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CNN TONIGHT

Ferry Disaster; Flight 370 Search Continues

Aired April 18, 2014 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BILL WEIR, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Bill Weir. It is 10:00 here in the East, late morning Saturday in South Korea.

And breaking news tonight, divers have entered the sunken ferry and discovered bodies. As of right now, 29 people who were on board are confirmed dead; 270 remain missing and unaccounted for.

CNN's Pauline Chiou is live for us in Jindo, South Korea -- Pauline.

PAULINE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, here's the latest information coming out of the search.

Now, the divers were able to reach the third level of the ship. Now, this is a level where many of the bedrooms were. Most of the bedrooms were on the fourth level, where the high school students who were on that field trip were staying.

The divers were able to look inside the windows of the third level. They reported spotting three bodies floating, but they were unable to break the window, so they are going to try again. There's a massive effort today, as we are 72 hours in to this. There are more than 600 divers on standby, civilian and government divers.

The problem is that too much time has passed. And the rescue efforts realize that precious time has passed. There are going to be divers going in throughout the day, more than 40 attempts. There are also four cranes on scene. The idea, Bill, is to try to get the ship stabilized, but they don't want to do that until divers can try to access the ship, just in case there are survivors.

Now, this press conference has just wrapped up on the coast guard. Our colleague Kyung Lah was right there. She can give us an idea of what happened with the families because there was a lot of emotion out there.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is actually still going on. We broke away just so we can talk to our audience about what is happening.

It is actually a bit of an informal Q&A. The government has been heavily criticized for not communicating enough with the families. That's why -- we have both seen it. These families are outraged, they're upset and they want more information. That's what this is. It is actually happening right at the dockside, where they have been holding this 24-hour vigil. And so it's hard to explain exactly what these families are going through. They are refusing to accept that their children could be gone.

They want Coast Guard to keep searching for survivors. So there's a sense that they are trying to help them understand that it's -- the odds are against them.

CHIOU: What kinds of questions are they asking?

(CROSSTALK)

LAH: What they are asking is, why aren't you working harder? Why aren't you trying harder? Why aren't you pumping air into the ship itself? And what they are saying back is, we're trying.

CHIOU: And we do know that one of the ideas was to pump air into the ship to try to stabilize, and we know that Kyung talked to several of the family members yesterday and let's see what she heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice-over): Ferry Captain Lee Joon-Seok answering a question concerning hundreds of desperate relatives. Why would you order passengers to stay on a sinking ship?

"The current was very high and the water temperature was cold, and if you had not worn a life jacket or even if you had warn one, if you got off the boat with no judgment, you would have been swept very far away," he says.

The captain is handcuffed, arrested today on five different charges, including abandoning ship and causing bodily injury resulting in death, again to South Korean news agency Yonhap. In this newly released video, you can see the captain right after he was cued from his own sinking ship while hundreds of others were left behind.

In the eyes of many here in South Korea, he's public enemy number one. Prosecutors today revealed the captain wasn't on the bridge when the boat began to sink, but still hold him responsible for -- quote -- "failing to slow down" while sailing the narrow route and making the turn excessively.

Also released today, radio traffic between the Sewol ferry and authorities. The first sign of distress came in at 8:55 a.m. local time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please notify the coast guard. Our ship is in danger. The ship is rolling right now.

LAH: Now all that remains of the ferry above the is surface are buoys marking its position. New footage from inside the doomed ferry continues to surface.

In this is survivor's video, the ship is already at an extreme angle, as passengers clamor to high ground. Others brace themselves inside as they were instructed by the crew. It's unclear if these people made it out alive. One man who did make it out alive couldn't bear the reality in the end. In a wooded area near where distraught relatives are camped out in Jindo, police say the vice principal of the school where these kids attended hung himself.

In his suicide note, police say he took responsibility for the loss of life and asked his ashes be placed over the site.

His suicide has heightened fears that relatives of the missing might soon do the same.

"I want to jump in to the sea," she says. "Thinking about my child in the sea, how can I, as a parent, eat or drink? I hate myself for this."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: I'm back live here at the port where the parents are gathering.

What they're looking at is essentially a mass of them. There's just everyone we have seen over the last couple of days. They are sitting there and they're peppering the coast guard with questions. There's also the press there.

And what they are trying to figure out is exactly where does the search operation stand? What's happening at sea? From what we are told by the Coast Guard in a press conference that wrapped up just a short time ago, televised nationally, is that the search is ongoing, that they have laid search lines around the ship. Divers are going to try to go in to the ship.

They have not been able to access it. The difficult part is trying to break through the glass to get into the ship. There have been bodies found, additional bodies. And so hope is beginning to dim. The odds and facts are certainly against all of these families, but we are still hearing them still ask the coast guard, will they search for survivors? Are there still air pockets, Bill?

WEIR: Now, I understand, Kyung, that each of the divers, I think we have a graphic of it -- it's not just a scuba tank. They have air lines that are going to the surface which must make any efforts to navigate under that 50 feet deep into the multi-layers of that ship extremely difficult.

LAH: Very difficult.

Let's talk a little bit about the conditions of the water. The Yellow Sea is extremely frigid. Yes, they are wearing wet suits. Yes, they are wearing protection. Yes, they are trained divers, but it's extremely cold. The waves, the tides have been very high over the last few days. It is murky water. It is not crystal-clear Mediterranean Sea. It's very difficult water.

And they are about 12 miles out behind me. It is not ideal conditions. Even though the weather has improved today vs. 24 hours ago when we last spoke, it is still very difficult. And what makes it extremely difficult is that everyone here knows this is a national tragedy the. They are dealing with high school children, high school children who went on a field trip and are not going to be coming back if they did not find that air pocket -- Bill.

WEIR: And there are so many interesting cultural differences here, and not the least of which, as you mentioned, the assistant principal who apparently hanged himself and left this just heartrending note, taking responsibility because he had encouraged the school to take these kids on this trip.

What kind of counseling is being provided? And is there a stigma attached to that as well for those poor moms and dads behind you?

LAH: Yes, it seems almost preposterous to talk about a stigma against mental health, but it's something that is actually quite common in Asia, in Japan, in Korea, in China. There is a stigma. There is a sense that there is some sort of weakness, and it's cultural, that if you go out and you seek professional help -- it's quite complicated, but there is a stigma about mental health.

It is weakening generation to generation and getting better, but it still exists. And so what we see here at the very -- at the port as well as the gymnasium where many of the families are gathered, there are counselors. There are tables full of them. And they're waiting to talk to the families.

But the families don't necessarily want it. I have spoke to several of the family members and they say they don't want that. They want their child. And so the concern, is will there be any sort of survivor's guilt? A lot of parents say that they sent their child. How am I supposed to live without my child? I heard that four times just now in that Q&A session with the Coast Guard.

They kept asking, how am I supposed to live? What do you expect my life to be like?

So there is this concern about that, about survivor's guilt and the fact that the OECD ranks South Korea as number one in the world for suicide rate. There is a larger cultural acceptance of suicide here than anywhere in the world -- Bill.

WEIR: It is the five stages of grief playing out live there behind you. It's just heartbreaking. Kyung, please hang with us.

When we come back, more on this breaking news, as well as the search for 370.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: Back now with our breaking news out of South Korea. We have a whole team on the story.

Kyung Lah, Pauline Chiou, Paula Hancocks are all in South Korea. Hakeem Oluseyi is a professor of physics at Florida Institute of Technology and we also have Cade Courtley, former Navy SEAL, joining us via the phone.

But let's start with Paula Hancocks, who's out near the sunken ferry, I believe.

Is that right, Paula? Doesn't sound like -- we lost her. Yes, we lost her cell phone reception.

But Pauline and Kyung are dockside on the scene where so many frantic parents are waiting and watching for word.

What's the latest?

LAH: Well, we can tell you there's a Q&A session down right behind us.

And this session, we're really hearing the parents pepper the coast guard with questions about what the status of the search is, where Paula is right now. What's the possibility? What's the chance that there is an air pocket? And they are clinging to that hope that the children might still be alive.

What is the most heartbreaking thing, and we have seen it, is that these are parents and it's high school children we are talking about who are missing.

CHIOU: Yes. And we have been talking with the parents for the past couple of days, and they are hanging on to hope that perhaps, of these 300 or so high school students that are there, perhaps they found an air pocket, because many of them were on the fourth level, which is where their bedrooms were.

It was also breakfast time, and there's a cafeteria. The hope is that perhaps in one of these areas there might have been an air pocket. But we are 72 hours in to this. And when you talk to all the experts...

(CROSSTALK)

LAH: Right, survivability is approximately six hours in the temperatures that we are talking about in the Yellow Sea, the water that you see behind us.

And there is this undercurrent that you hear in what all the parents are saying, that they refuse to accept what the facts are. And they are hoping for those air pockets.

CHIOU: And we can tell you a little bit more about the search operation.

And that's what the parents are asking about, about the diving situation. We know that there are more than 600 civilian and government divers. They're ready to be a part of this. Yesterday, two divers went in to try to set up these search lines. They were able to access the freight area, which is the second level. We know that there were more than 1,000 containers, about more than 100 vehicles.

They were able to access that area and actually open up the door, but they were met with many floating obstacles. That's how they described it. And then that he search line actually got cut off, so they had to stop that part of the operation. That gives you an idea how difficult the conditions are.

We do know that three more divers were able to go in today. They saw -- they were able to look inside the third level, where some of the bedrooms are. Most of them are on the fourth level, as I had mentioned, and they saw three floating bodies. They tried to break the window.

LAH: It's the air pressure. The air pressure is the big problem.

And, so, Bill, this gives you a sense of what we are looking at, a very long, painstaking search.

WEIR: Let's try Paula Hancocks once more, who's out on the water about 100 yards from the wreckage.

Paula, can you hear me?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. Yes, I can.

Let me tell you what I am seeing right now before I lose you again, obviously, spotty signals out here. I'm about 100 meters away from where the ferry has sunk. To be honest, you would not know that there was a more than 6,000-ton ferry under the water were it not for the sheer number of vessels above the water.

There are two very large inflatables which basically mark the spot where this ferry is, but there is absolutely no sign from the water top of what is happening underneath. We know there are a number of divers at this very moment of divers trying to get into those areas that they have not got into already, desperately hoping they will find some survivors.

An idea of what is happening here, I have counted at least 100 vessels. You have vessels from the very large national warships all the way down to the very small private fishing vessels. Everybody has become involved. If there is any chance of finding life beneath these waves, everyone is working around the clock to try and make that happen.

One thing I have noticed, Bill, in the past hour is a number of oil slicks on the water surface and a very strong smell of oil. We're all noticing this now. We are wondering if this is related to the ferry. We don't know at this point if it is, but that is something that is definitely new in the past couple of minutes.

A couple of helicopters overhead. We know that the four floatable cranes are standing by. They are not part of this rescue operation at the moment. And as far as we can see, at this point, the main crux of the search operation is the divers. There are a number of small inflatable dinghies with these divers on board. That is where the activity is -- Bill.

WEIR: Paula, can you get a sense of how deep the bottom of the hull is beneath the surface?

HANCOCKS: No, there's no way of seeing that at all. This water is very murky. It's fairly choppy as well.

Certainly, in the last hour, we have noticed that the winds have picked up. And there hasn't been rain since we have been here this morning. It's Saturday morning here. The visibility seems fairly good, but we do know it is going to get a bit worse throughout the afternoon. And certainly we have noticed this water has become choppier.

You cannot see beneath the surface of the waves. You cannot see into the water at all. And seriously, if there was not these inflatables and these boats, you would have idea that a massive passenger ferry was beneath the surface -- Bill.

WEIR: Well, I am trying to get a sense -- and maybe Pauline or Kyung would know this -- how do we know that the thing hasn't gone to the bottom? Are you getting any word from the authorities there that the divers are going down 10 feet, 20 feet, just to get to the ferry?

HANCOCKS: Well, from our vantage point where we are, we are unable to talk to anybody. We don't know exactly how deep this ferry is at this point.

And, as I say, the visibility is so poor that you cannot even see a few centimeters below the surface of the water. So, it's absolutely impossible to tell exactly where this ferry is from here.

WEIR: Let me ask our physics experts, Professor Oluseyi from the Florida Institute of Technology.

We were hoping, at least operating under the assumption, that it was just beneath the surface, just not visible there. And if so, air pockets would have to be in existence to keep it from going to the bottom, correct?

HAKEEM OLUSEYI, FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: That's pretty good, Bill. First, thanks for having me.

This story gets more tragic every day, and my heart really goes out to the families and the communities. But I think that they are right to keep hope alive. Right? Whether it is a earthquake and people trapped in a rubble or whether it's an avalanche, we have seen people that beat the odds. Right? A fortunate set of circumstances will come together.

So, in this case, it is clear what's necessary. If we have people in air pockets, a small number in a large enough space with access to freshwater, and dry, right, there can still be survivors. WEIR: That's the hope.

Is Cade Courtley -- can you hear me, Cade? I don't know if we have our former Navy SEAL. I would love to know the diving challenge that this would provide to actually have to go down there. He's -- we don't have him as well.

But we also have to worry, professor, about hypothermia, obviously, if this water is 55, 60 degrees. There's a big difference even in that small span there. As long as they keep the core above that liquid, they would be OK? For how long?

OLUSEYI: Well, you know, you will succumb very quickly in cold water. I hear the water is about 50 degrees.

And a person can go unconscious as quickly as 15 minutes in water of that temperature, but you could also survive for maybe up to six hours. But it is a matter of hours and minutes if you are in very cold water. It's key that they be warm and dry in this case.

And really it's the temperature that matters. But, you know, there are the other things of carbon dioxide toxicity, lack of oxygen and access to fresh water to drink if they're inside that also play a role. But now we are talking a few days, right, hours to days that they could survive.

WEIR: It's been a couple of days.

I guess we have Cade Courtley back on the phone, former Navy SEAL.

Cade, thanks for being us.

Are you looking at these pictures? Can you give us an assessment of what goes through your mind as a diver for a rescue operation like this to have to go beneath an upside-down ferry, 800-feet long? Just describe the challenges there.

CADE COURTLEY, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL: Well, I mean, look, unfortunately, we are dealing with a ship that's upside-down.

We are dealing with heavy current. We are dealing with water that is like 50 degrees, and we're dealing with a bunch of young kids that were trapped inside this. So, of course, you can expect the fact that we're going to start finding bodies.

Upwards of 200 people trapped inside a submerged ship, it's unfortunate.

WEIR: It's horrible.

COURTLEY: But I still believe that there's some people inside there that are still alive.

WEIR: You do? You think so?

COURTLEY: I do.

WEIR: Boy, that would be great if you were right.

But how would you get them out? Let's say that a diver is able to find some kid in there. How would you extract them from that sort of thing? Would you have to bring scuba tanks?

COURTLEY: Well, look, if I had the good fortune of being in charge of the situation, I literally -- OK, we have got three heavy lifting cranes out there.

I need two of the cranes on the stern of the ship to literally put a belly band under that and one as a ballast ship. OK, so, stern and the rear, as well as the front, and let's stabilize that ship. Now that it is stabilize, now let's start cutting holes into the hull of the ship, which basically is facing up.

And instead of divers going from underneath up, we are going to have search parties going from the hull of the ship, from holes cut, down. And at this point, that's going to be our best bet.

I hope this doesn't turn in to -- from a rescue operation in to a recovery operation, because there's still a chance that there are people in there with air pockets that have been able to stay out of that -- the cold water. And that many people in there, somebody is still alive. We can't stop. In the SEALS, we used to say, you are not dead until you are cold and dead. There's still some people in there.

WEIR: There are hundreds of moms and dads who hope against hope that you are right, Cade. Thank you.

Let's stand by, everybody. We will come back, more with our breaking news out of South Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WEIR: All eyes are on the coast of South Korea, about 12 miles offshore, where that country's coast guard says divers have discovered at least three more bodies inside of the sunken ferry.

Joining us now, Kyung Lah and Pauline Chiou, also -- they are also in there, Jindo, South Korea.

Hakeem Oluseyi, a professor of physics at Florida Institute of Technology. We also have Cade Courtley, former Navy SEAL, expert on diving and rescues as well.

Let's go back to -- let's just go right back to South Korea, Pauline and Kyung.

Set the scene for us there. You are in front of many, many grieving families waiting for any shred of information and demanding answers. CHIOU: Yes. The families have been gathered here for the past three days along this harbor front, asking for answers, pleading with government officials not to waste any more time as we're into this 72 hours plus.

Now, here's the latest on the search effort. Divers have been able to reach the third level of the ship. They were able to see three floating bodies, and they tried to get to them by breaking a window, but they were unsuccessful because the currents are so difficult. Yesterday, one of the search lines actually got cut off. So that gives you an idea of how difficult this is.

And the families are hanging onto that hope that perhaps there might be an air pocket somewhere. There are still 271 people missing. Perhaps somewhere. And that's what they're hanging on to and asking so many good, technical questions of the officials.

LAH: And what happened just, you know, a few minutes ago is we saw the parents peppering the coast guard with questions. They wanted to know why they couldn't break in the windows, the coast guard saying, "We tried to use an ax, but the pressure is simply too great." It has been yet another agonizing day for these families as the search brought no results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (voice-over): Ferry captain Lee Joon-seok answering a question consuming hundreds of desperate relatives. Why would you order passengers to stay on a sinking ship?

"The current was very high and the temperature was cold. And if you had not worn a life jacket or even if you had worn one, if you got off the boat with no judgment you would have been swept very far away," he says.

The captain is handcuffed, arrested today on five different charges, including abandoning ship and causing bodily injury resulting in death, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

In this newly-released video, you can see the captain right after he was rescued from his own sinking ship, while hundreds of others were left behind. In the eyes of many here in South Korea, he's public enemy No. 1.

Prosecutors today reveal the captain wasn't on the bridge when the boat began to sink, but still hold him responsible for, quote, "failing to slow down while sailing the narrow route and making the turn excessively."

Also released today radio traffic between the ferry and authorities. The first sign of distress came in at 8:55 a.m. local time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Ship: Please notify the coast guard. Our ship is in danger. The ship is rolling right now.

LAH: All that remains of the ferry above the surface are buoys marking its position.

New footage from inside the doomed ferry continues to surface. In this survivor's video, the ship is already at an extreme angle as passengers clamor to high ground. Others brace themselves inside, as they were instructed by the crew. It's unclear if these people made it out alive.

One man who did make it out alive, couldn't bear the reality in the end. In a wooded area near where distraught relatives are camped out in Jindo, police say the vice principal of the school where these kids attended hung himself. In his suicide note, police say he took responsibility for the loss of life and asked for his ashes to be placed over the site.

His suicide has heightened fears that relatives of the missing might soon do the same.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: "I want to jump into the sea," she says. "Thinking about my child in the sea, how can I as a parent eat or drink? I hate myself for this."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Now, the vice principal did leave a detailed suicide note. The police would not give us the entirety of the text, but what they did say is that he felt it was his responsibility, because he had suggested the field trip in the first place to these students. That he could not live not knowing about the fate of the 200-plus students who are missing and that he wished that, after his body was found, that he be cremated and that his ashes be spread at the site of the recovery.

CHIOU: This is just causing so much more heartache for the community for Onwan (ph) High School. And there are so many poignant stories from families that we've spoken with.

I spoke with one woman that had gone to Jeju Island just two months ago. This is the resort island that the ferry was headed to. And her daughter did not want to go on the school trip. She said to her mother, "I just went with you. I don't want to go."

The mother convinced her to go, saying this will be a good experience for you and your friends, and that's a decision this mother has regretted.

So, so many sad stories. Kyung, the families, though, also are asking very good technical questions. And I think one of the things they're asking about is how to get into the ship and how to get into such a large ship.

This is a ferry that can carry 900 passengers. It had more than 1,000 containers on the bottom, more than 100 vehicles. It's 6,800 tons. Bill, perhaps you can ask some of your guests there, how do you stabilize this ship that size and try to preserve any sort of possible air pocket? Because we do know that there are four cranes that are on site waiting to do that.

WEIR: That's a good question. Let's bring that to Professor Oluseyi. This is, as she said, 6,800-ton boat. Cade, our Navy SEAL, was suggesting the rescue efforts should focus on drilling or cutting into the side of the hulls, as opposed to trying to dive under. How would that work? Would that release whatever air is inside?

OLUSEYI: Well, if you're talking to me, Bill, I would imagine if you are going to cut in to the side or the upward-facing part of the hull, then you're going to have to actually put a bell or something over it such that water doesn't rush in as soon as you cut through the hole.

WEIRD: Right. Cade, is it -- have you done any sort of underwater welding work? How long would that take for divers to cut through the hull?

COURTLEY: So here's the situation with this. Four huge cranes. You're not trying to lift the ship out of the water. That's not going to happen. But what you can do with those four cranes is you can stabilize it and you probably bring it up about ten feet.

So now, instead of this thing jamming around, in essentially, you know, the waters that you're dealing with right now on the surf, you have a stable platform that is no longer sinking.

Now you start cutting into the hull (ph) of the ship. And instead of divers going all the way down and trying to come up one, two, three at a time, you've got crews that are going down. And, you know, that's going to be your best bet. You've controlled the ship. You've controlled the situation. And you've cut holes in and you're going down to try and find survivors. And with that many people and that large of a ship, somebody is still alive right now. I guarantee it. Somebody is still alive, and that makes it worth it.

WEIRD: Well, the one bit of video. This is a story from months back. A Nigerian chef aboard a tug boat was found sort of up to his waist in water but alive. This is -- this is what all the parents are hopeful of and Cade and the press are saying, you know, we've got to keep hope alive because here's proof that somebody can survive in an air pocket.

When they went down to salvage this tug boat, they reached out for an arm, and the guy reached back. There's his hand. And when the diver -- this is the camera on the diver's helmet -- poked his head up, you see this gentleman, who had been down there for three days and still had enough air, barely enough air to hold on.

Now, the water in the sea that's, you know, off the coast of South Korea is much colder than this. Hypothermia is a much bigger threat, but that's the kind of sort of thread of hope everybody's hanging to. So stay with us. We'll update you on the story. We'll also go back to Australia, update you on developments in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, checking in with Michael Holmes in Perth. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIRD: We'll have more on the frantic recovery efforts in South Korea on that sunken ferry. But we're also following developments in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Bluefin-21 back in its seventh mission, we understand. Let's make sure.

CNN's Michael Holmes is live in Perth -- Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bill. If it's not on its seventh mission, it will be close to it. That's because the sixth mission, we got confirmation a short time ago, did end and Bluefin-21 surfaced. They download the data. It takes about four hours to do that and recharge the batteries and then send it back down again.

Three of the first five missions, though, did have some issues. As you'll remember. Yesterday, the fifth mission was aborted shortly after launch. They had some problems with the navigation system. That was fixed up, and it went down again. Obviously, no data from that mission.

So far, they've covered about 130 square kilometers. That's about 50 square miles of the ocean floor. But they still have a long way to go. Even in this shrunken search area they really are focusing on, it could take another week or so to cover that. And of course, they say they won't give up even then, if they haven't found anything.

The air and sea search also continues, nearly a week since Angus Houston, the man heading up the search efforts, said that would wind down in the days ahead. Well, it's still going, even though no wreckage, of course, has been found now, six weeks since the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 -- Bill.

WEIRD: Michael, if memory serves, the Bluefin has had trouble with going too deep. It had trouble with oil or some sort of mechanical problem, and now -- now this. It's not exactly filling -- filling us with confidence, but they don't seem daunted.

HOLMES: No, you're right. I mean, you know, on the surface of it, you can say, well, three out of six missions they've had an issue, but those who are running it, they say this is a highly technical piece of equipment. It's down also, going down further than it's ever been before, getting down 4,700 meters.

The first time it aborted was because it had a fail-safe mechanism built into the software that said when you get to 4,500 meters stop and come back up, which is what it did. They've reprogrammed that.

They say the second problem, which was a bit of an oil problem, oil that protects the electronics inside. They say that wasn't a big deal either. Fixed and sent down.

So basically, they're saying that this thing is actually working pretty well when it's down at the bottom. They're getting some great images of the bottom. Sadly nothing that's showing any sign of the flight.

But, you know, they keep coming back and saying, well, a couple of little glitches doesn't mean much. This thing is actually working pretty well and doing the job it's meant to do. It does slow things down a bit at a time where everyone is just hoping and praying for some results -- Bill.

WEIR: OK. Michael Holmes, appreciate the update.

When we come back, more on our breaking news on the sunken ferry in South Korea. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: The name of the ferry which went down off the coast of South Korea is called the Sewol, which is in South -- in Korean, a time and tide. And time is working against the frantic effort there, with scores of boats on the surface of the Yellow Sea, around that sunken vessel. Scores of divers ready to go beneath that sea, as well.

And today some dramatic new developments as the captain, a 69- year-old man, was led out in handcuffs, taken by the authorities and actually questioned in handcuffs. Kyung Lah and Pauline Chiou are at the staging area there with the latest on that. It was an interesting sight to American eyes to see him have to answer these accusations while in custody, Kyung?

LAH: Well, actually a perp walk, wasn't it?

CHIOU: Yes, it really was. And the families are angry about what they're finding out about what happened in the steering room.

And this captain's name, Bill, is Lee Joon-seok. He does face five criminal counts which could, if he's convicted, give him five years to life in prison. Now they include negligence that led to the sinking of the ship; abandoning the ship, because as we saw, he was able to get in the rescue boats and left many of the passengers there on the ship. Also another charge, causing bodily injury which resulted in deaths; and not seeking rescue from ships.

Now here's what we do know from what investigators have told CNN, is that the captain was not in the steering room at the time of the accident. They say it's unclear where he was. The person who was at the steering wheel was a third mate. And according to what we've been reading here in terms of the rules here, when there is a third mate at the helm of the ship, the captain should be in the room. So this kind of information is really just so aggravating to the families.

Now he did, just a couple of days ago, say publicly to television cameras, "I'm so sorry for what happened. I'm at a loss for words." But that apology not doing much for the families.

LAH: Certainly. And in that unusual Q and A session with reporters when he was handcuffed, he did, actually, explain, Bill, that he was tending to something in his bedroom. And so that certainly is not helping things here among the families.

WEIR: Yes he said he was attending to something in his cabin. He also said the tidal current was strong and the water temperature cold. And so there was no rescue boat, so I had everyone stand by and wait for the rescue boat to arrive.

But the obvious follow up is, what about the lifeboats that were not deployed? Is it confirmed that only one of dozens of lifeboats were actually put into the water?

LAH: That's what we're hearing. We have not gotten confirmation from the captain himself that only one of the 46 was deployed. But you can certainly understand how that enrages the families.

From what we do know about what the captain is saying is that he did actually make that announcement for everyone to stay put, to stay in their cabins. And that was something that we didn't know until he did address some of the reporter questions. That he was one who initially made the call that everyone stay put as the ship was sinking, and that is enraging a lot of people, as well.

CHIOU: We've been speaking with survivors, Bill, who say that they heard that announcement. Many of them decided to stay put. And they put on their life jackets. Some decided not to listen to that.

And as we know, there were two hours that they had between that distress call that came at 8:55 a.m. and then the ship was virtually underwater by 11. So there was precious time that was lost.

And so for the people who didn't listen to that and were able to get to the deck had a better chance, of course, of being saved. And it's this kind of information, Bill, the information that the captain was not in the steering room, and the fact the passengers were told to stay put when they could have tried to get to safety is what's angering so many of the families here.

WEIR: You don't have to be a sailor to know one of the oldest rules of the sea is it's women and children first. The captain goes down with the ship. It's maritime law in many ways.

And if I have the time line right, the announcement to stay in the cabin, did that run for the entire two hours, or was it for a half hour or so? However it was, it was precious time lost.

LAH: It was precious time lost, and it's very unclear. The captain did say to reporters that he did eventually make the announcement to abandon ship.

The timing of it, that's what everyone needs to know. The initial announcement was recorded. It did say -- a man's voice say, "Stay put in place." The natural question then is why did everybody listen? Remember who we're talking about here. These are high-school students. They were on a four-day field ship. They were under the guardianship of their teachers. And here in Korea, the thing that is prized most above all else is obedience. Parents teach this to their children from the time that they're born: you want to listen to your elders.

So in, you know, western nations, it's absolutely unbelievable. But you know, a sinking ship, someone who's 17 or 18 would actually listen to an announcement and stay inside of their cabin. It's not so surprising here.

And that also is turning some cultural norms on its head. A lot of parents wondering what is wrong with what happened here? Not just on that ship but also in this country.

WEIR: And I also wonder if there was any sort of a disaster drill before they set sail. Obviously, there's a big difference between a ferry -- Staten Island ferry and a cruise ship to the Caribbean, but on the bigger boats, usually before you cast off, everybody has to know where the life jacket is. There's rallying points and that. Do you have any sense if these kids were prepared in that way, or this was a much more casual boat ride?

CHIOU: We don't have any sense of whether or not they actually were given a drill before they set sail on Tuesday evening. We do know that this is a ferry boat that has -- it's an overnight ferry. So this school had booked this ferry for a four-day holiday.

And this is the kind of ship where -- where there's big sleeping areas. And it's like a big common room where 20 or so people can sleep in the same room.

We do know from talking to survivors that there were life jackets and that we spoke with some adult survivors who said that they heard that same announcement. And they -- they put on their life jackets and they were waiting. But as soon as water started seeping into the rooms the adults, at least that I've spoken with, said, listen, we've to get out of here, or else we're not going to have a chance. And things happen quickly because you see the video of how the ship started listing quite quickly within two hours.

LAH: I haven't ridden the particular ferry to Jeju Island but I have ridden other ferries out of Eunchong (ph), which is the place that this particular ferry left. And I can tell you, at least some of the smaller ferries there are similar to when you get onto a plane, flying from Dallas to Chicago or any plane in the country, they do a "here's where the evacuation sites are." Just announcements, safety warnings. They're very general. That's something that is pretty customary on any ferry.

We don't have any specifics on how specific it was. We don't know if there were evacuation drills done for the crew. That's a big question, as well, Bill.

WEIR: OK, ladies. Please stand by, if you would. We'll be back with much more on our breaking news off of the coast of South Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: Two hundred and seventy people, at least, still missing in that sunken ferry ship off the coast of South Korea. At least 29 people confirmed dead, but that doesn't include bodies that have been seen by rescue divers.

Paula Hancocks is in the area where the hull was poking above the Yellow Sea but is now submerged. What are you seeing, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, Bill, there's absolutely no sign of the ferry anymore. The only way you even know it's here is because there are two very large inflatables that are marking the spot and also, of course, the sheer number of vessels on the water. I counted more than 120, ranging from the big warships to the small, private fishing vessels involved in this, as well. And a couple of helicopters overhead and also four large floatable cranes, which at this point do not appear to be any part of this search-and-rescue operation.

Now the crux of what is happening is below the water. We can't see what's happening. There's very little visibility through this water. It is very murky. We can see the divers on top of the water. There are a number of inflatable dinghies, and they are really the heart of the search-and-rescue operation, trying to get below to see if there are any survivors.

One thing worth noting in the last couple of hours we have noticed a significant oil slick on the surface, Bill.

WEIR: OK, Paula. There's hope against hope, by parents there that one of their little high schoolers will be rescued. And if that happens we'll have it right here on CNN. I'm Bill Weir. Have a good weekend.