have now seen satellite imagery of two objects, a number of objects here. i don't want to draw too much from that. this is a lead. it is probably the best lead we have right now, but we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them, to know whether it's meaningful. again, they will be difficult to find. they may not be located, associated with the aircraft. we have had experience of that and other searches. >> have you had any other

further assistant -- assistance offers? >> we have had offers potentially from other countries for military assets. the distance to the search area lends itself to certain types of aircraft that have long-range and marine search capabilities. we are working to facilitate the provision of that assistance from other nations that are able to support. [ indiscernible question ] >> we continue to work with those nations that can assist. >> have the chinese offered formally? >> we are aware of the chinese taking interest in searching, but we continue to work with nations to facilitate their integration into the current search. >> does to be clear -- >> can i add to that. we provide regular briefings for the countries involved in this search, including in the rescue

coordination center, where they came in a daily basis. we keep them informed about what is going on. >> all of your resources to this specific area, you are not continuing to search any other area? >> you are correct. this is close enough to the national transportation safety board's assessment area for a possible sighting, and we want to find them and we want to work at what they are from seeing them. that is our priority at the moment. >> generally, how, in terms of this area of ocean that is fairly pristine, how often would one expect to find a large piece of debris like this floating? is it a common occurrence, or is it something aircraft crews would see debris like this floating as a consequence of storms. is this quite unusually large?

>> our experience is that there is debris out there. it can be containers from ships, for example, falling overboard and other objects of that type. on this particular location, the size and the fact that there are a number located in the same area really makes it worth looking at. i don't want to speculate about what they are until we get there and see them. >> how many pieces have been seen? is it just two and the dimensions of the other pieces? >> i can't tell any more about that at the moment. >> when you say 24 meters earlier in the press conference, links-wise, what sort of object? >> the image on the satellite has an assessment of 20 meters, an assessment made by the

experts that assessed it. >> is there any oil in the ocean around the wreckage? >> you cannot tell that from the satellite imagery. >> when do you think you can bring that object back? >> there are many steps that would happen before we get to that point. we have to locate it, confirmed that it belongs to the aircraft, recover it and then bring it along with back to australia. that would take some time. what we are looking for is a confirmation that it does belong to the aircraft or it does not, and we consider what follows from that. >> is there anything that suggests that it's part of an aircraft, windows that you can see, markings, any bits and pieces? >> the imagery is not that

precise. >> did you have an image or picture of that object? >> we wanted to provide imagery for you. we are working to provide imagery we can release for media purposes at the earliest opportunity. >> when will you release it? >> the information will be released as usual. i suggest you talk with the media people after the conference. >> when do you expect to have more information, based on the assets that you have out there at the moment? >> it's in the nature of search and rescue operations that i cannot offer that for you. the weather is not playing the game with us. we may get a siding. we may not. we may get it tomorrow. we may not.

we will continue to do this until we locate those objects or are convinced that we cannot find them. thank you very much, everyone. >> all right. you have been listening to john young with the australian maritime safety authority. he has provided crucial information. what we know is that australia, for its satellite imagery, has discovered two objects in the indian ocean. this is about 1,500 miles off the coast near perth, australia. these objects, they cannot tell us exactly what they are, but they are quite large according to john younker about 75 feet long. that's a large object, but they can't tell us exactly through that imagery what that might be. at this time, there are four aircraft searching the area to determine what this is. they have dropped data marker buoys to keep track of this search area as they develop

leads into what this could possibly be. also, a royal australian warship it will assist in that search. a lot of people are getting involved, especially with the australian authorities. we have been looking for this plan for weeks trying to figure out where it is, how it could have gotten off course and what caused all of this. i want to bring in our reporter in kuala lumpur. you have been watching this and speaking with families, seen this develop. this plane went off course march 8th, and we are still to this day trying to figure out where it is. do you find this information that we are hearing right now something that could really be something that is possible in determining where this flight may have gone? >> it's pretty stunning to have been following the developments every day. to hear them say that, they said that this is the best possible

lead they have. at the same times cautioning that the satellite imagery they have is not precise. this fleet of ships and aircraft will go see, including the u.s. navy poseidon aircraft headed that way. i was on board a sister plane to that plane during this search in the southern indian ocean. it is an incredibly difficult search to carry out because you stand in the cockpit of the plane and looked out across the ocean. everything you can see is water. they do have a very sophisticated technology. they have radar. they will not just be looking at the sea. everything they have on board, those vessels and on board those plays to try to establish where this decree is. as you say, they say they have dropped buoys in the area. that may well mean they can't go

back to sea and keep searching until they establish what this is, and then there will be analysis. they will see if it has anything to do with flight 370. that caution, you can understand. there are families around the world, families here awaiting news. they will be having their hopes raised, in some sense, today. at the same time, it will be a very difficult time for them. they will want to know news, and they will be waiting for that news. they will be very cautious about what they say, about making sure they know what this is before they say that categorically. >> it seems we have had a lot of leads, little bits of information here and there. the families have to be going through a rollercoaster of emotions. i found it very important that when we heard from john young

moments ago, when they asked specifically, do you think that these are the objects and that he was very specific in how he answered that question. he said it was credible enough to divert search. he did stop short of saying this is part of the possible crash site. as you mentioned, to really help everyone who has been waiting to hear about this, to put caution out there because we are jumping on a bunch of leads. we still haven't found this plane. >> that's right. the have probably never been involved in a search and rescue operation like this. you have a long experience with it. they know to be cautious to take it each step at a time and make sure that they are confident with what they are looking at. this has been found in the area where they think the plane may

last have made some kind of communication. just to explain that, what we know now is that the plane was just a few times in the time after it disappeared with one satellite. they have been able to measure the distance of that to the satellite. that means they have this are, this wide, circular area that they can say it could have been anywhere on this line at this distance from that satellite. this degree, as far as they are concerned, appears to be in the area where that might be the case, all the way toward australia. extraordinary in that sense because as news has developed here and we have heard that they have the plane somewhere around the south china sea because that is where it has appeared. the plane turns directions and became back across malaysia.

then there was news of the satellite, which brought investigators to believe that likely it had gone south because it would be so difficult to fly north. now this possible sighting so far south that if this was flight 370, you have to assume it ran out of fuel. that would bring all kinds of new questions about exactly what happened on board that plane. every new fact we have learned, what happened on the plane or on the ground about who is on the plane throughout the investigation -- educated guessing, if you like, about what happened on flight 370. the crucial thing will be to find the flight recorder on that plane, if indeed they have fought on the plane. that will tell us what happened. >> help me understand a little

more to that. that is the most crucial piece of information. are we under a bit of a race against time? don't those only last for so long? >> yes, they do. the flight recorder lasts for a long time. there was a flight that went down in the atlantic. that flight recorder was recovered two years later. it will be robust. if they think they have pinpointed where the plane is, and we have to keep saying if this degree is flight 370, then they will in time, i suspect, be able to find that flight recorder. they have the time to look. they can keep looking for a month, if necessary. it may well be that they are able to now get news quickly, but they can keep looking and can't figure out what the tide

was like, what the ocean was like during that moment. they can bring in submarines. they did that with the air france flight to try to search for some kind of wreckage on the seafloor. there is a lot they can do to find the plane if they think they know where it is, the general area where it is. that is why finding this debris and the establishing whether it is part of a plane and whether or not it has something to do with flight 370, that is so important. it's such a wide search. covering some 3 million square miles. that is hard to even fathom. you have a 20-plus countries involved in this search. as we look at the map and the possible flight path and how it veered off, or this search area is, is that something that could have been within the timeframe we are looking at with this flight veering off and going on

for hours? >> exactly. that is exactly why they were searching there up until now. they have been searching this wide area where they believe the plane was when it finally made a last communication of where the satellite. that is where they have been looking. they have gotten this particular line, so that is what makes it more confident about this degree, that they have found something that is in the ocean that looks like it might be something, if you like. it is on this line where they say the plane may have benn. just to remind folks, we have said now, this is how serious they are about what this might be. there are four aircraft, including the poseidon aircraft. australian navy on the way. they are saying that the objects

are difficult to see but of a reasonable size. 1,500 miles southwest of perth. they have dropped buoys to mark this area so they can keep coming back. the australian search and rescue team you heard talking there saying that this is probably the best lead we have right now. two pieces of debris found off australia along a line where flight 370 may have bent. they are now working with all of those different aircrafts and ships to get to it, to get eyes on it, to get pieces of it in order to establish whether this is related to the disappearance of flight 370. it would be a sobering moment if that is the case because of all of these days. one of the things about this is that we have seen nothing.

we have not been able to locate the plane, not even an indication of the plane and we have not been able to establish who exactly might have been flying the plane or why they were flying it in the way they were. answers to all those questions are possible if they can find a plane and the flight recorder. that is what they hope they may be doing now, while at the same time, of course, you have the painful realization, if this is that debris of flight 370, had a terrible end. >> that will be so difficult for families, families who have spent a lot of time with speaking to. we saw video today of a mother who just wanted to see her son. she was carried out of a news conference. it was quite dramatic. how are these families holding up through this roller-coaster? it has to be something that is not only taxing physically and emotionally, but something that

is that a daily nightmare for them. you get a lead, and it goes away. yet again, another lead. >> yeah, it really is. the mother you were talking about came here to this briefiny briefings have been taking place being held by the malaysians. there will be another one here today as well because the investigation is being held here. just to go back to that mother. she and another relative came here to try to talk to the media to ask for help. they were taken away by security. >> all right, we are having some difficulty with that satellite feed. i want to bring in kerry sanders who joins us from d.c. kerry, uyou have been listening to this, what does it