jim clancy is handling the malaysian things from kuala lumpur. jim sciutto is joining us from washington. another day, no answers, more confusion from these differing account where the plane might have just last been spotted. is there any sense of why things are so inconsistent? this public response has just been ridiculous, it's been all over the place. >> reporter: it has been going in several different directions. the malaysians have been accident on number one, exhausting every single lead. you can bet they will be exhausting the leads they got from china. the chinese ambassador was in the press conference yesterday and today. they're going to be looking at everything the chinese have. they're going to be exhausting all possibilities. yes, this does give them the sense you get the impression they're going in several different directions at once. we are searching hundreds of miles off the planned flight path of flight 370. so it's obvious why we're getting that impression. that is what is out there. >> jim clancy, the release of these photos, i

jim clancy is handling the malaysian end of things from kuala lumpur tonight. jim sciutto is joining us from washington. so jim clancy, another day, no answers more confusion from these differing accounts from malaysian authorities of where the plane might have last been spotted. is there any sense of why things are so inconsistent even at the highest levels? i mean, this public effort by the malaysian government, the public response has just been ridiculous. it's been all over the place. >> reporter: it has been seemingly going in several different directions. the malaysians have been intent on number one exhausting every single lead. you can bet they'll be exhausting the lead they got from china. the chinese ambassador was in the press conference yesterday. or today. they are going to be looking at everything the chinese have, exhausting all possibilities. and yes, this does give them the sense -- you get impression maybe going in several different directions at once. after all, we are searching hundreds of miles to the west of the crash site. hundreds of mile

jim clancy is tracking it in kuala lumpur.he zwrort of people on that flight were chinese citizens. they've been watching this investigation for the past three weeks. they clearly want to know everything that's on the table here? >> reporter: absolutely, they want to know everything. you know, that is some of the technical data that was arrived inmarsat, working together with british aviation, accident investigators. they are the ones who came up with all of this. it's been more or less accepted by malaysia airlines as evidence that the plane most likely went down in the southern regions of the indian ocean. that's not quite enough for beijing, obviously. they want to see the raw data themselves. they want to have a part in all of this in unraveling the mystery. because just as you said, they have so many citizens that have been involved in this at the same time, it's a way to push a lot of pressure off of beijing, so that they don't feel it from their own people and put it on the malaysian government and that is some, some, o

cnn's jim clancy is tracking all of the latest developments from kuala lumpur. jim, what do you know? >> reporter: well, we're waiting to hear from malaysian authorities. they should hold a regular press briefing in about 30 minutes' time, before they can even get started some apparent family members came into the briefing room here and tried to hang up a huge banner or put up a large poster. they're critical of the way the malaysian government is handling it. they were taken out forcibly by the police here in malaysia, kuala lumpur, we don't have the details of how that happened. a couple minutes ago, kate bolduan is on that, the families are upset in beijing, they shouted you are shameless to airline officials bought they haven't gotten any answers. they want government officials from malaysia to come and talk to them. in the meantime, we report on the programming of the automatic navigation system, that it might have been preprogrammed, even before it made that hard left turn away from its -- and deviated from its normal course of flight. we are looking at tha

. >> let's go live straight right now to our jim clancy. he is in kuala lumpur. you know, i was just listening to that update, jim, from the head of the australian maritime authority, and they said, thus far, radar has picked up nothing. so, this is really a visual search at this point in time. >> reporter: you know, stop and take a look at the overall map and that search area. this is huge! and you have the probability that the planes are not able to stay on station for more than two hours. they spend most of their time

we're going to start with jim clancy live in kuala lumpur with the latest. jim, if you would, i'd like to start with these computers, reported in "the new york times" and other sources, showing that this jet was programmed to go on this course that wiit went on. what does that mean? >> reporter: well, look, i'm not an aviation expert, john, but i'm becoming one here in the last 11 days and i try to study up on this stuff. all right, the pilot's in the cockpit, he wants to go someplace, he can punch in, i think it's a five-digit code, which is a specific what they call waypiointed, a marked navigation area on all of the maps, and he takes the airplane straight in that direction. and so, what they're saying is somebody did that. now, this could be done, okay, by somebody who wants to hijack the plane, go a specific route, by a pilot who wants to hide the plane, go a specific route. it can also be set by a pilot who knows that's the way to the fastest airport. he's just had a major mechanical breakdown and he needs to get his plane on the ground. what happens af

and until and unless they find the plane, there's no answer to that. >> jim clancy. >> reporter: christine? >> thank you so much, jim. >> and just when search teams seemed so close to finding flight 370, a storm rolled into the south indian ocean, gale force winds driving rain, low clouds, all making it much too dangerous to fly. ships had to pull back out of the region. as soon as things clear, pilots will be heading back to the area where it is believed that the 239 people on board flight 370 met their end. andrew stevens is monitoring developments in perth, australia, this morning. and andrew, it has got to be so frustrating and so dispiriting for the pilots who knew sort of where this debris was, especially because of the pings that were picked up, the last ping being in the indian ocean. the odds of finding this promising debris, it's got to go down significantly, no? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, so close and yet so far on that debris. it was spotted by an australian air force plane. they dropped flares nearby. there were two shapes of interest and they actually gave the colors, a green

we begin with our coverage with jim clancy in kuala lumpur. jim, give us a sense of the latest. >> reporter: well, we've got word from the defense minister, hisham hussein, that there are now 26 countries involved in the search, a lot of them pushing in air assets right now. this is a huge area to cover. everyone knows it. they're trying to push the assets in that make it easier to do. air assets can only do so much, but we've got australia adding two orion surveillance reconnaissance aircraft, we've got new zealand, we have got the republic of korea offering one up, japan offering one up, the united states has two, a sophisticated p-8 as well as a p-3 orion, all of them looking for this aircraft. meantime, you know, the whole list of passengers being reviewed. they're trying now to go back. they're looking for motive on one hand, but they're looking for evidence on the other. there is no claim of responsibility that we know of, there is no manifesto that's been published. people are at a loss to explain what happened to flight 370. john? >> ji

jim clancy, thank you so much. keep us posted. >>> making her first court appearance in the u.s., the mother charged with attempted murder after driving her van into the ocean with her children inside. we'll tell you what happened next. and debt desperate families wait for that news about their loved ones on board that missing

our jim clancy in kuala lumpur. thanks so much. >> and like jim said, for the flight 370 families, the agon e agonizing wait for any word on their loved ones going on. o the husband of one of the flight attendants says it's been difficult to tell his children about their missing mom. >> i promised them i'm going to bring her home, but i really don't know where she is now. and now i'm not sure whether i can bring her home. of course, i'm still hoping for god's miracles, but just like what we want is the reality, the true story. >> the majority of those on board the flight are from china. relatives demanding more information about the flight from the airline and from the malaysian government. cnn's pauline chiou live in beijing. just breaks your heart to hear the husband of that flight attendant, pauline, you know, waiting to figure out how to tell his story. multiply that anguish by 239. these families, either one of their loved ones working on this flight or taking a flight home. it's just -- and the waiting for thes

first, jim clancy in kuala lumpur right now. his extra close look that those two pilots are getting. what are they looking for and what have they found so far, jim?

let's bring in jim clancy live from kuala lumpur. jim, are we expecting any new updates about why the plane was flying in this direction, how it was able to effectively go for seven hours, virtually without any communication whatsoever? >> reporter: well, we're expecting an update to come from government ministers here in kuala lumpur in about an hour's time. perhaps they'll have some update for us on that. we haven't been getting a lot of updates about the investigation that would answer those questions, how and why, what happened inside the cockpit. instead, officials have really wanted to find the plane, to find some evidence, to use the cockpit voice recorder, to use the flight data recorder, to try to understand better and more certainly just what happened aboard flight 370. but you're absolutely right, some of this uncertainty, these unanswered questions are what are fueling some of the anger among the families. now, those families met today with malaysian airlines, discussing the prospect of traveling to perth. the airline has

cnn's jim clancy is live for us in kuala lumpur. jim, a big question, do you think that it shows the pilot may have been trying to bring the plane down to a level where the passengers could breathe, the atmosphere shift? is that one of the theories they're looking at right now? >> reporter: they're looking at all of the theories. there's no doubt about that. because look, they as early as 48 hours after this plane went missing, we had authorities right here in kuala lumpur telling us they looked at the data and they saw what they thought was a turnback. maybe the pilot was trying to return to kuala lumpur. that's how sharp the turn was. it was almost, almost 180 degrees, but it doesn't explain a lot of things. we don't know what it means, what was going on in the cockpit. what andrew stevens is reporting, trying to find this plane, that's going to get us an idea of why, but we can track the radar. there's a source telling cnn today that they believe he dropped down to 12,000 feet, or someone in the cockpit dropped down to 12,000 feet

cnn's jim clancy in kuala lumpur joining us with the very latest. jim, what's going on here? >> reporter: well, you know, the defense minister, the prime minister and others have said that very line. we have put this investigation in front of our own national security. what are they talking about? they're talking about their radar data. their military radar data that really revealed and cnn reported this on wednesday that this plane made a hard left turn and left the south china sea never to return. it was heading to the indian ocean. it was gone. and everybody knew that. now, they said that they couldn't prove that that was actually this flight. the people inside the military, high-ranking officers told cnn, indeed, it was. and now we're looking at another scenario as they investigate all of this. we're looking at the possibility that one of the pilots, the senior pilot there, shah, may have been working with somebody else who didn't know how to fly the plane. he didn't need lessons on the 777. he already had 20,000 hours flying aircraft. but maybe somebody else did. that's

back to you, john. >> all right, jim clancy in kuala lumpur. jim mentioned right there this new report that the flight's computer, the navigation computer, was programmed to take it off that course from beijing. the question is, why was it programmed and by whom? former fbi agent jeff beaty says, if it's true, that it was programmed to take it off course, it could actually remove one possibility from the list of what could have happened to the jet. >> i see some encouragement here, because if you've programmed -- if you're the pilot and you program something into the computer and the aircraft begins a turn, you don't need to fly another four or five hours to commit pilot suicide. this kind of takes off the table a little bit in my mind one of those scenarios that probably families were most fearful of. so, some good news there. one can make an inference of some possible good news. >> all right, everyone on board that jet is now being closely scrutinized, including the pilots. both were experienced. so far, nothing has emerged to definitively poi

cnn's jim clancy is in kuala lumpur, malaysia. that is where flight 370 originated. and, jim, two full days. zero contact with this airliner. how does an airliner -- how does a jet plane simply just disappear? >> reporter: well, that's what officials here -- we're at the briefing center right next to kuala lumpur international airport. we expect to hear from officials in about five hours' time. but that's what they're trying to answer right now. what happened to flight mh370? as we look over the entire scene there are clues. plenty of clues have come around. there's an oil slick that was found. there are repeated reports of debris. but every time things are checked out, we are told that this does not match this airliner. this is not debris from that airliner. they are continuing to check the oil slicks that were found to determine if that could be from the fuel that was onboard the ill-fated flight. right now we are told by malaysian officials the search plane should be warming up, preparing to go and fan out over the south china sea in the search for that wreckage. a

cnn's jim clancy is tracking all the latest developments from kuala lumpur. jim what can you tell us this morning? >> reporter: well, we are looking at that report that, of course, the coordinates were entered into the plane's automated navigation system with some skepticism. the focus, though, seems to be very much on the pilots with u.s. investigators. if there's some reason why they haven't shared the evidence with us. because those pilots are coming up clean here in kuala lumpur. still, everybody on that flight is being further investigated. i'm sure they will carry this through. the significance, though, unclear at this time. meantime, the search goes on, because you're not going to see any evidence unless we find the plane. the australian maritime authority is doing the best it can to press the search in that area. the maximum that this plane could have gone with its known fuel supply. listen to what the australians had to say. >> the search area has been significantly refined. you can see here the lines that i briefed yesterday prepared by the u.s. nati

cnn's jim clancy who has been in kuala lumpur for us so long, tracking all the latest developments. jim, let's now start with this new time line. word that the computer may have been reprogrammed before the point of last local contact. >> reporter: well it seems significant on its face, it would point a finger once again towards the cockpit crew, one or other of the pilots on board that aircraft. but at the same time, some aviators for a pilot to put in his dwoord knits that would take him to the nearest place if he had an emergency. in that case, this is just prudent action. this is a person in charge of a plane load of passengers. some aviation experts suggest once he got beyond kuala lampur he might pick another location that he wanted to transit to. or something more sinister. we need evidence to sort that out. the australians were really out in action today, coordinating, as we had three aircraft, very advanced u.s. navy poseidon 3-8, orion p-3, trying to get them to join in the search as they transit to the areas southwest of perth, approaching antarctica. so they have started

first, jim clancy in

our jim clancy joins us now. the spotlight keeps coming back to the pilot. and yet there, is not one piece of evidence to suggest he is criminally intent in this. >> no, there isn't. that's what we are being told by the investigators and officials in charge of this. they're not holding a press briefing today. about two hours from now is the usual time they have it. but this the past they have said they are not going to make any comments on the investigation. that would prejudice the outcome at this point. frustrating for the journalist and some of us find different sources. "usa today" reporting that investigators here are pointing a finger at the captain, the senior pilot on that flight saying that he's the only one who could have steered it off course as it went. but we sat down -- most people don't want to comment, by the way. that's obvious. we sat down with the former ceo of malaysia airlines, the man who founded this airlines and asked him about the pilots. a pilot he knew from the time he went to flight school 30 years ago. listen. >> you knew captain

our jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur, where he has been for nearly two weeks. what's the latest this morning? >> reporter: well, you know, two weeks. and let me tell you, just from our experience here, don't get your hopes up about one report, one clue about debris. we've seen many over the course of all of this, and we haven't been very lucky. there's no reason to think that we're suddenly going to get lucky now when we turn and look in a much, much larger area of the southern reaches of the indian ocean. but there is still a grasping for any tiny shred of evidence, any bit of new information. let me show you the scene here at the sama sama hotel. just a few days ago when the defense minister/acting transport minister, hishammuddin bin hussein, came out to talk to reporters, he was trying to make his way through the lobby of the hotel. he was mobbed as everybody was really competing, trying to get any shred of evidence they can get. the bottom line, he said there is nothing new, cautioning that while everybody wants to see some results, while the families dese

in kuala lumpur for us this morning, jim clancy. thank you, jim, for your excellent work. >>> and just when search teams seemed closer than ever to finding flight 370, a storm rolled into the south indian ocean, gale force winds, driving rain, low clouds all making it too dangerous to fly. as soon as things clear, pilots will be had heing back to the area where it's believe flight 370 met its end. andrew stevens is monitoring developments in perth this morning. good morning, andrew. well, winter is setting in, the upstream currents very, very difficult right now. that's going to affect the location of any potential debris, correct? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. so frustrating for all the search crews here that they can't get out again today. and they may have been on the brink of making a vital breakthrough, a turning point, some people are calling it, which is, of course, linking a piece of debris to actually the flight, the downed flight. there was evidence yesterday from a royal australian air force plane that saw two objects i

jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur with the latest. e, and i think it's fair to say, let's start with this "wall street journal" report that the rolls royce engines on this plane were sending data for four more hours after the last known contact with the plane. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, that's according to u.s. investigators, and "wall street journal" correspondent andy paxter didn't name them, but they're saying that this went on for four hours, which means this plane would have been still aloft. that opens up all kinds of theories about mechanical failure, theories about a hijacking, all kinds of theories. so, it's very important to follow through on it, and that's what we've tried to do all day here in kuala lumpur, talking with the ceo of malaysia airlines. he told us, i can't comment on it, you've got to go to the government officials. we went to the government officials, we went to the director general of civil aviation, and we also talked with a spokesman for the foreign minister's office. they both told us that th

thank you very much, jim clancy. talk to you soon. >> meantime, as this investigation continues, frustration, anger, sadness continue for the families of all of those on flight 370. it has been three weeks since their loved ones vanished. answers and details still very hard to come by. malaysia airlines offering families initial payments of $5,000 for their loss, but that is doing little to ease the pain. >> most of the family, okay, some of the family may need some money for emergency use, but most of the family, they don't care about how much money you give us. we just want the truth and we just want our relatives back. >> david mckenzie has been spending time with the families of flight 370. he joins us this morning from beijing on the phone. good morning, david. >> good morning, poppy. yes, the families are very much in anguish, waiting, wanting some kind of information, and following every lead that jim was talking about. because you know, for them, there are very real consequences to the search, to this mystery

first, jim clancy in kuala lumpur. tell us about this extra close look the two pilots are getting. what are they looking for and what have they found so far, jim? >> reporter: because it is believed that it is only the pilots that could have disabled the communications system and then switched off the transponder, it is true every single person that touched it is going to be re-examined. the focus is on the pilots. the police searched the homes. some dispute, had they gone into the homes earlier in the week? that's irrelevant right now. we do know they took the flight simulator that had been built by the 53-year-old pilot. they are examining that more closely. with so far, what they saw was entirely normal for a flight simulator program, the ability to take off and land in various weather conditions that someone might set. their friends are being interviewed. people are talking about it there has been a lot of speculation. thus far, no solid evidence of a real motive from either of these men. they become just two more people missing from flight 370, until and unless some really hard

>> jim clancy, thank you so much.ess seeing some of these pictures we've seen this week. get some sleep, and thanks so much for your input. >>> with me now, reverend earl johnson. he is a former national disaster spiritual care manager for the red cross. i know you have counseled people through a number of crises. i want to play while we're talking some of the pictures that we've seen earlier last week of these families weeping in front of all these -- the media trying to get in to get answers. there's so much wrong with this picture. how do you approach this? what has gone wrong here? >> well, candy, first of all, assisting the families of the disasters needs to be a part -- an immediate part of the response and integrated into that response. yes, first things first, it's important to find the plane or evidence of where it is or whatever. that's essential too. but supporting the families and identifying resources who support them needs to start at the beginning. and what's unique about those photographs and jim clanc

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>> let's go next to our jim collapse clancy. jim, we heard from the australian prime minister. how are his comments going down with the relative there is in kuala lumpur? >> reporter: relatives want to hear that message, no doubt about that, rosemary. they pleaded with the acting transport minister here yesterday in kuala lumpur. they held a buddhist prayer service today for an hour or more. then the families came out with more demands. they want this plane found. they want their relatives returned safely if that's at all possible. while that seems to be asking for almost a miracle, the officials here in kuala lumpur are trying not to completely dash that dream. but frankly many of them believe it is a dream. it's not going to be reality. so many days after this plane disappeared off the radar here. there are charges too coming from the chinese family of wrong doing by the malaysians saying there were criminal acts. the criminal act of not beginning the search in the indian ocean a week earlier. but all of the countries in the region really share some of the responsibility for

jim clancy has the very latest for us. he is in kuala lumpur. jim, what do you know? >> reporter: well, there is no doubt whatsoever that about an hour after the plane left kuala lumpur on saturday morning that the pilot or someone turned that plane around more than 90 degrees. malaysian authorities originally called it a turnback, thought they were maybe returning to kuala lumpur. that course, though, set it going directly into the indian ocean. malaysian government says it is aware of u.s. reports overnight about the satellite pings, about the fact that it was sending back data. it says it is working with the federal aviation administration, the national transportation safety board and others providing them that raw radar records, those things that are being used to figure out where this plane is located. u.s. warships now moving east to west along what is believed to be the suspected flight path of the missing flight 370. the indian ocean depth is an average of about 13,000 feet, which may present problems. but remember, air france's black box was recovered from 16

our jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur this morning. jim, i can imagine what the families must be thinking right now, but in terms of the investigators, what are you hearing from them? i mean, does this erase days and days of work? >> reporter: in effect, i think that it does. and what it tells us -- and i was listening to what andrew had to say there. you know, he's right with all of those questions as we look at this. i think they are going back to the original military data that was obtained, it was recorded radar that showed this plane. initially, it wasn't spotted here in malaysia as it turned around and headed out toward the indian ocean. they've gone back to those records, they've re-examined the routing of the plane, the path that it took. now, what's not answered is whether or not they had additional radar data from thailand, even from indonesia that said that they had none, and they actually should have. with everybody putting in this new data, we can change the area of focus. and we just have to hope that they're right, becaus

path has prompted investigators to expand their search of the waters off vietnam and malaysia. >> jim clancy such a mystery and the more we learn, more of a mystery it becomes. what have you learned? >> well, we're waiting for the final press briefing of the day. it's going to happen behind me just about 100 meters here in this hotel being used as a center by the military, by the government, by malaysian airlines to tell us what is going on. and, you're right, all those things you have detailed during the day, we had this trickling out of new leads, if you will. i think they should be called leads but the problem is that mysterious yellow object that was spotted in the south china sea, well, that has been found, according to some sources, and dismissed. it's not a piece of any downed airliner. other things that we have found like those oil slicks and we heard them reported, seen pictures of them, not verified that they're from the jetliner and some point out in the absence of any debris field, it doesn't seem likely. it's still a mystery. earlier today, though, we did hear from the general i

back to you. >> jim clancy, of course, we do. jim clancy and paula newton, thank you, both. >> and you know that time is so crucial here because once the pinger on the black box dies, it is going to be so much harder to find this wreckage. >> much more difficult. let's bring in cnn safety analyst david, the author of "why planes crash." we're three weeks into this search and still no concrete evidence. we heard that one of the suspicious object was a dead jelly fish. do you think that search teams are going to find the black boxes before they stop pinging? the question here is, seven days left of the battery life and in three days, possibly, the u.s. resources to detect the resources will go into the water? why now? why not earlier? >> well, the reason is the tow pinger locater is towed behind the boat. you have ten miles of cables. the swath of the pinger locater detector is not that wide. we're not talking miles, we're talking literally hundreds of feet. so, you've got to tow it all the way across. remember she said earlier we

jim clancy joins us from kuala lumpur where the airplane took off march 8th. it's just amazing what the world still doesn't know, jim. >> exactly. in 26 countries you can add one to that. australia jumping in with both feet. just very briefly, let me go down the list. a lot of air assets being offered up from australia , new zealand, republic of korea, japan and the united states that's had an o orion searching for many, many days now. all of them are out there, all of them are looking. as this search intensifies, 26 countries are cooperating. they're hoping to get the radar records that might apply to this time frame to see if that aircraft, which was not using its identifier code, would show up as a blip on the radar for any of these countries. meantime as you noted the pilots under scrutiny. videotapes surfaced on social media. it purports to show the two pilots as they went through security before boarding flight 370 here in kuala lumpur. of course, cnn can't ver fit authenticity of the video or the date that it was taken. but that's what it claims to have

jim clancy has been monitoring this and he's been in kuala lumpur since this mystery began. your take-aways from the prime minister's report, jim? >> well, first of all, he is addressing the families. he's saying he hopes this is going to at least give them some information about where the investigation stands up to this point. what he said was, and you just hit on it there, the actions of turning off the communications, the tracking device, you know, the transponder, all of this was consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. he said based on all -- all of this was based on raw satellite data that they have had for some time, that now they confirm was actually coming from that flight 370. very importantly, he said a whole new phase in the investigation has opened up. stop all of the searching in the south china sea. focus in the indian ocean. and he's going to hold consultations with the countries that may be involved in that search effort. there's been a lot of the neighbors that have come together. unclear whether they want to continue on into the indian oc

our jim clancy is tracking the investigation live from kuala lumpur. family members, so many of them hanging on to hope. they want proof. they want more than just a statement from malaysian authorities saying that 239 people on that plane are gone. they want to see evidence. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. and you know, the prime minister of malaysia released that statement saying that they feared, of course, that all 239 lives had been lost. the plane indeed had been lost. in one of the remote places on earth. and when you stop and think about it, these chinese families, news that their loved ones were flying from here in kuala lumpur up to beijing, suddenly, they're being told they disappeared far, far south in the southern reaches of one of the most remote places on earth in the indian ocean. and it's hard for them to accept that. there could be a mathematical calculation and no evidence. well, the prime minister explained that he released the information, he didn't want to look like he with withholding anything from anyone. now, they're, of co

i want to kick off our coverage with jim clancy, live for us in kuala lumpur. the latest? and also, any update on that press conference we're expecting to hear shortly from the malaysian authorities, is that correct? >> reporter: that is correct. in just a few minutes, we should be getting an update once again from the defense minister and acting transportation minister, hitsch m hishammuddin hussein as well as the head, the ceo of malaysian airlines. but the focus of the search, as you rightly say, poppy, today is really on what is being done in the southern reaches of the indian ocean, far offshore from western australia. there, some of the most advanced reconnaissance aircraft known in the world are doing their best to scan the horizon to find any trace of missing flight 370. they are looking for debris. they are looking, yes, for those two pieces of debris that were spotted about four days ago by satellite. but they're looking for any debris that they might find in that search zone, any hint, any clue that would take us closer to flight 370, because if we ca

i want to bring in cnn's jim clancy. he is an international anchor live in kuala lumpur. richard quest is going to join us throughout the show. and jim shoudo. the man who bought the tickets in a cash traction. >> it's a sign that what officials are telling me a couple things. there are more and more indications that the disappearance of this flight was not the -- was not an act of terrorism. that doesn't mean they aren't checking out every possible lead. this is one thing they need to check out. you have this iranian man buying these tickets in cash last minute one-way ticket. but what i'm told this is consistent with a human smuggling operation, particularly using a middleman like this and someone who has done this kind of work a number of times before. he had a relationship with that travel agent and he has done that before. that is a working theory as to the explanation of the people on the flight who got on with stolen passports. intelligence officials are still checking out every explanation. and that's why when they got some biometric data including thumbprints from

cnn's jim clancy is in kuala lumpur where that airliner and passengers were last seen. >> reporter: more4 hours after flight mh370 disappeared from radar screens and lost all contact, there is still no answers as to what may have happened on board, where that aircraft may have gone down. but as they continue the search, nothing is being ruled out. the ceo of malaysia airlines. >> we seem to be living by speculation now. so i think it's leave the authorities to do their work. >> are you ruling out any possibility of terrorism? >> we're not ruling out anything. >> reporter: vietnamese search and rescue crews say they spotted two large oil slicks between six and nine miles long some 90 miles south. the members of the vietnamese air crews suspected those could have come from the jet liner. but there's no confirmation of that. at first light, it is expected that more surface ships, as well as aircraft will be out in that specific area looking for any evidence that they may be able to find. this is a crash that stretches right across international boarders. it affects some 14 nationalities. mo

our jim clancy has been there many days covering this story for us. jim, what are you hearing from there? >> well, you know, i look across the scene of what we have right now, natalie, in this investigation and it takes me all the way back to my arrival here on march 8. that's when the plane disappeared, the same day. it's been three long weeks and in many ways we're back where we started because much of this new data is based on the original radar data that was obtained by the malaysian military the night that this plane went missing. flight 370 made an abrupt turn out of the south china sea. it set a course toward the indian ocean. now, there were earlier reports that there were several twists and turns in that course. that has led investigators to believe that people inside the cockpit were deliberately steering the plane to evade detection. it cast more doubt on the pilots thinking that they might have been responsible. and it would seem now that either based on that original data or enhanced by radar data from neighboring countries it has been tig

jim clancy, thanks, jim.e crisis in ukraine, the latest this morning. russian troops appear to be digging in on what's become europe's newest international border, the one separating russia-controlled crimea and the rest of ukraine. tensions in that region running high ahead of a vote on crimea's possible secession next weekend. vladimir putin defended the breakaway moves by crimean leaders in phone calls sunday with world leaders. cnn's phil black live in moscow. phil, the russian president not backing down one bit. >> reporter: no, not at all, john. when president putin spoke to german chancellor angela merkel, british prime minister david cameron, he stressed his belief that crimea's imminent referendum on the idea of breaking away from ukraine, joining the russian federation, he says that's entirely in line with international law. putin's view is that the authorities in crimea are legitimate, so are their concerns, and the results of the referendum will be the democratically expressed wishes of the crimea

i want to bring in jim clancy who is in kuala lumpur for us, this morning, a very difficult day, the st several hours. the worst possible news for these families, jim. >> reporter: i think the message from the prime minister was very clear, anderson, as you said it, it is wa a message that flight 370 is lost, with all 239 souls aboard. the attention will turn to the search in the southern reaches of the indian ocean. at the same time, there will be parallel investigations. one investigation into what could have caused all of this. malaysia is still in charge of that. there will also be many questions asked about the handling of this aircraft when it first went missing. the first 24-48 hours. why the delays in announcing the plane was missing, why the delays in announcing that, indeed, within 90 minutes of takeoff, it was well on its way towards the indian ocean. richard quest mentioned earlier that it had to get up to cruising altitude again in order to travel that distance. cnn's sources here that first told us about this days before we heard it from the prime minister have told us n

cnn's jim clancy is in kuala lumpur. jim, it is more than 48 hours since that plane and all those people vanished. it is dawning a new day. 6:00 a.m. monday morning. are investigators finding any kind of clues that could give people hope that they at least know the whereabouts of where this plane may have gone down? >> reporter: clues is exactly the right word, deborah. as we look at this story and the way that it's evolving, we keep getting clues. there was an oil slick that has been reported in vietnamese waters. now there's word that there's debris that's been spotted. it is being examined right now. they're trying to ascertain is this pieces of where he issage from flight 370, the malaysian airliner that was en route to beijing from right here at kuala lumpur international airport. the answers thus far have been inconclusive. we've had reports of debris before, but it has not come out to be something that was from the actual airliner. we have other elements of this story that are developing today. at least the airplan

our jim clancy is tracking it throughout. he joins us live from kuala lumpur. i understand there say new investigation by malaysian authorities, is that correct? >> reporter: right. this has got basically three investigations going on right now. the one that andrew is talking about, the search for the plane, using data, using oceanographers, and everyone else, the visual searches. that is an all-important one. then we've got the search for motives. we've got the search for individuals who might have links here, you know, writing all of these people off. just yesterday, the ahead of the malaysia police here told us, they're not going to release anything on that investigation until some later date when they can could actually draw some conclusions. they say it would prejudice the investigation. but now we have a new military investigation that was announced. the malaysian royal air force is going to investigate. they're really investigating how it was that it took so long to arrive at some of these conclusions. they have, for instance, the radar data that showed

>> jim clancy appreciate the update from kuala lumpur. phillip wood's two brothers are going to join us tonight talking about their brothers, the faith they share that's getting them through these incredibly difficult days. how the investigation is proceeding, joining us, two women who have been on the front lines when airliners have been brought down. george w bush's homeland security adviser, mary schiavo, she currently represents victims and families of transportation accidents. fran, first of all, you issued reporting tonight from his sources, they seemed to be moving away from the idea that this could be terrorism, stolen passport, perhaps part of a human smuggling ring, what do you make of it? >> it's natural investigators were going to teich ever take the lead they had, stolen passports from thailand, austrian and italian, paid for in cash, same travel agent, they were going to look at that, and kuala lumpur has a terrorism expert. it was natural the law enforcement and intelligence communities were going to take that seriously, of

let's start with jim clancy in kuala lumpur. >> let's rewind back to sunday.e malaysian officials talked about the original change in course' after heading to beijing, flight 370 suddenly and abruptly shut off the transponder and then the pilot, it would appear, or someone changed the direction, the heading of the aircraft. the officials on sunday said that they thought the pilot might have been attempting after an emergency to make a return to kuala lumpar airport, right where we are right now. whatever the event, a new course was set and it remained on that course as it flew out. that took it over the andaman islands. different points and zigzagging back and forth and that's not how the plane would be doing it. we don't have an answer on why he would do that or what happened there. a lot of speculation spawn by all of this that somehow the pilots could have been involved in this, the transport and defense minister said that they had not yet searched the pilots' homes. some u.s. aviation experts think that odd if, for no other reason, than to rule out the pil

cnn's jim clancy joins me now from the malaysian capital of kuala lampur. jim, you just attended a news conference. give me an update on this second full day of searching. >> reporter: frustrating. that's the only word for it, candy. as we look across the faces of the malaysian authorities, they are frustrated. the media who had packed the room, who have been attending press briefings almost every two hours at some points during the day. because malaysian officials thought there was going to be some kind of break-through in locate being the wreckage of this airliner. but nothing has been found. it is starkly disappointing to everyone. you talk there about the aircraft turning around. radar records show that for an instant, they could see the plane turning around. but no explanation why the pilot or co-pilot didn't radio the control -- aviation control and tell them they planned to change their flight course. all of these unanswered questions remain. and tonight those are weighing heavily on the family members who have been told to prepare for the worst. cand

cnn's jim clancy's live for us in kuala lumpur. and jim, we have heard multiple theories. we've heard that perhaps the cabin depressurized and the pilots tried to fly low. we've heard perhaps it was a botched hijacking, maybe a suicide, but it's all speculation. bhar you learning there on the ground about why that plane may have been coming back towards kuala lumpur? >> reporter: well, originally, they said this a couple of days after the plane went missing, that they thought it was coming back in the case of an emergency, but there are questions that are raised by all of this. you mentioned 12,000 feet. there have been other altitudes that have been talked about. one of the investigators told me that as they looked at it, it also at the end climbed up to 29,000 feet. it tells us that someone inside the cockpit, whether it was a pilot, whether it was a hijacker, whoever it was, was steering the plane. could it have been a catastrophic failure, as you said there, a loss of pressure in the cabin? well, possibly, but the pilot in that case would almost certainly be dropping a

we're going to talk to jim clancy right now in kuala lumpur. jim, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the latest right here is we're expecting to get a briefing by malaysian authorities while investigators continue their probe of the pilots, their probe of all of the passengers as you describe. some people beginning to wonder how it is that the flight crew would have allowed the pilot to veer that far off course, if it indeed was the pilot and not some other problem on board the aircraft. so, there are a lot of questions here today. there are questions coming from the families, mostly the chinese family members who are searching for their loved ones, hoping to see them again, blaming malaysia's government as well as the airlines for not being forthcoming with the details, for leaving the search last week focused for so long on the south china sea, when radar records by the malaysians themselves clearly showed that the plane had left the south china sea on route to the indian ocean. so, all of these things add up. while the search continues to expand, new zealand, au