KUALA LUMPUR: The disappearance of a Malaysian jetliner is an unprecedented aviation mystery, a senior official said on Monday, with a massive air and sea search now in its third day failing to find any confirmed trace of the planeor 239 people aboard.
The head of Malaysias Civil Aviation Authority, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said a hijacking could not be ruled out as investigators explore all theories for the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 en route to Beijing.
Unfortunately we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft, he told a news conference.
As far as we are concerned, we have to find the aircraft, we have to find a piece of the aircraft if possible.
As dozens of ships and aircraft from seven countries scour the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam, questions mounted over possible security lapses and whether a bomb or hijacking could have brought down the Boeing airliner.
Interpol confirmed on Sunday at least two passengers used stolen passports and said it was checking whether others aboard had used false identity documents.
Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens in the early hours of Saturday, about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur, after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 ft (10,670 metres).
A Vietnamese navy plane reported seeing what could have been a piece of the aircraft as darkness fell across the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea on Sunday, but ships and aircraft returning in daylight have so far found nothing.
Underlining the lack of hard information about the planes fate, a US Navy P-3 aircraft capable of covering 1,500 sq miles every hour was sweeping the northern part of the Strait of Malacca on Monday, on the other side of the Malay peninsula from where the last contact with MH370 was made.
Our aircraft are able to clearly detect small debris in the water, but so far it has all been trash or wood, said US 7th Fleet spokesman Commander William Marks in an emailed statement.
Shares in Malaysia Airlines fell as much as 18 percent to a record low on Monday morning.
NO DISTRESS SIGNAL
No distress signal was sent from the lost plane, which experts said suggested a sudden catastrophic failure or explosion, but Malaysias air force chief said radar tracking showed it may have turned back from its scheduled route before it disappeared.
A senior source involved in preliminary investigations in Malaysia said the failure to quickly find any debris indicated the plane may have broken up mid-flight, which could disperse wreckage over a very wide area.
The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet, said the source.
Asked about the possibility of an explosion, such as a bomb, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical causes.
Still, the source said the closest parallels were the explosion on board an Air India jetliner in 1985 when it was over the Atlantic Ocean and the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988. Both planes were cruising at around 31,000 feet when bombs exploded on board.
The United States extensively reviewed imagery taken by American spy satellites for evidence of a mid-air explosion, but saw none, a US government source said. The source described U.S. satellite coverage of the region as thorough.
Boeing declined to comment and referred to its brief earlier statement that said it was monitoring the situation.
The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service. Its only previous fatal crash came on July 6 last year when Asiana Airlines flight 214 struck a seawall on landing in San Francisco, killing three people.
MASSIVE SEARCH
About two-thirds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew now presumed to have died aboard the plane were Chinese. The airline said other nationalities included 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French and three Americans.
The passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi who were not on the plane. Their passports had been stolen in Thailand during the past two years.
An Interpol spokeswoman said a check of all documents used to board the plane had revealed more suspect passports, which were being investigated.
Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpols databases, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said.
Malaysias state news agency quoted Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying the two passengers using the stolen European passports were of Asian appearance, and criticised the border officials who let them through.
I am still perturbed. Cant these immigration officials think? Italian and Austrian but with Asian faces, he was quoted as saying late on Sunday.
A European diplomat in Kuala Lumpur cautioned that the Malaysian capital was an Asian hub for illegal migrants, many of whom used false documents and complex routes including via Beijing or West Africa to reach a final destination in Europe.
You shouldnt automatically think that the fact there were two people on the plane with false passports had anything to do with the disappearance of the plane, the diplomat said.
The more you know about the role of Kuala Lumpur in this chain, the more doubtful you are of the chances of a linkage.
Timeline: Malaysia Airlines flights disappearance
Here is a timeline of events in the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner which vanished from radar screens on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday:
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Flight departs at 12:21 a.m. (1421 GMT Friday), and is due to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) the same day On board the Boeing 777-200ER are 227 passengers and 12 crew. Airline loses contact with plane between 1-2 hours after takeoff.
No distress signal is given, and weather is clear at the time.
Missing plane last has contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.
Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) says plane failed to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT while flying over sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City.
Flight tracking website flightaware.com shows plane flew northeast over Malaysia after takeoff and climbed to altitude of 35,000 feet. The flight vanished from websites tracking records a minute later while still climbing.
Malaysia and Vietnam conduct joint search and rescue operation. China says dispatches two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in search and rescue. US says also sends ships and plane to help.
Malaysia search ships see no sign of wreckage in area where flights last made contact.
Airline says flight was carrying 154 people from China and Taiwan, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians and six Australians. Manifest shows other nationalities as being from: India, France, United States, New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang calls Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, urges Malaysia quickly and vigorously push search and rescue work. Vietnam says giant oil slick and column of smoke seen in its waters.
Two men from Austria and Italy, listed among the passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, are not in fact on board. They say their passports were stolen.
Malaysia Airlines says fears worst and is working with US company that specialises in disaster recovery.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board dispatches team to Asia to help investigate incident. Technical advisers from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing also fly to Asia.
Malaysian authorities investigate identities of at least two other passengers in addition to two who were found to be using stolen passports. Malaysian Transport and Defence Minister says Malaysian investigators meet counterparts from the US FBI.
Radar indicates flight may have turned back from its scheduled route to Beijing before disappearing. Malaysian rescue teams expand their search to the countrys western coast.
Malaysian authorities pore over CCTV footage and question immigration officers and guards at Kuala Lumpurs international airport, concerned that a security breach may be connected to incident.
Interpol says at least two passports recorded as lost or stolen in its database were used by passengers, and it is examining additional suspect passports.
Malaysias state news agency quotes Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying the passengers using the stolen European passports were of Asian appearance.
Investigators narrow focus of inquiries on possibility plane disintegrated in mid-flight, a source who is involved in the investigations in Malaysia tells Reuters.
Vietnamese navy plane spots an object suspected of belonging to the airliners. Too dark to be certain the object is part of plane. More aircraft to be dispatched to investigate the site, in waters off southern Vietnam, in the morning.
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