Mysterious flight: Malaysia launches terror probe over vanished jet

Malaysian authorities also expand their search for wreckage to country’s west coast, and asks for help from...

KUALA LUMPUR:

Malaysia on Sunday launched a terror probe into the disappearance of a passenger jet carrying 239 people, investigating suspect passengers who boarded with stolen passports, as relatives begged for news of their loved ones.

The United States sent the FBI to investigate after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from radar early Saturday somewhere at sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, but stressed there was no evidence of terrorism yet.

Malaysian authorities also expanded their search for wreckage to the country’s west coast, and asked for help from Indonesia. Searches so far had concentrated on waters to the country’s east, in the South China Sea.

“There is a distinct possibility the airplane did a turn-back, deviating from the course,” said Malaysia’s air force chief, General Rodzali Daud, citing radar data.

But Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the Boeing 777’s systems would have set off alarm bells.

After it emerged that two people boarded the missing flight with stolen European passports, Malaysia’s transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was looking at four suspect passengers in all.

“At the same time our own intelligence has been activated, and of course, the counter-terrorism units... from all the relevant countries have been informed,” Hishammuddin said.

Vietnam spots wreckage

Interestingly, Vietnamese searchers on Sunday spotted possible aircraft debris after combing the sea for nearly 48 hours, officials said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2014.