MELBOURNE
Malaysia Airlines officials have denied claims that objects have been spotted in the South China Sea that could be fragments of the airliner that went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Officials say it has not been established that the debris belongs to the Boeing 777-200 that went missing Saturday with 227 passengers and 12 crew members aboard.
The Vietnamese authorities said Sunday that two objects resembling aircraft parts were spotted in waters south of Vietnam, located close to the area where a possible oil slick was seen by navy planes Saturday.
Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdurrahman, told reporters Monday that Vietnamese officials have not yet confirmed the sighting.
"Unfortunately we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft," he said.
He added that efforts to find the plane were being intensified. "We are every hour, every second looking at every area of the sea," he said.
Abdurrahman said, as well, that officials had not ruled out hijacking as a possible cause of the plane's disappearance. No distress signal was received from the plane.
Other possibilities include an explosion, engine failure, heavy turbulence, pilot error and even suicide, he said.
Interpol confirmed Sunday that at least two passports – one Austrian, the other Italian – recorded in its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database were used by passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370.
The agency reported that it is in contact with its offices in the countries involved to determine the true identities of the passengers who used the stolen passports to board the flight.
It is also conducting checks on all other passports that were used to board flight MH 370 to determine if any of them might have been reported stolen.
“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,” Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said.
Five passengers who were booked on the flight did not board, and their luggage was removed before the plane took off and scanned by airport security.
Six of the 154 passengers aboard are from Australia, and the Australian government has sent a second search and rescue plane to the area to help out.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australian officials are in close contact with the Malaysian authorities, and the news of the stolen passports is worrying.
Malaysian security officials have started an investigation into the airport security systems in the country.
The passengers included 154 people from China and Taiwan, 38 from Malaysia, seven from Indonesia, six from Australia, five from India, four from the U.S., three from France, two each from Ukraine, New Zealand and Canada, and one each from Russia and the Netherlands.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
