New evidence suggests missing plane changed course
The Malaysian military claims it has radar evidence showing that the missing Boeing 777 plane changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait.
The strait is hundreds of miles away from the last location reported by civilian authorities and the development injects new mystery into the investigation of the flight’s disappearance.
Local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief General Rodzali Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner near Pulau Perak, at the northern approach to the strait.
A high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed the report and also said the aircraft was believed to be flying low.
Earlier it emerged that two men travelling with stolen passports on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane were Iranians who had bought tickets to Europe and were probably not terrorists, according to officials.
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The announcement is likely to dampen, at least for now, speculation that the disappearance of the Boeing 777 was linked to terrorism. Police said both men bought their tickets in Thailand and entered Malaysia together.
No debris from the plane has been found. Baffled authorities have expanded their search to the opposite side of Malaysia from where it disappeared more than three days ago with 239 people on board.
The airline says the pilots did not send any distress signals, suggesting a sudden and possibly catastrophic incident. Speculation has ranged widely about possible causes, including pilot error, plane malfunction, hijacking and terrorism.
News that two of the passengers were travelling with stolen passports immediately fuelled speculation of foul play. But Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference that investigators had determined one was a 19-year-old Iranian, Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrdad, and that it seemed likely that he was planning to migrate to Germany.
“We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group,” Mr Khalid said.
Interpol identified the second man as a 29-year-old Iranian and released an image of the two boarding a plane at the same time. Interpol secretary general Ronald K Noble said the two men travelled to Malaysia on their Iranian passports, then apparently switched to their stolen Austrian and Italian documents.
He said speculation of terrorism appeared to be dying down “as the belief becomes more certain that these two individuals were probably not terrorists”.
Mr Khalid said the 19-year-old man’s mother was waiting for him in Frankfurt and had been in contact with police. He said she contacted Malaysian authorities to inform them of her concern when her son did not get in touch with her.
He also said there was no truth to a statement by at least one other government official that five passengers had checked in for the flight but never boarded the plane.
The plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, on the western coast of Malaysia, early on Saturday en route to Beijing. It flew across Malaysia into the Gulf of Thailand at 35,000ft (11,000m) and then disappeared from radar screens.
Authorities have said the plane may have attempted to turn back toward Kuala Lumpur.
The hunt began on Saturday near the plane’s last known location. But with no debris found there, the search has been systematically expanded to include areas the plane could have reached with the fuel it had on board. That is a vast area in which to locate something as small as a piece of an aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines said search and rescue teams have expanded the scope beyond the flight path to the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia’s western coast and Indonesia’s Sumatra island – the opposite side of Malaysia from its last known location.
An earlier statement said the western coast of Malaysia was “now the focus”, but the airline subsequently said that phrase was an oversight.
“The search is on both sides,” civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said.
The search currently includes nine aircraft and 24 ships from nine countries that have been scouring the Gulf of Thailand on the eastern side of Malaysia. Land areas also are being searched.
China, where two-thirds of the passengers are from, urged Malaysian authorities to “speed up the efforts” to find the plane. It has sent four ships, with another four on the way.
A shopping mall in Beijing suspended advertising on its large outdoor LED screen to display a search timer – an image of an plane along with a digital clock marking the time since contact with the flight was lost.
Assuming the plane crashed into the ocean or disintegrated in midair, there will likely still be debris floating in the ocean, but it may be widely spread out, and much may have already sunk. In past disasters, it has taken days or longer to find wreckage.
The United States has sent two navy ships, at least one of which is equipped with helicopters, and a Navy P-3C Orion plane with sensors that can detect small debris in the water. It said in a statement that the Malaysian government has done “tremendous job” organising the land and sea search effort. Vietnamese planes and ships are also taking part.
Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnamese People’s Army, said authorities on land had also been ordered to search for the plane, which could have crashed into mountains or uninhabited jungle. He said military units near the border with Laos and Cambodia had been instructed to search their regions also.
“So far we have found no signs ... so we must widen our search,” he said.
