Death Toll Mounts In South Korean Ferry Accident; Crews Find Ferry Disaster Victims
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Newly released radio transcripts reveal a scene of chaos and passengers trapped. Rescuers in South Korea bring bodies ashore as distraught relatives hold out hope their loved ones could still be alive. We'll take you there. Also this hour, a bloody Easter in Ukraine. Deadly violence at a checkpoint adds pressure to diplomats working to end the crisis. Plus, examining identities and regional loyalties -- the politics of Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia are going through a critical phase. We discuss what this may mean for the Middle East and beyond.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.</s>ANDERSON: A very good evening. It is just after 7:00 here, just after midnight in South Korea where the death toll from that ferry disaster has now reached at least 58 people. Nearly 500 people were on board the boat heading for the resort island of Jeju. Some of the families have begun holding funerals for some of the victims. This is the funeral of a 36-year-old high school teacher who is said to have said several of the hundreds of students on board the ferry. Meantime, anger and frustration boiling over and some families over both the search and rescue operation and the flow of information from South Korean officials. Dozens of family members demanded they speak with the president. Well, South Korean officials have now released another transcript of a conversation between the Ferry and the control tower that may help explain why more people didn't get off the boat. Paula Hancocks covering this for us from South Korea. Paula, scenes of complete distress. At least now some information trickling through about what happened to this ferry. Not going to help those who have lost family members, but certainly providing possibly some answers at this stage.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Becky. This is the second transcript that's been released by authorities. And basically it appears to show just how quickly the ship listed and how quickly communications were lost with the ship. Now according to the true transcripts that we have now been given, the first distress signal went out at 8:55 am on Wednesday and just one minute later an unidentified crew member from the Seiwal (ph), the sunken ferry said, the ship rolled over a lot right now, cannot move. Now this conversation continues with a second radio tower up until 9:38 am which is when all communication was lost, which shows it took just 43 minutes from the first distress signal to when communication was lost. Now in these transcripts it does appear to show from this crew member that people simply couldn't move, because the ship had listed too much. Now there has been many questions about why exactly people had not got onto these rescue boats and why more people were not able to jump into the water. So this would appear to explain why people were unable to move certainly according to this unidentified crew member. But of course there are still questions as to why there was an announcement made that people should stay put and they shouldn't actually move because it was more dangerous for them to. So it does answer some questions, Becky. It will certainly be a focal point of the investigation, but there's still a lot of questions as to why exactly this even happened.</s>ANDERSON: 244 people still missing. Any chance at this stage that they will be found alive?</s>HANCOCKS: Well, certainly the families will be hoping against hope that there could be survivors still. There hasn't been a survivor found since Wednesday when this ship sank. And since then, Divers have been able to access more of the ship. We saw today that they did find more of the passengers. Unfortunately they're not finding survivors at this point. They are finding bodies. The officials say, though, that they are working under the assumption that there may still be survivors. So this is still a search and rescue operation. And certainly everyone is hoping that there is still a chance of finding survivors. But this is the fifth day since that ship sunk. So surely hopes are fading very rapidly that this could be a possibility. There are four cranes, large floatable cranes that are stationed just around the area of this sunken ferry. They will be brought in at some point to move the ferry upwards, to lift it closer to the surface to make any salvage operation easier. They will potentially be used, as well, to tow the ferry to shore. But at this point officials are saying they will not be engaged until the families agree. They will get the families' consent to use those cranes, because it is basically an acceptance, an implicit acceptance, that all lives have been lost on board when you brings these cranes into play -- Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks in South Korea for you. Well, a Russian news agency says pro-Russia separatists in an eastern Ukrainian town are calling on Moscow to send in peacekeeping forces. Now this comes after a shooting near a pro-Russia checkpoint outside the city of Slovyansk. At least four people, its reported, were killed. Russian media report the victims of the confrontation include pro-Russia activists and Ukrainian nationalists. Meanwhile, the barricades are still standing in the eastern city of Donetsk despite an international agreement to clear the buildings. Let's get the latest on all of this. Frederick Pleitgen joining us now now from Kiev. And these reports on clashes turning deadly from Russian state media, can we confirm these at this point?</s>FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there certainly seemed to have been those clashes. The latest that we're getting from the Ukrainian side is that they say that four vehicles appeared to have come towards that checkpoint, that pro-Russian checkpoint and opened fire, indeed, on that checkpoint. That attack apparently was repelled, however. There were those people who were killed in that attack. Now the Ukrainian side, for its part, of course, says that all of this was launched by Russia. They say that this is a provocation on the Russian side to find some sort of pretext to justify an invasion. So, they are placing the blame fully on Moscow. But it's certainly something that once again undermines that Geneva agreement that was reached on Thursday. And it's something that the Kiev government has always said it is very skeptical of, very skeptical of Moscow's intentions. Kiev, for its part, says that it continues to try and deescalate the situation. What they've done is they've called a unilateral truce over the Easter holidays. They say that their military operation, which was started last week, would not continue over the Easter holidays. But clearly we can see, Becky, that there is still a very volatile, and also in some cases violent situation, going on in the east that really threatens to derail a Geneva agreement that was reached last Thursday, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: The very latest from east Ukraine with Frederick Pleitgen, thank you for that. And later on this show, Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. We continue our special coverage of the crisis in Ukraine. We're going to have a report from the eastern city of Donetsk where Russia -- pro-Russia separatists are not budging from their positions inside government buildings. And we'll take you to the heart of the industrial region in Ukraine where residents talk about the kind of future that they want, that is later this hour. Well, the government of Yemen says at least four al Qaeda militants have been killed in what is a second air strike this weekend. They say al Qaeda training camps in a remote mountainous region in the south were hit. Now on Saturday, at least 10 suspected militants and three civilians were killed in a strike in central Yemen. A source in the region says the attacks have nothing to do with recent video showing a large gathering of militants. The video has appeared on jihadist websites. Well, the United States considers the al Qaeda group in Yemen, known as al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula, the most dangerous wing of the terrorist organization. So this video has definitely got the attention of global terrorism experts. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more from you on that.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. intelligence experts have examined every frame of the video showing nearly 100 al Qaeda fighters meeting in Yemen. They're trying to figure out if they're missing any signs of plotting for an attack against the U.S. CNN was the first to broadcast this. The intelligence community trying to identify blurred faces and asking if they are being sent to attack the U.S. Analysts are also looking at the flashy white truck leading the convoy. Who had the money to pay for it? The expensive camera, even paying attention to the fruit juice being served. None of the suspected terrorists appear worried about a U.S. drone strike. The rarely seen al Qaeda leader Nasir al Wuhayshi takes time to great fighters who recently broke out of jail. It's a sunny day with a dark shadow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quite an extraordinary event. The leadership taking a big risk in doing this. They clearly felt that for propaganda purposes, it was worth taking the risk. They wanted to get the message across there are groups still in business.</s>STARR: U.S. officials tell CNN each image is a piece of intelligence about the group the U.S. calls the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate. Most worrisome, on the right, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, and number two, for al-Qaeda, worldwide. He was a personal aide to Osama bin Laden. In the video, he vows to attack the U.S. On the left, Ibrahim al Rubaish, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, now the group's main theologian. The U.S. believes the video was shot in March, just weeks after the U.S. government warned airlines to watch for terrorists attempting to hide explosives in shoes.</s>MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESWOMAN: They have tried to build explosives that can get around security. We have been concerned about that for many years now.</s>STARR: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee telling Wolf Blitzer the group has gone underground in their communications, even as plotting has increased.</s>REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The more they can get away with plotting, planning, organizing, as you saw there, finance, all the things they would need to do to strike a Western target, they're going through that process, including, by the way, bringing in very sophisticated people to devise new devices that would try to get around security protocols at airports and other places.</s>ANDERSON: That was Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reporting for you there. Still to come, as four French journalists, quote, "breathe free air again," after being held hostage in Syria for nearly a year. Tonight's cafe chat focuses on the conflict in Syria and its impact on other countries throughout the region. And it may be time for a change in strategy as searchers above and beneath the sea find no trace of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The latest on that. You're watching Connect the World with me Becky Anderson live in Abu Dhabi. Stay with us.