Kuala Lumpur/Beijing: Malaysian civil aviation authorities said Sunday that search operations continued overnight for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet but have so far failed to locate the Boeing 777 aircraft.
Officials from Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation said at a press conference that they have also dispatched three planes to join the hunt for Flight MH370, which has lost contact with traffic control for more than 30 hours.
Meanwhile, the United States was reportedly investigating terrorism concerns over the missing plane as two people listed as passengers of the MH370 flight were found not on board and their passports were reported stolen in Thailand.
U.S. officials told NBC News that they were "aware of the reporting on the two stolen passports" and have found no clear link to terrorism, but they were checking into passenger manifests and going back through intelligence.
A senior U.S. official was quoted as saying that "we have not determined a nexus to terrorism yet, although it's still very early, and that's by no means definitive."
The Austrian Foreign Ministry confirmed to Xinhua on Saturday that the 31-year-old Austrian man listed in the MH370 manifest was currently not on board but lives in Austria and in good health.
The Austrian lost his passport in Thailand in 2012, said Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss, adding that obviously there is no Austrian citizen on board.
Earlier that day, the father of Luigi Maraldi, the Italian man who was thought to be on the same missing plane, told Xinhua that his 37-year-old son had his passport stolen last August at a vehicle rental shop in Thailand.
Maraldi phoned his father early Saturday morning to tell him that he was not on the missing plane and safe in Thailand.
09/03/14 Xinhua
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Officials from Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation said at a press conference that they have also dispatched three planes to join the hunt for Flight MH370, which has lost contact with traffic control for more than 30 hours.
Meanwhile, the United States was reportedly investigating terrorism concerns over the missing plane as two people listed as passengers of the MH370 flight were found not on board and their passports were reported stolen in Thailand.
U.S. officials told NBC News that they were "aware of the reporting on the two stolen passports" and have found no clear link to terrorism, but they were checking into passenger manifests and going back through intelligence.
A senior U.S. official was quoted as saying that "we have not determined a nexus to terrorism yet, although it's still very early, and that's by no means definitive."
The Austrian Foreign Ministry confirmed to Xinhua on Saturday that the 31-year-old Austrian man listed in the MH370 manifest was currently not on board but lives in Austria and in good health.
The Austrian lost his passport in Thailand in 2012, said Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss, adding that obviously there is no Austrian citizen on board.
Earlier that day, the father of Luigi Maraldi, the Italian man who was thought to be on the same missing plane, told Xinhua that his 37-year-old son had his passport stolen last August at a vehicle rental shop in Thailand.
Maraldi phoned his father early Saturday morning to tell him that he was not on the missing plane and safe in Thailand.
09/03/14 Xinhua
