Missing Plane Search 'Could Take 5 to 7 Days'

By Nick Martin, News Correspondent, in Perth

Australian officials supervising the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have said that an underwater search for the black box recorder based on "pings" possibly from the device could be completed in five to seven days.

It comes as search teams say the submarine currently scanning the ocean floor remains "the best lead" in finding the plane.

The US Navy-operated Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has now covered an area of 82 square miles (133 sq km) and has completed six missions.

But its sonar scanners have detected nothing, Sky News understands.

The Bluefin-21 submersible has already carried out six descents

After nearly six weeks without any sign of the plane, the current underwater search has been narrowed to a circular 6.2-mile (10km) area around the location where one of the pings thought to come from the missing flight's black box was detected earlier this month.

The submersible is likely to take up to a week to cover the refined search area.

The Bluefin-21 has now started its seventh descent to the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

It takes two hours for the unmanned submersible to travel more than 4,500m to the seabed where it spends 16 hours at a time using sonar scanners to map the ocean floor. Data is then downloaded at the surface.

The Chinese ship Hai Xin 01 conducts a search in the southern Indian Ocean

No sign of the plane has been picked up, said search officials based in Perth, Australia.

"Overnight, Bluefin-21 AUV completed mission six in the underwater search area. Data from the sixth mission is currently under analysis. No contacts of interest have been found to date," said an official.

"This is the best lead we have in the search for missing flight MH370."

Hishammuddin Hussein, acting Malaysia Transport Minister, told a news conference on Saturday: "The immediate search area that the Bluefin-21 is scouring should be completed within the next week.

"All efforts will be intensified in the next few days in regards to the search."

The underwater hunt is complicated by the depth of the largely unexplored sea floor. The US Navy's unmanned sub has already gone beyond its recommended limit of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).

Malaysia flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 bound for Beijing. But an hour into the flight it disappeared from radar. There were 239 people on board, mostly Chinese citizens.

Some families of those on board refuse to believe the aircraft crashed into the sea and have instead denounced the search effort as a cover-up.

Up to 11 military aircraft and 12 ships are assisting the search over the long Easter bank holiday weekend. The total search area is 31,000 square miles (50,200 sq km), across three areas.

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South Korea Ferry Disaster Captain's Apology

S Korea Ferry: Final Contact From Doomed Vessel

Updated: 11:59am UK, Friday 18 April 2014

A transcript of communications between the stricken Sewol ferry and the coastguard has lifted the lid on the final minutes before the order was given to abandon ship.

The conversations show panic setting in on board the vessel, with officers asking for help to "please come quickly" as it began to tilt to the left, three hours from its destination of Jeju Island.

The transcript also appears to back up claims that the evacuation order may have come too late for some passengers as officers said the ship was tilting so much it was "impossible to move" to check on them.

The communication, which begins with the first distress call made by the ferry on Wednesday morning, has been translated by The Associated Press.

It reads:

8.55am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, do you have reception of The Sewol?

Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Centre (VTS): Yes, Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju.

Sewol: Please notify the coastguard. Our ship is in danger. It's listing right now.

8.56am

Jeju VTS: Where's your ship? Yes, got it. We will notify the coastguard.

Sewol: This ship has listed a lot. Can't move. Please come quickly. We're next to Byeongpung Island.

Jeju VTS: Yes, we got it.

8.58am

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju. Do you have reception? Sewol, harbour affairs Jeju.

8.59am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, this is Sewol.

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju. Channel 21, please.

9.00am

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju.

Sewol: Jeju, Sewol here.

Jeju VTS: What's the current situation?

Sewol: Currently the body of the ship has listed to the left. The containers have listed as well.

Jeju VTS: OK. Any damage of the human life?

Sewol: It's impossible to check right now. The body of the ship has tilted, and it's impossible to move.

Jeju VTS: Yes, OK. Please wear life jackets and prepare as the people might have to abandon ship. 

Sewol: It's hard for people to move.

Jeju VTS: Yes, got it.

9.05am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, do you have reception of Sewol?

Jeju VTS: Yes, this is harbour affairs Jeju, Sewol.

Sewol: What's going on with the coastguard?

Jeju VTS: Yes, we have notified the coastguard. Currently we are calling Jindo VTS and Wando VTS. Please hold for a moment.

After this, Jeju VTS notified other ships and Wando VTS.

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Ukraine: Russia Warns US Over More Sanctions

The US has warned Russia it will face further sanctions if pro-Russia militia in eastern Ukraine do not disarm, as the Kremlin admits reinforcement troops have been sent to the border.

Barack Obama said the US could take further economic and diplomatic action against Moscow if an international agreement to calm tensions in Ukraine is not implemented.

Russia, Ukraine, the US and the European Union agreed on Thursday to a series of steps to "de-escalate" the crisis in Ukraine.

But many of the groups that took over government buildings in a bid to declare independence in the largely Russian-speaking part of eastern Ukraine have yet to leave, saying they will only do so if Ukraine's government steps down too.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian foreign secretary Sergei Lavrov late on Friday that the "the next few days would be a pivotal period".

The EU has also indicated it will meet to discuss further sanctions if Russia does not act to make the militias disarm.

But earlier, the Kremlin had indicated Russia was not going to be bossed around, issuing a veiled threat.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian television: "Our Western colleagues are trying to push responsibility towards our side. But it must be underlined: it is a collective responsibility."

"We have troops in different regions, and there are troops close to the Ukrainian border.

"Some are based there, others have been sent as reinforcements due to the situation in Ukraine," he added.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

The White House said it was watching Moscow to see if it is holding up its end of the deal.

US National Security Advisory Susan Rice said: "We expect and we will be watching whether Russia does or does not uphold its responsibility to use its very considerable influence to restrain and withdraw those irregular militia from the buildings and spaces that they've occupied." 

Pro-Russians occupying public buildings in 10 eastern Ukrainian cities have been told to leave in the next few days or face "more concrete actions" from the interim government.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia gave no details of the likely actions, but said: "Hopefully, if those people are ready to leave the buildings, to surrender weapons, today, tomorrow, so we can encourage the OSCE (European security) mission to negotiate, to mediate and implement this.

"But if this will not start in a few days, I think that after Easter there will more concrete actions."

Kiev had previously declared the separatists as terrorists and sent troops to remove them, but had been unable to.

The separatists want a referendum on union with Russia, similar to the one held in Crimea that ultimately led to its annexation by Russia. 

Denis Pushilin, a leader of the self-appointed Donetsk People's Republic, said insurgents do not recognise the Ukrainian government as legitimate.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Donetsk, said there was no sign of anyone there acting on the deal reached in Geneva at talks attended by the US, Russia, the European Union and Ukraine.

She added: "None of those at the talks directly represented those on the ground, particularly those occupying the buildings."

Meanwhile, Europe's Baltic states are in talks to set up their own Russian-language television channel in a bid to counter the deluge of propaganda aimed at their ethnic Russian populations by Moscow-backed media.

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Tanks Doing Stunts Mask Fear In Ukraine

We arrived in Slavyansk to find an armoured personnel carrier (APC) performing stunts outside the mayor's office in the centre of town, to cheers and applause from the crowd.

The lead vehicle was flying a Russian flag, another: "Donbass self-defence."

At first they were greeted as heroes. 

A couple of hundred people gathered to watch, many bringing their children with them, posing for photos in front of tanks and APCs.

Some had brought flowers, which they laid on the vehicles, while others shook the men's hands and said "well done".

But not everyone here supports what is happening here. 

Several people approached us to make it clear that these men do not speak for all of the residents of Slavyansk.

One man told us he was sad to see the military hardware.

"Nobody wants this," he said.

Another woman, pushing a baby in a pram, said they were afraid to walk around with the children.

An armed personnel carrier in Slavyansk

"They say they are peaceful, but we can't see any peace here," she said.

One of the APCs is parked around 20 metres from a children's playground.

There are masked men, carrying loaded automatic weapons, within sight of the children's swings.

But families are still coming to the playground, and life seems to be going on as normal, all around.

You have to negotiate two checkpoints to get into the town.

But once you get into the centre, people are still going to work, going to the shops, taking their children to school.

It does not feel like a town under siege.

But the situation is precariously poised.

As we filmed, a report came through on the activists' radios of a sniper near the outskirts of town.

They piled onto one of the APCs and roared off towards it - hardly the behaviour of professional soldiers - and clearly enjoying the attention.

But the Ukrainian Army position is 25 miles outside the town and it would not take much here to spark a very dangerous confrontation.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Athlete Arrives At Court

Oscar Pistorius has arrived in court in South Africa as his murder trial enters its 25th day - the last before the start of a two-week Easter break.

The day's proceedings started with a stark warning from Judge Thokozile Masipa to people watching the case in an adjoining 'overspill' room, who she said "cheer, boo and do what they like".

"This is not an entertainment place or a picnic nest," she said.

"The room is an extension of this court and you must behave as well as the people in here do."

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel is continuing his cross-examination of defence forensic expert Roger Dixon, who he branded "irresponsible" during a dramatic day of evidence on Wednesday.

Mr Nel accused the witness of giving evidence without having properly read a post-mortem report about the death of Pistorius' girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The 27-year-old athlete admits shooting her but denies a charge of premeditated murder, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

He lowered his head and clasped his hands around his ears as details about Ms Steenkamp's injuries were read to the court yesterday.

One bullet that struck the model's arm caused such serious damage it was like "an instant amputation", Mr Dixon said.

Pistorius, who won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, also denies two further counts related to shooting a gun in public on separate occasions prior to the killing.

More follows...

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Ukraine Separatists Killed Ahead Of Talks

Tanks Do Stunts: A Town Under Siege?

Updated: 7:57pm UK, Wednesday 16 April 2014

By Katie Stallard, Slavyansk, Eastern Ukraine

We arrived in Slavyansk to find an armoured personnel carrier (APC) performing stunts outside the mayor's office in the centre of town, to cheers and applause from the crowd.

The lead vehicle was flying a Russian flag, another: "Donbass self-defence."

At first they were greeted as heroes. 

A couple of hundred people gathered to watch, many bringing their children with them, posing for photos in front of tanks and APCs.

Some had brought flowers, which they laid on the vehicles, while others shook the men's hands and said "well done".

But not everyone here supports what is happening here. 

Several people approached us to make it clear that these men do not speak for all of the residents of Slavyansk.

One man told us he was sad to see the military hardware.

"Nobody wants this," he said.

Another woman, pushing a baby in a pram, said they were afraid to walk around with the children.

"They say they are peaceful, but we can't see any peace here," she said.

One of the APCs is parked around 20 metres from a children's playground.

There are masked men, carrying loaded automatic weapons, within sight of the children's swings.

But families are still coming to the playground, and life seems to be going on as normal, all around.

You have to negotiate two checkpoints to get into the town.

But once you get into the centre, people are still going to work, going to the shops, taking their children to school.

It does not feel like a town under siege.

But the situation is precariously poised.

As we filmed, a report came through on the activists' radios of a sniper near the outskirts of town.

They piled onto one of the APCs and roared off towards it - hardly the behaviour of professional soldiers - and clearly enjoying the attention.

But the Ukrainian Army position is 25 miles outside the town and it would not take much here to spark a very dangerous confrontation.

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Mini-Sub To Join MH370 Search As Slick Found

Search teams are preparing to use a mini-submarine to scan the sea bed for wreckage from flight MH370 "as soon as possible".

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, leading the search, told a news conference an oil slick had been found within the current search zone of the southern Indian Ocean.

Speaking at a press conference in Perth, he said: "We haven't had a single detection in six days so I guess it's time to go underwater."

Mr Houston cautioned that the use of unmanned submarine, Bluefin-21, should not raise hopes that debris from the aircraft will be found.

Crew members look out from the cockpit of a P-3K2 Orion aircraft

"Again, I emphasise that this will be a slow process," he said.

He said two litres of oil were found by Australian vessel Ocean Shield in the area where four "pings" possibly from a black box recorder were detected last week.

The oil is being examined to see if it is aviation fuel, but that process could take several days.

The slick was found 5,500 metres from where the possible signals were detected.

HMS Echo is helping in the search

Eleven military aircraft, one civil aircraft and 15 ships are scouring an area of more than 18,400 square miles (47,600 square km) in today's search.

The centre of the search zone is around 1,400 miles (2,200km) northwest of Perth on the western coast of Australia.

Ocean Shield will stop using its Towed Pinger Locator to try to locate the Boeing 777's black boxes later today.

The submarine will then be deployed from the vessel.

Bluefin-21 was used to find the Air France plane that crashed in 2009

Each of its missions will take 24 hours and the first will cover an area 5km by 8km, Mr Houston said.

The US-manufactured submarine, a 16.2ft (4.93m) long sonar device, can operate at a depth of up to 14,700ft (4,500m), roughly the depth of the ocean floor where the "pings" were detected.

There are fears the plane's black boxes have now stopped transmitting signals, as the batteries last around a month and the plane disappeared more than five weeks ago.

Bad weather is expected to hit the search area this week, making the search more difficult.

The jet, which was carrying 239 people, vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

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Pistorius Accused Of Concocting Evidence

Oscar Pistorius has been accused of concocting his evidence from the witness box to fit the prosecution case.

As he begun his fourth day in the witness box, Pistorius was immediately accused of lying in court as he was cross-examined by prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

Mr Nel said: "Today I'm going to prove your version of events is untrue. That you tailored your version, concocted your story.

Pistorius spends his fourth day in the witness box today

"Your version is so improbable that it cannot reasonably possibly be true."

Earlier, Pistorius, 27, was greeted outside the court by supporters with white balloons and Christians, playing and singing music.

One of the supporters clung to his hand for several seconds as he walked into the Pretoria court.  

The athlete is due to answer more questions relating to the night he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

His account of the shooting has already been challenged in three days of tough interrogation.

On Friday, Pistorius said Ms Steenkamp did not scream or shout as he grabbed a gun and fired the shots that killed her.

The defendant said he could not explain why she had not shouted out, or screamed.

At one point on Friday the cross examination led an emotional Pistorius to admit he could be giving inconsistent answers because he was tired.

This prompted the judge, Thokozile Masipa, to ask if he was able to continue with his evidence.

Pistorius denies premeditated murder and illegally possessing ammunition in relation to Ms Steenkamp's death.

He also denies two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in separate incidents prior to the killing.

More follows...

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Ukraine Crisis: Surrender Deadline Passes

World leaders have warned of a "dangerous escalation" in the Ukraine crisis as fatal clashes broke out in the east of the country.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York after at least two people were killed and several injured when pro-Russian fighters seized government buildings in the city of Slavyansk.

Armed men that Western leaders claim are Russian forces have set up checkpoints and barricades in six towns in the area.

Ukraine's new government set a deadline of 7am UK time for pro-Russian forces to put down their weapons and leave occupied buildings. The deadline passed with no sign of movement by separatist forces.

Pro-Russian forces detain a man in eastern Ukraine

The UK's ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, told the Security Council Sunday's bloodshed was a "dangerous escalation of an already dangerous situation".

He said satellite images show between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops are massed near the Ukraine border, in addition to the 25,000 "illegally" in Crimea.

Sir Mark said there are increasing signs of Russian involvement in orchestrating the violence.

Burning tyres at a checkpoint in Slaviansk

"We want to use this Security Council meeting to expose that but also warn Russia against using events in eastern Ukraine as a pretext for further military escalation in the region," he said.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the meeting he is alarmed by Ukraine's announcement of a "full-scale anti-terror operation" to seize back occupied areas.

He denied Western claims that Moscow is behind the violence, and said Kiev has been using neo-Nazi forces to destabilise its eastern region.

Slavyansk and Kramatorsk are among the latest cities to be hit by unrest

"It is the West that will determine the opportunity to avoid civil war in Ukraine," he said.

"Some people, including in this chamber, do not want to see the real reasons for what is happening in Ukraine and are constantly seeing the hand of Moscow in what is going on. Enough. That is enough."

He said Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine are "concerned about their future" and "don't want radicals to impose their will on them".

Pro-Russian protesters detain a man in Luhansk

Sky's Hannah Thomas-Peter, outside the UN headquarters, said: "There's more than a little irritation on the part of Western diplomats that Russia, having used its veto position within the Security Council to paralyse that body over any meaningful action on Ukraine, has now decided to call an emergency meeting to put forward its point of view on the escalating crisis in Ukraine.

"But unilaterally America is prepared to act. The US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power has said that sanctions against Russia are already beginning to bite.

"And the White House is willing to tighten those sanctions and to extend them to include sanctions against sectors like the mining sector, financial and energy sectors."

Hundreds of civilians have come out in support of the activists

European Union foreign ministers are holding talks later today to discuss how to toughen sanctions against Russia without losing the support of EU governments worried about Moscow switching off the gas to Europe.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement: "The Russian Federation is urged to call back its troops from the Ukrainian border and to cease any further actions aimed at destabilising Ukraine."

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