. >> reporter: tonight the ntsb says mrs. brody was indeed driving on a road that was not her normal route because of a car accident that sent cars detouring around it. meanwhile investigators are also looking at the cell phone records for mrs. brody and the engineer. that's standard part of any investigation. they want to make sure distraction didn't play any role. brian? >> tom costello still on the story, thanks. >>> as we all saw on video this week it took just seconds after takeoff for that transasia flight to run into trouble in taiwan. less than three minutes for it to end in disaster careening out of the sky. tonight, we have a better idea of what happened when control was lost and never regained. along with the remarkable story of a family that made it out of there alive while so many others did not. our report again tonight from nbc's ian williams. >> reporter: dazed but alive just moments after the crash. lin ming-wei clings to his 2-year-old son, lin, his wife and son had changed seats to be together at the back of the

brody, or mrs. brody, end up there on the tracks in the first place? she confused and disoriented? some witnesses suggest she seemed to be not sure what to do when the crossing arm came down on top of her car. why didn't she back up and if nothing else literally break off the crossing arm to get out of the way? why didn't she inch forward? a lot of questions and candidly there may never be answers if she's the only one that knows what happened. at this point they didn't interview the engineer or conductor. they hope to do it as soon as possible. nobody is suggesting this is the fault of anybody on the train, at least as this juncture. jose? >> nbc's tom costello. thank you. >>> and a major developing story overseas. america's top diplomat is in the war-torn nation of ukraine as we speak calling for a cease-fire and warning russia to do its part from keeping the crisis from escalating. secretary kerry just met with top leaders with the possibility discussion of sending weapons. the big question whether that type of american assistance would help turn th