The Malaysian military says it has radar evidence showing the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of kilometres away from the last location reported by civilian authorities.
The development injects new mystery into the investigation of the flight’s disappearance. local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief Gen Rodzali Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner near Pulau Perak, at the northern approach to the strait. A high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed the report on Tuesday and also said the aircraft was believed to be flying low. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Ships of the Indian Navy that are on patrol in the Malacca Straits are participating in Search and Rescue operations. Sources said that the Indian Navy’s satellite Rukmini has also been activated to try and pick up any clue that may lead investigators to the missing Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Interpol, the international police agency, on Tuesday said that the mysterious disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 four days ago with 239 people on board, was unlikely to have been caused by a terror attack even as investigators were probing possibility of sabotage and hijacking.
“The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it was not a terrorist incident,” head of Interpol, said. His comments came as the agency confirmed the identities of two young Iranian men who used stolen passports to board Malaysia Airline flight MH370 from Kuala lumpur to Beijing on Friday. The two were identified as Pouri Nour Mohammadi, 19, and Delavar Suyed Mohammad Reza, 30. Malaysian police said they were also “looking into four areas: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems of the passengers and the crew, and personal problems among the passengers and the crew” to solve the mystery.
Speaking to reporters, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said they were looking at all angles and studying behavioural patterns of those on board the aircraft. He said that Federal CID director Commander Hadi Ho Abdullah would lead a team to investigate these four areas. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane had disappeared.
Interpol said one of the two Iranians travelling with stolen passport was trying to emigrate to Germany and authorities were in contact with his mother, who had been expecting her son to arrive in Frankfurt. It said the two flew from Doha to Kuala lumpur with Iranian passports and then switched to the stolen Austrian and Italian passports to board the plane. The use of the stolen passports by two passengers on the plane raised fears that its disappearance could be linked to terrorism. Neither Iranian is listed on the Interpol database.