Air safety experts were investigating Saturday night whether an airliner that went missing in the Far East could have been the target of a terrorist attack.
Twenty-four hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared over the South China Sea, the only clue to the fate of its 239 passengers was the disclosure that at least two people on board were using stolen passports.
It raised fears that terrorists could have used the passports to board the craft, which went missing with no prior signals of trouble to air traffic controllers.
The plane was heading from Malaysia to China, where last week 33 people were killed and 143 injured in a terrorist attack in the south-western city of Kunming.
The attack, in which a gang of men ran amok in a Chinese railway station, was blamed on pro-separatist ethnic Uigurs, who come from the mainly Muslim areas of the Xinjiang region that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some Chinese media have called it the country’s own “9/11.”
Last night, it was stressed that it was too early to say whether terrorism was a likely cause of the Malaysia airlines crash. But U.S. officials said they were checking passenger manifests and going back through intelligence. “We are aware of the reporting on the two stolen passports,” one senior official told NBC news. “We have not determined a nexus to terrorism yet, although it’s still very early, and that’s by no means definitive.”
A leading expert on aviation safety said it was “extraordinary” that the pilots of the aircraft did not have time to make a distress call. David Learmount, of the aviation magazine Flight Global, said that because the plane was cruising at about 35,000ft when it lost contact over the South China sea, the pilots would normally have had “plenty of time” to radio in any technical problems before the plane hit the water.
AP PhotoA worker wearing a mask helps the relative of a knife attack victim look through unclaimed luggage after the attack at the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, in western China's Yunnan province Sunday, March 2, 2014.
Chris Yates, another aviation expert, said: “There will be two areas for the investigation: the maintenance of the aircraft and also possible terrorism.”
As darkness fell over the South China Sea last night, rescuers using boats, helicopters and planes had spotted two long oil slicks in the area where the Boeing 777 lost contact with air traffic control.
No wreckage, or survivors, were spotted during a rescue mission that involved five countries and lasted roughly seven hours before night closed in. But there was a surprise after Malaysia Airlines released the passenger list for Flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
After checking the names of passengers 63 and 101, Christian Kozel and Luigi Maraldi, the Austrian and Italian governments said that neither man was on board.
AP Photo/Krissada MuanhawangItalian Luigi Maraldi, left, whose stolen passport was used by a passenger boarding a missing Malaysian airliner, shows his passport as he reports himself to Thai police at Phuket police station in Phuket province, southern Thailand Sunday, March 9, 2014. Maraldi spoke at a police news conference where he showed his current passport, which replaced the stolen one, and expressed surprise that anyone could use his old one.
Both had their passports stolen in Thailand over the past two years, and Mr Maraldi had been issued with a new one according to Italian media.
China Southern, which operated a code-share on the flight, said both the passengers using stolen passports had booked through its ticketing office.
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Asked in the wake of the revelations whether terrorists had seized the plane, Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister said: “We are looking at all possibilities, but it is too early to make any conclusive remarks.”
An unnamed senior U.S. intelligence official told The New York Times that “at this time, we have not identified this as an act of terrorism. While the stolen passports are interesting, they don’t necessarily say to us that this was a terrorism act.”
It was 1.20 a.m. on Saturday when Flight MH370 disappeared, in clear weather and with no distress signal, over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Two thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese, including one infant, travelling on what has become one of the most popular tourist routes in Asia. There were two Canadian passengers on board.
The pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, had more than 18,000 flying hours under his belt and had been flying for Malaysia Airlines for more than three decades.
Data from the plane showed no cause for panic. After a steady climb to 35,000ft, the Boeing 777 levelled off and then abruptly stopped sending its location, speed, and altitude. There was no sign of any sudden descent.
The absence of any signal from the plane particularly troubled experts; even if both engines on the jet had failed, there should have been time to issue a distress call as the plane descended.
It was five hours before Malaysia Airlines issued its first statement, simply saying that they had lost contact with their plane and had begun a rescue operation.
In Beijing, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, broke off a press conference to deal with the crisis. “We are extremely worried,” he said. Shortly afterwards, Xi Jinping, the president, ordered “all-out efforts” on a rescue operation.
An efficient police operation at Beijing airport shuttled relations away from a mass of Chinese and foreign journalists and to a conference room in a hotel, where they sat and waited.
It was six more hours before the search began focusing on the last point of contact from the plane, roughly 120 nautical miles south-west of Vietnam.
Flightradar24 / AFP PHOTO HANDOUTThis image courtesy of Flightradar24, shows the flight track of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 on March 7, 2014. Contact with Flight MH370 with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was lost somewhere between Malaysia's east coast and southern Vietnam, relaying no distress signal or other signs of trouble. No trace had been found by nightfall Saturday but Vietnam said its search planes spotted oil slicks 15 to 20 kilometres (10-12 miles) long in the sea, in the first hint at the Boeing 777-200's possible fate.
At 12.15 p.m., an emergency message was broadcast to all ships in the area asking them to “keep a sharp look out and assist immediately.”
China dispatched two ships from its naval base on Hainan island, while the Vietnamese and Malaysia navies both sent helicopters and ships. Singapore sent Hercules planes to search overhead. A Vietnamese journalist on board a search and rescue helicopter said they had spotted oil slicks on the waters.
But Hishamuddin Hussein, the Malaysian transport minister, said it was too early to confirm a crash and that there were no signs of wreckage. “We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane. We are doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed,” he said.
Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record; it last lost a plane in 1977. The Boeing 777, equipped with twin Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines, is one of the world’s safest planes.
AP Photo/Kyodo NewsThis photo taken in April, 2013, shows a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER at Narita Airport in Narita, near Tokyo. A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact with air traffic control early Saturday morning, March 8, 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and international aviation authorities still hadn't located the jetliner several hours later.
Its only fatal crash in a 19-year history came last July when an Asiana Airlines jet missed the runway in San Francisco and three people were killed.
Experts said investigators would concentrate not only on whether the plane had suffered some catastrophic structural or engine failure, but also on sudden and unforeseen turbulence, some sort of attack on the plane, or even the suicide of the pilot.
But, a full day after the tragedy, the only news that Malaysia Airlines could issue was that “at this stage, our search and rescue teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have failed to find evidence of any wreckage.” It added: “The sea mission will continue while the air mission will recommence at daylight.”
The families of the passengers in Beijing were furious, having been held throughout the day in the hotel with minimal information. As the day came to a close, the relations retired to rooms in the hotel, still without any news, their hopes fading.