This story is compelling enough as a human tragedy and a mystery. My upcoming trip to Malaysia and KL keeps it uppermost in my mind. I shall update as news unfolds.
It has been over 72 hours and the plane is still missing. That a Boeing 777 could vanish without trace for 3 days would be considered fanciful in a work of fiction.
UPDATE 5:
- The two on fake passports are said to have been Iranians seeking asylum in Europe.
- Could the plane have crashed into the jungles of Indonesia and not at sea?
Strait of Malacca
UPDATE 4: The BBC is reporting that the search area now includes the Straits of Malacca, west of Malaysia based on the theory that the plane turned back and crossed Malaysia flying westwards.
UPDATE 3: It is now Day 4 since the disappearance.
- The search area is being increased but there are no further sightings of suspected wreckage.
- Malaysian Airlines: “The B777-200 aircraft that operated MH370 underwent maintenance on 23 February 2014, 12 days before this particular flight on 8 March 2014. The next check is due on 19 June 2014. The maintenance was conducted at the KLIA hangar and there were no issues on the health of the aircraft.The aircraft was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2002 and have since recorded 53,465.21 hours with a total of 7525 cycles. All Malaysia Airlines aircraft are equipped with continuous data monitoring system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) which transmits data automatically. Nevertheless, there were no distress calls and no information was relayed”.
- The hunt for “Mr. Ali” has intensified. “Mr. Ali booked the tickets on the men’s behalf, Police Lt. Col. Ratchthapong Tia-sood said. “We have to look further into this Mr. Ali’s identity because it’s almost a tradition to use an alias when doing business around here,” he said. A second man Iranian man — “Asay” — bought the tickets with cash. Police questioned Asay Monday, Phuikaewkhum said.”
UPDATE 2:
The red circle shows the last known location of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. @DailyMirror on Twitter
- Taiwan says it received a warning about potential terrorist attacks in China, the South China Morning Post has reported. The newspaper said that there were plans for atrocities at Beijing Airport and the city’s subway system. The warning on March 4 followed a knife attack at a railway station in China that killed 29 people.
- Xinhua: China has adjusted the operations of orbiting satellites to help in the search of the missing flight MH370.
-
SCMP: Malaysia Airlines was convicted two years ago for boarding a passenger against the wishes of a foreign government by falsifying passport identity records, it has emerged, and was also prosecuted for a similar incident in 2007. A New Zealand court fined the Malaysian national carrier NZ$5,500 (HK$36,052) in 2012 for allowing a passenger to board its aircraft despite orders not to from immigration authorities in Wellington. It is unclear why the Malaysian national had been deemed unsuitable to board the flight. During the breach, which occurred in January 2012, a check-in attendant enabled a Malaysian national to board the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland by entering an altered passport number into the check-in computer, allowing security systems to be circumvented.
UPDATE 1:
- It is now reported that the two fake passport holders “were of non-Asian appearance”. The two passengers were supposed to fly from Beijing to Amsterdam on Saturday. The passenger travelling as “Luigi Maraldi” was to fly on to Copenhagen and “Christian Kozel” to Frankfurt.
- Mirror: FBI fears four passengers on missing Malaysian jet used stolen passports as ‘mid-air disintegration’ theory investigated
Tags: Boeing 777, MH370
The k2p blog 