'Mid-air disintegration' possible cause of Malaysian crash

S U N D AY 09 MARCH 2014 Officials in Malaysia are focusing on ' i!"air !isin#egra#ion' as #$e %ossi&le cause for #$e !isa%%earance of #$e Malaysian Air 'e#liner on Sa#ur!ay The investigation into the disappearance of the plane its 239 passengers is "narrowing" on this theory, Malaysian officials said. iece of a door and airplane tail have been discovered by !ietna"ese #avy search tea"s loo$ing for lost Malaysian plane. %fficials say they are verifying the findings. & !ietna"ese plane searching for the lost Malaysian &irlines 'etliner has discovered what they believe to be a piece of a co"posite inner door and a piece of the tail belonging to the aircraft. !ietna"(s "inistry of infor"ation and co""unication bro$e the news in a posting on its website. The pieces were located about )* "iles south-southwest of Tho +hu island. Malaysia &irline said it had received no confir"ation about the identity of the frag"ents. #ightfall in the region prevented further identification wor$ , e-pected to continue on Monday. orning(

Vu Trong Khanh @TrongKhanhVu Follow #MH370 Vietnam search and rescue aircraft spotted new floating object. Authorities are not sure what it is. 9:28 AM - 9 Mar 2014 .nterpol e-a"ining suspect passports .nterpol says it is of "great concern" that at least two passengers were able to board "issing Malaysia &irlines flight 3/* with fa$e passports, and is "e-a"ining additional suspect passports." The international police agency confir"ed that at least two of the passports used to board the "issing flight, which disappeared in the early hours of 0aturday "orning, were stolen or lost. .nterpol added that no chec$s had been "ade in its databases of passports stolen fro" an &ustrian and an .talian between the ti"es when they were stolen and the the departure of the flight.

"1hilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the "issing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in .nterpol's databases," .nterpol 0ecretary 2eneral 3onald #oble said in a state"ent. Malaysia(s police chief, .nspector-2eneral 4halid &bu 5a$ar, told reporters that while police investigators 6don(t dis"iss the possibility7 of terroris", they weren(t considering it the "ost li$ely cause for the disappearance of M83/*. &n unheard-of group called the +hinese Martyrs( brigade have clai"ed responsibility for the Malaysia &irlines plane crash in a pdf state"ent e"ailed to several 'ournalists in +hina. 8owever, thestate"ent has been dis"issed as having little credibility by the +hinese "edia. The state"ent cites the grievances of +hina(s 9igher "inority people and the territorial and religious persecution they have suffered as the "otivation for the attac$, but there is no way to verify the clai"s or prove any connection to the 'etliner(s crash. )urne! &ac*+ .t was also reported on 0unday that the lost Malaysia &irlines plane "ay have turned bac$ before crashing, or "ay have suffered a sudden catastrophic event. The Malaysian authorities have widened the area where they are searching for flight M83/*, after radar evidence shows it "ay have turned bac$ before crashing into the 0outh +hina sea. The 5oeing /// flight fro" 4uala :u"pur to 5ei'ing has been "issing for 3; hours. Malaysia &irlines said it was "fearing the worst" for the plane(s 239

passengers. Meanwhile authorities are no closer to deter"ining how or why the plane disappeared, and why no distress co""unications of any $ind were "ade. &uthorities including the 90 are also unsure whether the presence of four people on the plane with false passports is significant, or not. 3ead "ore< 8ow can a plane 'ust vanish= S%il# oil &u# no %lane 0earchers off the coast of !ietna" found oil slic$s on 0aturday, the day after the plane was reported "issing, the Malaysian transport "inister confir"ed. 5ut searches there through the day have revealed no wrec$age or debris as yet. ,our %ass%or#s on %lane sus%ec# Malaysian and 90 investigators are loo$ing into revelations that two passengers were travelling on stolen >uropean passports , one .talian and one &ustrian , and that a further two passengers on board the flight also had fa$e id. &ll four boo$ed through +hina 0outhern &irlines, which was code-sharing the flight with Malaysia &irlines, a Malaysian official with $nowledge of the investigation said. The two on .talian and &ustrian passports had boo$ed the flight as part of a three leg trip to destinations in >urope. .t is understood that they boo$ed the flight the day before. .t "eans that four people had boarded the flight with fa$e identification. Malaysian airport authorities are scanning airport ++T! to identify the "ystery passengers. "&ll the four na"es are with "e," 8isha"uddin 8ussein, a Malaysian defence and transport "inister, told reporters. 8e confir"ed that Malaysian investigators had "et counterparts fro" the 9.0. ?5., and said the

investigation was focusing on the entire passenger "anifest - the list of people recorded who actually boarded the plane. Mystery over tragic disappearance ?oul play aside, no "ore has been revealed about how the plane could disappear without trace. The "odel of airline has an al"ost i"peccable safety record, and Malaysia &irlines is one of the safest carriers in &sia. 1eather conditions were fine and the accident would see" to have occurred at one of the safest parts of a 'ourney , while it was cruising. %thers speculated it "ust have been a sudden catastrophic event that brought the plane down leaving no ti"e for May@ay calls. Aohn 2oglia, a for"er board "e"ber of the #ational Transportation 0afety 5oard, the 9.0. agency that investigates plane crashes, said the lac$ of a distress call suggested that the plane either e-perienced an e-plosive deco"pression or was destroyed by an e-plosive device. ".t had to be Buic$ because there was no co""unication," 2oglia said. 8e said the false identities of the two passengers was "a big red flag". @owned ilot loved 5oeing ///s ?riends of the pilot of the downed plane pilot Caharie &h"ad 0hah, )3 said he was e-tre"ely e-perienced. "8e $new everything about the 5oeing ///. 0o"ething significant would have had to happen for Caharie and the plane to go "issing. .t would have to be total electrical failure," said another Malaysia &irlines pilot who $new Caharie. Malaysia &irlines staff could not be na"ed according to co"pany policy.