Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370:

Authorities deny wreckage found from missing jetliner

Updated Mon 10 Mar 2014, 5:35pm AEDT

       
Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement personnel look through binoculars during search and rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 (AFP: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement)

Related Story: Malaysia looking at possible terrorist link to missing flight MH370

Related Story: Australians on missing flight to Beijing named as oil slick spotted at sea

Related Story: Six Australians onboard missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Map: Malaysia

Malaysian authorities say they "remain puzzled" about the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight, saying there has been no confirmation that debris has been found.

Six Australian passengers were among the 239 people on board flight MH370 when it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Earlier today there were reports that possible debris from the plane had been found in the sea off Vietnam's south coast.
But today Malaysia's chief investigator said Vietnamese authorities had not confirmed sighting any wreckage, and said authorities "remained puzzled" about the disappearance.
"We are looking at every possible aspect of what could have happened," said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.
"We have to find the aircraft; we are intensifying our efforts to locate the aircraft.
"We understand you want answers from us, you want details ... we are equally eager as you are to find details and parts of the aircraft.

Flight MH370: What we know

A rundown of what's known about Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and its mysterious disappearance.

"Every hour, every second we are looking at every inch of the sea."

Mr Azharuddin said hijacking has not been ruled out and investigators are looking at all possibilities.

• The plane last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu on Saturday.
• No distress signals were received from the Boeing 777-200ER before its disappearance.
• Australian surveillance planes are joining the search and this morning Vietnamese authorities dispatched aircraft at first light to investigate objects found in the water about 80 kilometres to the south-west of Tho Chu Island in the south of the country.
• Debris which was spotted yesterday was not found to be related to the missing aircraft.
• Two large oil slicks, which authorities suspect were caused by jet fuel, were detected late on Saturday further south off the island chain.
• Malaysian authorities say the oil is being tested to establish where it has come from.
• Royal Malaysian Air Force chief Rodzali Daud says radar data shows that the aircraft may have turned back from its scheduled route to Beijing.

"We looked back at the recording and there is an indication, a possible indication, that the aircraft made a turn-back and we are trying to make sense of this," he said.
"It is, in some part, corroborated by civil radar.
"But we are still looking for areas from our international agencies."

Video: Possible debris found in search for missing jet (ABC News)

Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak yesterday afternoon to convey his condolences and committed to send two RAAF P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft to help with the search for the missing plane.
"The P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime surveillance aircraft ideally suited to this task," Mr Abbott said.
"On behalf of Australia, I again offer my deepest sympathies to the families of the passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines flight."
The first of those planes left Darwin last night, followed by the second this morning.
The first aircraft is due to commence operations today and both will operate for as long as the Malaysian government wants them to.

NZ man emailed 'missing you already' before boarding flight

Video: Danica Weeks received an email from her husband before he boarded. (ABC News)

The wife of a Perth-based New Zealand father of two who was on board the missing flight says she is trying to stay strong for her children.
Paul Weeks, 38, was travelling to Mongolia to start a fly-in fly-out job with a mining contractor.
Mr Weeks, who moved to Perth with his family two years ago, last contacted them from the airport lounge before the flight.
His wife Danica says she is focusing on her children.

Key points: Boeing 777-200ER

• Malaysia Airlines has 15 Boeing 777-200ERs in its fleet, with an average age of 14.2 years.
• The plane involved was powered by two Rolls Royce Trent 800 engines
• The Boeing 777 is the plane maker's most popular wide-body aircraft
• The Boeing 777-200ER has a range of 12,432 kilometres and a cruising speed of 1,029 kilometres per hour
• The 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service
• View a seating map of the Boeing 777-200ER
   

Source: Reuters

"I've got two - an 11-month-old and a three-and-a-half-year-old - who, at three-and-a-half, I mean he's an intelligent little boy, too, and I've just got to be strong for him because ... if the worst-case scenario is confirmed, I have to be his strength."
She says Mr Weeks was looking forward to starting his "dream job".
"He was emailing me when he was in the lounge before he got on the flight," she said.
"He emailed me and the title was 'missing you already' and in it he wrote, you know, 'you and the boys are my world'."
The family of missing Queensland couple Robert and Catherine Lawton has issued a statement thanking the public for their well wishes and prayers.
The couple's daughters and extended family say they are trying to remain positive while also bracing for the worst.
They say their hearts go out to all those on board the missing plane.
Another Queensland couple, Rodney and Mary Burrows, and New South Wales couple Gu Naijun and Li Yuan were also on board the flight.
Mrs Burrows had been a civilian employee with the Queensland Police Service for 16 years.
Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said he had offered support to the family.
"We don't know yet what's happened, and obviously we're hoping against all hope that they might be found alive, but as the time goes on, obviously, the potential tragedy of what's occurred is not lost on the organisation," he said.
In Malaysia, the relatives of the passengers and crew spend their hours at a hotel near Kuala Lumpur's international airport where they wait for news.

Gallery: Malaysia Airlines plane missing

Investigations launched into two stolen passports

Malaysian authorities have meanwhile launched a review of the country's airport security screening processes after it was revealed two of the passengers on the aircraft were travelling on stolen passports.
Authorities have now corrected earlier reports that four passengers on the flight are being investigated, saying they are only interested in the two men who boarded the plane using those passports.
They have collected CCTV footage showing the two potential suspects arriving and boarding the plane.

Timeline: worst air disasters

 

Use our interactive timeline to look back at how MH370 compares with other crashes.

The New York Times has reported that, according to electronic booking records, both men bought their one-way tickets for the flight from the same travel agency in a shopping mall in Thailand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says passport control has been a global issue for some time.
"There may be no connection at all, but nevertheless it is a worrying development," she said.
"I note that a number of overseas authorities are involved in looking at this issue as to how many passengers were travelling on false or questionable passports."
Mr Abbott says that it is not uncommon for passports to be stolen in certain countries.
"I'm just not going to speculate on what the significance of that might be," he said.
According to Interpol reports, last year across the globe passengers boarded planes more than a billion times without having their passports screened against its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database.
Independent aviation analyst Chris Yates says screening is a simple process.
"It's a database that can be interrogated within a minute ... and the results produced on screen to whomever happens to be dealing with the passengers in front of them," he said.

Video: Some information suggests something 'untoward' has occurred. (ABC News)

"It should be a basic standard for security."
Transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday he had activated counterterrorism units and contacted international intelligence agencies, including the FBI.
International police agency Interpol said at least two passports recorded as lost or stolen in its database were used by passengers on board and it was "examining additional suspect passports".
Interpol said no checks of its database had been made by any country on an Austrian and an Italian passport between the time that they were stolen and the departure of the flight.
"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 Interpol's databases," Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble said in a statement.
The legitimate owners of the two passports - Christian Kozel, an Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi of Italy - have said their documents were stolen in Thailand over the past two years, prompting Thai police to investigate a "passport ring".
Officials are investigating why two men using the stolen passports booked flights onward to Europe, which means they did not need Chinese visas and avoided the additional scrutiny that comes from visa application.

Map: Malaysia Airlines missing flight MH370

ABC/wires

Topics: air-and-space, accidents, air-transport, business-economics-and-finance, malaysia, vietnam, asia, nsw, qld, australia, wa

First posted Mon 10 Mar 2014, 2:41am AEDT