MH370 passengers using stolen passports identified as Iranians.
The Malaysian InsiderThe Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 59 minutes ago
The two passengers travelling with stolen passports on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been identified as Iranians media reports said.
A BBC Persia report quoted an Iranian friend of one the passengers as saying that he had hosted the pair in Kuala Lumpur after they had arrived from Tehran days before their flight to Beijing.
The friend claimed that the men had bought the fake passports as they wanted to migrate to Europe, said the report.
The pair were travelling on passports belonging to Christian Kozel, a 30-year-old Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi, a 37-year-old Italian.
The Financial Times had reported that the tickets were bought by an Iranian in the Thai resort town of Pattaya.
The Financial Times report had said that a Thai travel agent who booked the tickets for the men said that she had been asked to make the travel arrangements by an Iranian contact.
Travel agent Benjaporn Krutnait, booked the tickets through a business contact whom she only knew as "Mr Ali". She said that his first request to book cheap tickets to Europe for the two men was made on March 1.
She had told The Financial Times that it was quite common for people to book tickets through middlemen who then retake a commission.
Ali had asked for the cheapest route to Europe for his clients and did not mention the specific booking Kuala Lumpur-Beijing – unlikely behaviour by would-be terrorists.
Benjaporn initially reserved one of the men on a Qatar Airways flight and the other on Etihad. But the tickets expired when Benjaporn did not hear back from Ali.
The Financial Times said when Ali contacted her again on Thursday, she rebooked the men on the Malaysia Airlines flight through Beijing because it was the cheapest available.
A friend of Ali paid Benjaporn cash for the tickets, the paper reported, adding that there is no evidence that Ali knew the two men were travelling on stolen passports.
Benjaporn made the bookings through a China Southern Airlines office in Bangkok.
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 where his mother lives.
Both Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand, where the passports were originally stolen, host large and established Iranian communities.
US-led sanctions on Iran have plagued the economy and encouraged many young Iranians, who face high unemployment, to seek ways to travel to Europe, North America or Australia – legally or illegally, said a report in The Age.
Investigators in Malaysia are also voicing scepticism that the airliner that disappeared early Saturday with 239 people on board was the target of an attack, US and European government sources close to the probe had said.
Neither Malaysia's Special Branch, the agency leading the investigation locally, nor spy agencies in the United States and Europe have ruled out the possibility that militants may have been involved in downing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
But Malaysian authorities have indicated that the evidence so far does not strongly back an attack as a cause for the aircraft's disappearance, and that mechanical or pilot problems could have led to the apparent crash, the US sources said.
"There is no evidence to suggest an act of terror," said a European security source, who added that there was also "no explanation what's happened to it or where it is."
Meanwhile, dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries were still scouring the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam in search of the B777-200 plane which bears the registration number 9M-MRO. Malaysia Airlines operates 15 B777s. – March 11, 2014.
In a statement released today, the CEO said the aircraft underwent maintenance on February 23, before it departed for Beijing on March 8 and was due for maintenance on June 19.
Ahmad Jauhari said the maintenance of the aircraft was carried out at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport hangar.
"There were no issues on the health of the aircraft," he said, adding that the aircraft, bearing registration number 9M-MRO, was delivered to MAS in 2002 and has recorded 53,465.21 flying hours.
"All MAS aircraft are equipped with a continuous data-monitoring system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS).
"ACARS transmits data automatically and there were no distress calls relayed from MH370."
Beijing-bound MH370 disappeared off the radar at 1.20am on Saturday, along with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
Despite a massive search and rescue operation mounted by 10 nations, including the United States and Australia, the aircraft has not been found.
The SAR teams initially began their search along the flight path of MH370.
However, they have since expanded their search area beyond the flight path and are now focusing on the west coast of the peninsula, along the Strait of Malacca
.
"Authorities are also looking at a possible attempt by MH370 to make an air-turn back to Subang," Ahmad Jauhari said.
The last known position of MH370 before it disappeared was 065515 North (longitude) and 1033443 East (latitude).
Debris and oil slick discovered in the South China Sea have been examined and tested and showed that they did not originate from MH370.
Ahmad Jauhari added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's special envoy to China, Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, was assisting and coordinating all operational matters with MAS. – March 11, 2014.
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