By EILEEN NG
Source: Yahoo News
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The
Malaysian military has radar data showing the missing Boeing 777
jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of
kilometers (miles) from the last position recorded by civilian
authorities, according to a senior military official.
The development
injects more mystery into the investigation of the disappearance of
Saturday's flight, and raises questions about why the aircraft was not
transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.
Local
newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali
Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner at
2:40 a.m. near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the strait, a
busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and
Indonesia's Sumatra island.
A
high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed
the report and also said the plane was believed to be flying low. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the information.
Authorities
had earlier said the plane, which took off from Kuala Lumpur on the
western coast of Malaysia at 12:40 a.m. Saturday en route to Beijing,
may have attempted to turn back, but they expressed surprise that it
would do so without informing ground control.
The search for the plane was
initially focused on waters between the eastern coast of Malaysia and
Vietnam, the position where aviation authorities last tracked it. No
trace of the plane, which was carrying 239 people, has been found by
more than 40 planes and ships from at least 10 nations searching the
area.
Earlier Tuesday, Malaysia
Airlines said in a statement that search and rescue teams had expanded
their scope to the Malacca Strait. An earlier statement said the western
coast of Malaysia was "now the focus," but the airline subsequently
said that phrase was an oversight. It didn't elaborate. Civil aviation
chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the search remained "on both sides"
of the country.
Also Tuesday,
authorities said two people who boarded the flight using stolen
passports were Iranians who had purchased tickets to Europe. Their use
of stolen documents had raised speculation of a possible terrorist link.
Malaysian
police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators had determined one was
a 19-year-old Iranian, Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrdad, and that it seemed
likely he was planning to migrate to Germany.
"We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group," Khalid said.
Interpol identified the second man
as Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, a 29-year-old Iranian, and released an
image of the two boarding a plane at the same time. Interpol Secretary
General Ronald K. Noble said the two men traveled to Malaysia on their
Iranian passports, then apparently switched to their stolen Austrian and
Italian documents.
He said
speculation of terrorism appeared to be dying down "as the belief
becomes more certain that these two individuals were probably not
terrorists." He appealed to the public for more information about them.
Noble said neither of the men had a criminal record.
Malaysia
Airlines, meanwhile, said it is investigating an Australian television
report that the co-pilot on the missing plane had invited two women into
the cockpit during a flight two years ago.
Jonti
Roos described the encounter on Australia's "A Current Affair." The
airline said it wouldn't comment until its investigation is complete.
Roos said she and her friend were
allowed to stay in the cockpit during the entire one-hour flight on
Dec. 14, 2011, from Phuket, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur. She said the
arrangement did not seem unusual to the plane's crew.
"Throughout the entire flight, they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight," Roos said.
Roos didn't immediately reply to a message sent to her via Facebook.
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