Debris could be clue to fate of missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Mystery still surrounds the location of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 as international teams search the seas for it.

Malaysia Airlines Commercial Director Hugh Dunleavy, centre. The jet was last inspected 10 days ago and found to be “in proper condition”. Jason Lee / Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR // Vietnamese authorities searching waters for the missing Boeing 777 jetliner spotted an object on Sunday that they suspected was one of the plane’s doors, as international intelligence agencies joined the investigation into two passengers who boarded the aircraft with stolen passports.

More than a day and half after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing, no confirmed debris from the plane had been found, and the final minutes before it disappeared remained a mystery. The plane, which was carrying 239 people, lost contact with ground controllers somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam after leaving Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning for Beijing.

The state-run Thanh Nien newspaper cited Lt Gen Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, as saying searchers in a low-flying plane had spotted an object suspected of being a door from the missing jet. It was found in waters about 90 kilometres south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted on Saturday.

“From this object, hopefully (we) will find the missing plane,” Mr Tuan said.

The missing plane apparently fell from the sky at cruising altitude in fine weather, and the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal.

Malaysia’s air force chief, Rodzali Daud, said radar indicated that the plane may have turned back.

“We are trying to make sense of this,” Mr Daud said. “The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back, and in some parts this was corroborated by civilian radar.”

Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said pilots are supposed to inform the airline and traffic control authorities if the plane does a U-turn. “From what we have, there was no such distress signal or distress call per se, so we are equally puzzled,” he said.

Authorities were checking on the identities of the two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen passports. On Saturday, the foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flight’s manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand.

“I can confirm that we have the visuals of these two people on CCTV,” Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, adding that the footage was being examined. “We have intelligence agencies, both local and international, on board.”

“Our focus now is to find the aircraft,” he said, adding that finding the plane would make it easier for authorities to investigate any possible foul play.

Interpol confirmed that at least two stolen passports used by passengers on the plane were registered in its databases. It said no one had checked the databases, but added that most airlines and countries do not usually check for stolen passports.

In addition to the plane’s sudden disappearance, which experts say is consistent with a possible on-board explosion, the stolen passports have strengthened concerns about terrorism as a possible cause. Al Qaeda militants have used similar tactics to try and disguise their identities.

Still, other possible causes would seem just as likely at this stage, including a catastrophic failure of the plane’s engines, extreme turbulence, or pilot error or even suicide. Establishing what happened with any certainty will need data from flight recorders and a detailed examination of any debris, something that will take months if not years.

* Associated Press