Search efforts and Investigations into Malaysian plane mystery continue
Multinational investigations are continuing into the disappearance four days ago of
the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the South China Sea. No trace has been found
of the Boeing 777 and its 239 passenger and crew. Tracey McClure reports:
Ten nations
have sent navy ships, military aircraft, helicopters, coastguard and civilian vessels
in a massive search effort but four days after the aircraft's disappearance, hopes
of finding any survivors have all but dried up.
China, whose citizens accounted
for two-thirds of the passengers and crew, has deployed 10 satellites with high resolution
imaging and other technical capabilities to help in the search.
Meanwhile,
Malaysian police have launched a criminal investigation looking into three possible
scenarios outside mechanical failure: high-jacking, sabotage, and whether any passengers
or crew had personal or psychological problems that might have led to the plane’s
disappearance. Police, who say they are giving weight to all possibilities, have
been trawling through airport videos, passenger and crew lists and international databases
for leads.
Investigators have identified two Iranian men, a 19 and a 29 year
old, as having boarded the plane with passports stolen from European tourists in Thailand.
But Interpol, which reports the two men entered Malaysia using their real passports,
has said it is “inclined to conclude” they posed no terrorist threat. Malaysian police
say they believe the younger man was attempting to enter illegally into Germany to
reunite with family.
And while Malaysian officials are conducting their own
informal investigations in cooperation with other governments and agencies, air industry
experts say they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international
probe under U.N.-sanctioned rules.