Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[sandrabbit]

Brings to mind some years ago when a man in this region (was he Thai ?) wanted to get rid of his wife and put a bomb aboard a plane. It worked. But that was before all the terrorist precautions they have nowadays. How good is security at KL ?

One more point: If those using the stolen passports were aboard and involved then that would make it a suicide mission. I suppose those guys actually did board.

I'm in the process of applying for a new passport myself (UK) and they say that I do not have to return my old passport for cancellation - they will simply electronically cancel it so it cannot be used. I suspect that would just stop it being used at places that have good electronic security like in the west - not around here.

I went to the UK last year on my 'old' passport as I hadn't changed my visa and I was only told it was cancelled when I went to the British Embassy to get my new passport notarised for immigration, the consular assistant was surprised that it worked.

[bubba]

I have an "aircraft investigation" theory.

The aircraft suffered serious electronic and comms failure. (confirmed)

The aircraft turned back heading south. (confirmed)

The aircraft landed in the sea without breaking up 20 miles south of last contact. (oil slick found 20 miles south)

The aircraft sank suddenly or they where unable to open the emergency doors and it eventually sank. (a distress beacon was received 20 miles south of last contact)

According to the Malaysian authorities, there is no confirmation of an ELB signal reception.

Also, I saw a presser this morning on CNN with the Malaysian authorities, and they stated that they had begun air searches off the west coast of Malaysia, near Penang. That is in the opposite direction of MAS370's course, and at least an hour's flight time away from the last radar contact.

This tells me that they suspect hijacking as a possibility.

[Lite Beer]

Discrepancy in Malaysia Airlines passenger record: report

BEIJING - A Chinese person whose passport number is among those listed for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines flight did not in fact board the plane, state media reported Sunday.

The person, a resident of Fujian province in eastern China, has no departure record and is still in Fujian, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing police.

The name listed by Malaysia Airlines for the passenger was different to that of the individual who holds the passport with the number in question, Xinhua said.

The owner said the passport had never been lost or stolen, it added.

The disclosure came after it emerged that two people boarded the missing flight, MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with stolen European passports.

-- The Nation 2014-03-09

[mcfester]

CNN interview Malaysian official says the plane turned back but the pilot did not notify them <deleted>???

Malaysian officials said too many lies already. Why would a plane fly back without informing the ground control, as they'll have to take them over.

They had no comms, ground control asked another aircraft to contact them, they did briefly but was muffeld interferance, then they also lost contact.

The unnamed man said his Japan-bound plane was deep into Vietnamese airspace when officials asked him to relay to MH370 to establish its position, and that he succeeded at about 1.30am local time.

The voice on the other side could have been either Captain Zaharie [Ahmad Shah, 53,] or Fariq [Abdul Hamid, 27], but I was sure it was the co-pilot.

There were a lot of interference ... static ... but I heard mumbling from the other end.

That was the last time we heard from them, as we lost the connection,

[The Deerhunter]

Only a small point, but if a terrorist group wanted to have a pop at China, why would they bring down a Malaysian aircraft?

Code share. They possibly THOUGHT they were going to be downing a Chinese airliner. Code sharing simply explains why it COULD have happened, not any opinion of mine on what did happen. Too early for that, but it smells.

[Thai at Heart]

Italian and Austrian passports. The Italian name "Luigi Maraldi" indicates ethnic Italian i.e. European appearance. Austrian is likely Caucasian too. Not the best choices for terrorists of the usual origin, though still wouldn't rule it out.

In Xinjiang, there are ethnic peoples with blue eyes.

There are, but they don't look like Caucasians anyway.

They are more similar to Turks, which share the origin with.

Well yes. But Italians aren't exactly famous for their blonde hair and blue eyes nor all Austrians

[Hulkster]

The stolen passports could mean something but mean completely nothing. Malaysia lets anyone cross their borders with few questions. Kuala Lumpur is a human trafficking hub. Who knows what these guys were involved in.

Then again, they might have been Iranian terrorists. Didn't the Iranian terrorists who blew off their own legs in Bangkok spend time in Pattaya before their failed mission?

[laobali]

"the aircraft simply disappeared"

Terrible for the families and loved ones of the victims, but In terms of blame and compensation, probably the 'best' outcome for the airline, the aircraft manufacturer, insurers and re-insurers, governments and agencies etc etc. Blame focused on lax security and as yet unknown/unconfirmed terrorist activity.

[mcfester]

I have an "aircraft investigation" theory.

The aircraft suffered serious electronic and comms failure. (confirmed)

The aircraft turned back heading south. (confirmed)

The aircraft landed in the sea without breaking up 20 miles south of last contact. (oil slick found 20 miles south)

The aircraft sank suddenly or they where unable to open the emergency doors and it eventually sank. (a distress beacon was received 20 miles south of last contact)

According to the Malaysian authorities, there is no confirmation of an ELB signal reception.

Also, I saw a presser this morning on CNN with the Malaysian authorities, and they stated that they had begun air searches off the west coast of Malaysia, near Penang. That is in the opposite direction of MAS370's course, and at least an hour's flight time away from the last radar contact.

This tells me that they suspect hijacking as a possibility.

Why no radar contact then? Surely they would have been picked up by Thai and Malay radar if heading towards Penang?

[max72]

CNN interview Malaysian official says the plane turned back but the pilot did not notify them <deleted>???

Maybe the plane had been hijaked and the pilots were under threat. But It's too weird they had no time to send a mayday.

The pilots' cabin doors can be sealed. The most scaring hypotesis is that one of the pilot was accomplice of the terrorists.

Edited March 9, 2014 by max72

[max72]

CNN interview Malaysian official says the plane turned back but the pilot did not notify them <deleted>???

Is it possible the pilot was forced to turn around and forced to cut any communications ?

It's possible, but he should have had the time to send a mayday signal, the cabin door where the pilots stay can be sealed.

Maybe the attackers were threatening the lives of some passengers. Just speculations.

I really want to see that CCTV images , how those guys were look like....

Edited March 9, 2014 by max72

[Amir]

What are the chances of two stolen passports, both stolen at separate times and places, of accidentally turning up on board the same downed aircraft ?

The work of Chinese ethnic separatist groups maybe ? A lot more to come on this story.

IMHO the terrorist angle is the most likely scenario at the moment given the lack of any wreckage being found.

Tickets on the stolen passports were -according to receipts- both purchased from an agent in PYX. That's Pattaya....

Well, that italian guy said his passport was stolen in Thailand. He heard the news of his name in TV and inmediately called his family and the Italian embassy to assure he was safe and sound. That's strange there had been no claim of responsability by any terrorist group so far.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... terrorists terrorists everywhere!!!

Why no one mentions anymore the complaint about that wing that was defective which was mentioned yesterday morning.

It could just have been a mechanical accident with the wing that brakes off and at a cruising altitude that would have nearly instantly decomposed the plane in mid-air... Difficult to have time to contact anyone with the speed such accident could have happened. And also difficult to find plane parts...

Anyway, Rip to all the passengers.

[max72]

Italian and Austrian passports. The Italian name "Luigi Maraldi" indicates ethnic Italian i.e. European appearance. Austrian is likely Caucasian too. Not the best choices for terrorists of the usual origin, though still wouldn't rule it out.

In Xinjiang, there are ethnic peoples with blue eyes.

There are, but they don't look like Caucasians anyway.

They are more similar to Turks, which share the origin with.

Well yes. But Italians aren't exactly famous for their blonde hair and blue eyes nor all Austrians

The italian guy is blonde with blue eyes. Check his FB page.

[noddy77]

The doors are terrorist proof. The Captain has an option of squarking the emergency code on his transponder which would explain what exactly has gone wrong. But none of this appears to have taken place.

Edited March 9, 2014 by noddy77

[sirchai]

Why would Terrorists use European passports? Doesn't make any sense. To get caught using fake ID's?

The plane seems to have disappeared.Please read the history and see the canceled flights.

This specific plane was 11.8 years old and had a clean safety record.

http://www.theepocht...d-by-officials/

But the truth is:

http://pic.feeyo.com...69/5691311.html

And their flight history. Please see the canceled flight a day before.

http://www.flightrad...irplanes/9m-mro

Edited March 9, 2014 by sirchai

[Zpete]

Now this is also interesting due to the location being 180 degrees out of

the flight path....

"UPDATE [8.30am]: Bernama reports the Department of Civil Aviation will extend the search and rescue operation to the Straits of Malacca, Malaysian authorities are now awaiting the latest satellite imagery for any signs of wreckage from flight MH370."

Source...http://my.news.yahoo.com/mas-aircraft-goes-missing--says-airline-023820132.html

180 degrees out of flight path would put it right back into the flight path..... :-)

Sorry.....I'll get my coat....

lol, HEADING HOME AGAIN.

Geeeeez, Sunshine, ya neva seen a compass.

[Skipperau]

Stolen IDs are suspicious but it must be remembered that the use of false passports by Security Agencies of many countries is common. There was a case a few years ago when the misuse of Australian passports for this was found. This may or may not be a reason for the Malasian authorities downplaying the signifigence.

Early days and lots of theories to flow under the bridge yet.

Again my sympathies to the families of all concerned.

I wondered how a Malay, Thai, Chinese can use an Austrian passport with an traditional Italian/Austrian name in it.

So a Security Agency would be possible. And most probably not the Austrian or Italian one.

It's very easy to imagine actually, mixed race passenger, Italian father, Chinese mother, hence traditional Italian name. The real question is, WHY?

And I'd like to take this opportunity to add my condolences to the crew and passengers families for the stress this uncertainty is adding to their already crippling grief.

[max72]

Tickets on the stolen passports were -according to receipts- both purchased from an agent in PYX. That's Pattaya....

Well, that italian guy said his passport was stolen in Thailand. He heard the news of his name in TV and inmediately called his family and the Italian embassy to assure he was safe and sound. That's strange there had been no claim of responsability by any terrorist group so far.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... terrorists terrorists everywhere!!!

Why no one mentions anymore the complaint about that wing that was defective which was mentioned yesterday morning.

It could just have been a mechanical accident with the wing that brakes off and at a cruising altitude that would have nearly instantly decomposed the plane in mid-air... Difficult to have time to contact anyone with the speed such accident could have happened. And also difficult to find plane parts...

Anyway, Rip to all the passengers.

we are just speculating, you know...

So far in the passengers list there have been found 4 or 5 names of people who are safe and sound and whose passport had been stolen.

That's enough suspicious to lead toward the hypothesis of terrorism. Perhaps we are wrong. But it would be a weird coincidence.

[Thai at Heart]

https://www.facebook.com/luigi.maramaraldi?fref=ts

this is the Italian whose passport was stolen in 2012.. (just now he is Thailand for holidays)...

not exacty a face that could be used by an Uyghur..

Ethnic Uighurs look like ur average swarthy Mediterranean.

[mcfester]

CNN interview Malaysian official says the plane turned back but the pilot did not notify them <deleted>???

Maybe the plane had been hijaked and the pilots were under threat. But It's too weird they had no time to send a mayday.

The pilots' cabin doors can be sealed. The most scaring hypotesis is that one of the pilot was accomplice of the terrorists.

The doors are terrorist proof. The Captain has an option of squarking the emergency code on his transponder which would explain what exactly has gone wrong. But none of this appears to have taken place.

One of the pilots being an accomplice would explain a alot.

[sandrabbit]

New possible sighting of debris at sea as China sends warships to join search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1444179/new-possible-sighting-debris-sea-china-sends-warships-join-search-missing

photo;South China Morning Post

I don't think this is debris from the crash. The time of the photo was 6:30am, but the timezone was not told. It might be pre dawn.

- The size of these pieces would be huge to be shown from the airplane.

- It's still dark, so every piece would have to be quite light colored

- Pieces are in relatively small group. Winds, currents etc should break it down quite fast.

There has been more realistic sound speculations for the "debris".

- Squid fishers with the lights on

- Some people who fly often on the route mentioned that there is many flower greenhouses which speed up the growing process by using artificial lights during the nights in Vietnam.

.. Just speculations, naturally.

Please see my modified photo and you'll understand that this isn't from a crashed plane. All speculations..

Cant view that (Sorry, you don't have permission for that!)

when you see the picture on the South China Daily News website it looks like, as someone posted in the comments section, as a cities lights at night.

[noddy77]

Why would Terrorists use European passports? Doesn't make any sense. To get caught using fake ID's?

The plane seems to have disappeared.Please read the history and see the canceled flights.

This specific plane was 11.8 years old and had a clean safety record.

http://www.theepocht...d-by-officials/

But the truth is:

http://pic.feeyo.com...69/5691311.html

And their flight history. Please see the canceled flight a day before.

http://www.flightrad...irplanes/9m-mro

If that flight was cancelled how did it manage to return the next day from somewhere you state it never got to?

[max72]

Stolen IDs are suspicious but it must be remembered that the use of false passports by Security Agencies of many countries is common. There was a case a few years ago when the misuse of Australian passports for this was found. This may or may not be a reason for the Malasian authorities downplaying the signifigence.

Early days and lots of theories to flow under the bridge yet.

Again my sympathies to the families of all concerned.

I wondered how a Malay, Thai, Chinese can use an Austrian passport with an traditional Italian/Austrian name in it.

So a Security Agency would be possible. And most probably not the Austrian or Italian one.

It's very easy to imagine actually, mixed race passenger, Italian father, Chinese mother, hence traditional Italian name. The real question is, WHY?

And I'd like to take this opportunity to add my condolences to the crew and passengers families for the stress this uncertainty is adding to their already crippling grief.

But in this case, they should have changed the pictures in the documents

Why ?

Wouldn have been easier to use Asian passports than ?

I don't get it.

Perhaps we are on the wrong path and it was an accident.

But some many stolen passports in the same flight ? Is this a coincidence ? It would be an extremely weird coincidence.

Still too murky to call.....

[laolover88]

When AF plane went down

"One of the first things we had was a series of ACARS messages that showed failure of the aircraft and degradation of the systems," CNN

I think MAS have a lot of explaining to do

[max72]

https://www.facebook.com/luigi.maramaraldi?fref=ts

this is the Italian whose passport was stolen in 2012.. (just now he is Thailand for holidays)...

not exacty a face that could be used by an Uyghur..

Ethnic Uighurs look like ur average swarthy Mediterranean.

No way an Uighur looks like the guy in this picture

https://www.facebook.com/luigi.maramaraldi?fref=ts

He looks very Caucasian. Uighur at most can resemble Turks.

[mcfester]

Tickets on the stolen passports were -according to receipts- both purchased from an agent in PYX. That's Pattaya....

Well, that italian guy said his passport was stolen in Thailand. He heard the news of his name in TV and inmediately called his family and the Italian embassy to assure he was safe and sound. That's strange there had been no claim of responsability by any terrorist group so far.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... terrorists terrorists everywhere!!!

Why no one mentions anymore the complaint about that wing that was defective which was mentioned yesterday morning.

It could just have been a mechanical accident with the wing that brakes off and at a cruising altitude that would have nearly instantly decomposed the plane in mid-air... Difficult to have time to contact anyone with the speed such accident could have happened. And also difficult to find plane parts...

Anyway, Rip to all the passengers.

we are just speculating, you know...

So far in the passengers list there have been found 4 or 5 names of people who are safe and sound and whose passport had been stolen.

That's enough suspicious to lead toward the hypothesis of terrorism. Perhaps we are wrong. But it would be a weird coincidence.

Worth bearing in mind: in fatal 2010 Air India crash - runway overshoot - reportedly 10 had fraudulent passports

[noddy77]

When AF plane went down

"One of the first things we had was a series of ACARS messages that showed failure of the aircraft and degradation of the systems," CNN

I think MAS have a lot of explaining to do

Does anyone know what this means?

[rabas]

New possible sighting of debris at sea as China sends warships to join search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1444179/new-possible-sighting-debris-sea-china-sends-warships-join-search-missing

photo;South China Morning Post

The photo sure looks like debris floating on the water to me. Obviously closer inspection by the China Navy will confirm either way.

If you look at the full photo, the image was taken from the lower right of a plane window with significant zoom, and the light brownish and blueish tone background in the image is light reflected from inside of the cabin. The entire image including the inside window rim are slightly reddish from the camera's white balance setting. If the background light is from the cabin then the outside must be dark.

Thus the image could show lights on the ground. Note all the dots are either slightly red toned or white, the white could he halogen fishing lamps, or possibly the mix of reddish/whitish tones is a mix of fluorescent and incandescent lights. Note also there are small clumps of 3 and 4 spots in a row in some places.

I think this might be a small island or fishing village from 5,000 - 10,000 meters, maybe there are boats floating on reefs of of such an island. It sure does not look like random debris from a broken up plane.

[bubba]

So the Italian and Austrian stolen passport holders board a flight with a connection in Beijing to Europe. Maybe it would be possible to get past immigration with that in KUL. But I don't think it would be so easy to enter any European country using stolen European passports.

Looks to me like they never intended to reach their destination.

[Amir]

Tickets on the stolen passports were -according to receipts- both purchased from an agent in PYX. That's Pattaya....

Well, that italian guy said his passport was stolen in Thailand. He heard the news of his name in TV and inmediately called his family and the Italian embassy to assure he was safe and sound. That's strange there had been no claim of responsability by any terrorist group so far.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... terrorists terrorists everywhere!!!

Why no one mentions anymore the complaint about that wing that was defective which was mentioned yesterday morning.

It could just have been a mechanical accident with the wing that brakes off and at a cruising altitude that would have nearly instantly decomposed the plane in mid-air... Difficult to have time to contact anyone with the speed such accident could have happened. And also difficult to find plane parts...

Anyway, Rip to all the passengers.

we are just speculating, you know...

So far in the passengers list there have been found 4 or 5 names of people who are safe and sound and whose passport had been stolen.

That's enough suspicious to lead toward the hypothesis of terrorism. Perhaps we are wrong. But it would be a weird coincidence.

You might be right, I might be wrong... True that it's a strange coincidence but still... there are a lot of fake passports outside and not all can be detected and this might be absolutely not related at all.

I am just wondering about this image which is supposed to be the wing of the plane a few hours before take off that nobody talks about anymore:

http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/569/5691311.html

On the other hand, I am also wondering how anyone would have let a plane take of with a wing like this (if it's not a fake pic)?

I am just saying that the terrorist option sounds like pretty much already a conclusion for many posters.

Cheers