Were not searching for a needle in a haystack, were still trying to define where the haystack is. Thats how australias defense minister describes the search for flight 370 in the remote indian ocean. Want to bring you cnns saima mohsin from kuala lumpur and will riply in perth where planes are getting ready to take off, we hope. Saima, first to you. What can you tell us about this socalled International Working group, a group that the malaysian government is now forming to help narrow the search area . Whats involved here . Reporter well, wolf, that still remains a mystery. Thats all theyve told us so far. As you know, we get very Little Information in these press conferences, which is amounting to a lot of frustration for a lot of people, including us trying to report this story. And, of course, more importantly, the families that are involved in this. Now, what we know is that this working group will be heavily reliant on the data that particularly countries like the United States an
Ukraine. Crimea voting to secede from the country and join russia. This morning the world refusing to recognize the landslide vote. Whats next for the people of ukraine, and will russia fight to create an addition to its country . We are live with what youve missed overnight. Good morning and welcome to early start. Im rosa flores. And im john berman. It is monday, march 17th, 5 00 a. M. In the east. First to the breaking, new developments in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. This weekend the mystery, it deepened, as malaysian officials finally admitted this jet with 239 people on board was flying for many hours after its crew last spoke with air traffic controllers. And they believe it was turned deliberately off course. The search area has expanded again deep into kazakhstan and south into the southern indian ocean. Authorities are now looking into every passenger on the plane and the flight crew, a 53yearold captain and his 27yearold 1st officer. This weekend, both of the
An iranian identified as one that boarded the flight with a stolen passport. The officials now wave off terrorism ties. We believe that he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group. Investigators working around the clock searching the seas, scouring the area the size of pennsylvania. Were now flying 500 feet above sea level. Looking for new clues in the mystery of flight 370. Youre live in the cnn newsroom newsroom. Good morning. Im carroll costello. Thanks so much for joining me. We begin this hour with the search for the Malaysian Airlines jetliner and new developments that may down play terrorism. This Morning Police identify the two men that use stolen passports to board the plane. This is a 29yearold iranian. The other man is an 18yearold iranian. The head of the Global Police agency say the latest details are tampering down initial suspicions of terrorism. Both men entered malaysia with valid iranian passports. Nick robertson is in london and tom is in washington. Good
Moments. Key moments of the Malaysia Airlines flight 370, missing now for more than ten days. There are new questions about a crucial period when the plane was crossing between malaysian and Vietnamese Air space. Earlier, malaysian authorities said a Communications System was shut down before the verbal message from the cockpit saying, all right, good night. Now they say theyre not sure exactly when the system was shut off. Malaysian Officials Say they cannot confirm the malaysian newspaper report the plane may have dropped below 5,000 feet. The report is from the new straits times. Aviation experts say thats not low enough to evade radar detection. Indias military now says radar near the andaman and in this case owe bar islands is not as closely watch closely watched as other areas, raising the popularity it might not have been picked up if it flew through that area. Were talking about a 15minute period when the plane was crossing into sVietnamese Air space from Malaysian Air space, a
Since this jet went missing, and this morning, malaysian officials are admitting theyre simply not sure what happened in the cockpit. It is not clear, they now say, if the final word spoken to air Traffic Controllers came before or after the planes data reporting system was shut down. That is a reversal from malaysian officials. This morning there are new reports that the planes turn off course was preprogrammed in to the flight computer. One of the key questions was, were those coordinates entered before takeoff or after the jet was already in the air . The other question, who entered those new coordinates . This morning the search has extended to the waters off australia. A United States ship is pulling out, being replaced by u. S. Air resources. Our jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur with the latest this morning. Good morning, jim. Reporter good morning, john. Weve got a massive search under way, and it is an air search in the indian ocean right now. You know, on that northern part