QZ8501: Mayat ke tujuh mangsa nahas ditemui

Gambar: mynewshubb cc

KUALA LUMPUR: Satu lagi mayat mangsa nahas pesawat Air Asia QZ8501 telah berjaya ditemui Pasukan Mencari dan Menyelamat (SAR) Indonesia pada hari ini, menjadikan jumlah mayat mangsa nahas kepada tujuh orang setakat ini.

Menurut portal berita Kompas TV, mayat ketujuh yang ditemui itu belum dapat dipastikan jantinanya.

gambar: malaysian review com

Pada masa sekarang, empat mangsa yang ditemui hari ini masih berada di kapal SAR KRI Bung Tomo, dan akan dibawa ke Pangkalan Bun, Kalimantan Tengah bila cuaca kembali baik.

Pada Selasa, tiga mayat telah ditemui dan dipindahkan ke  Hospital Bhayangkara di Surabaya untuk proses pengecaman.

astroawani

Tiga lagi mayat dijumpai, salah satu berpakaian pramugari

Gambar: Malaysiareviw com

KUALA LUMPUR: Pencarian mangsa nahas pesawat AirAsia QZ8501 pada hari keempat berjaya menemui tiga lagi mayat, di mana salah satunya berpakaian pramugari, lapor metrotvnews.com.

Ketua pasukan SAR Indonesia (Basarnas) FHB Soelistyo berkata selain mangsa wanita yang berpakaian  pramugari, dua lagi mangsa yang ditemui adalah lelaki.

“Dengan penemuan ini, enam jenazah berjaya dipindahkan,” katanya dalam suatu sidang media tadi.

Menurut beliau, jenazahmangsa itu masih berada di dalam kapal kerana cuaca buruk. Mayat akan dibawa ke Pengakalan Bun apabila cuaca kembali baik, tambahnya lagi.

Pesawat AirAsia QZ8501 yang membawa 162 penumpang hilang daripada radar pada Ahad. Semalam, pasukan SAR telah menemui tiga mayat nahas pesawat itu.

astroawani

Tentera US telah membelanjakan USD3.3. juta dalam misi pencarian MH370- U.S. military has spent $3.3 mln on Malaysia Airlines search - Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has spent more than $3.3 million on the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and has put in place plans that nearly double the original $4 million available for the hunt, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.

Army Colonel Steve Warren said the Defense Department spent $3.2 million between March 8 and March 24 on the initial search for the Boeing 777-200ER, which went missing more than three weeks ago during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"This paid for ships steaming and helicopters flying, helicopters and planes," Warren told reporters.

Those funds came from $4 million that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel initially authorized in spending from the Pentagon's Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid fund, he said.

As the search for the missing plane shifted to the southern Indian Ocean, the Pentagon's contribution to the effort narrowed to flying Navy P-8 surveillance planes out of Perth, Australia.

Funding for the effort then shifted to the Navy's Operations and Maintenance budget. Between March 25 and March 31, the Navy spent about $148,300 to fly its P-8s in the ocean search mission, he said.

The Pentagon also responded to a Malaysian request to provide underwater search equipment, sending a Towed Pinger Locator as well as a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle. Both devices can be used to listen for pinging sounds emitted by the plane's flight data recorders.

Warren said no specific limit had been set on the funding for flying the P-8s. He said the Pentagon had set an initial budget of $3.6 million for the underwater search equipment being provided by the Naval Sea Systems Command. That gear is still en route to the search area.

"That's how much we've budgeted for the pinger and the Bluefin," Warren said. "We don't have an exact cost yet because it's going to vary depending on how much it gets used."

Up to 10 planes and nine ships from a half dozen countries on Wednesday scoured a stretch of ocean roughly the size of Britain, where the Malaysia Airlines jetliner is believed to have crashed.

Authorities have not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the disappearance, but say all the evidence suggests the plane was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Paul Simao)

@Reuters

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Bayangkan berapa banyak yang perlu Kerajaan Malaysia belanjakan bagi misi pencarian MH370 yang akhirnya dikatakan disabotaj dan dihijack, walaupun sudah hamp;ir 30 hari misi pencarian dilakukan samada di Laut China Selatan, Koridor Utara dan yang terkini di Koridor Selatan.

Misi yang tidak ketahuan ini tentunya menyulitkan kerana mencari sesuatu tanpa ada petunjuk yang jelas, namun ianya perlu dicari demi menjaga maruah negara dan juga memenuhi tuntutan ahli keluarga penumpang MH370 yang perlukan bukti fizikal sebagai bukti bahawa ahli keluarga mereka sememangnya hilang.

Petunjuk bagi MH370 disabotaj tentunya ia menjadi 'sulit dan rahsia kerajaan' untuk dimaklumkan kepada umum tentang apa sebenarnya yang berlaku dan siapa dalangnya. Mungkin ianya dalam tindakan pihak perisikan kerajaan Malaysia dalam menyelesaikan isu ini.

Semoga doa dan solat hajat seluruh umat Islam di Malaysia dan seluruh dunia dimakbulkan moga tuhan tunjukkan jalan keluar kerana tindakan dan apa yang perlu dilakukan sekarang sememangnya menelan kos yang amat besar demi maruah negara. Ianya juga dapat menjimatkan kewangan kerajaan dari duit dan hasil rakyat demi kelangsungan Malaysia tercinta.

MH370: Coastguards from Indian islands join lost Malaysian jet search

Coastguards from India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands joined the airborne search today for a missing Malaysian airliner, a senior official told Reuters.

A Dornier aircraft belonging to the coastguard set off at 2.30 pm local time to search the eastern side of the Andaman islands, on orders from New Delhi, said VSR Murthy, the inspector general of the coastguard service on the islands.

The airliner, which had 239 people on board, vanished from air traffic control screens midway between Malaysia's east coast and Vietnam.

Malaysia's military radar has detected what could have been the jetliner in the northern Malacca Strait, a stretch of water that flows into the Andaman Sea, Malaysia's air force chief said earlier today.

He stressed that the information needed to be corroborated. – Reuters, March 12, 2014.

MH370: Confusion as search for flight MH370 spreads across Southeast Asia

The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner expanded today to cover a swathe of Southeast Asia, from the South China Sea to India's territorial waters, with authorities no closer to explaining what happened to the plane or the 239 people on board.

Vietnam briefly scaled down search operations in waters off its southern coast, saying it was receiving scanty and confusing information from Malaysia over where the aircraft may have headed after it lost contact with air traffic control.

Hanoi later said the search - now in its fifth day - was back on in full force and was even extending on to land. China also said its air force would sweep areas in the sea, clarifying, however, that no searches over land were planned.

The seas off India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands are also being combed for traces of the lost jet.

"We are expanding to the east of the expected route of the flight and on land," Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, Vietnam's deputy army chief of staff and spokesman for its search and rescue committee, told reporters.

The confusion over where to look is adding to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern aviation history, and prolonging the agonising wait for hundreds of relatives of the missing.

Flight MH370 dropped out of sight an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday, under clear night skies and with no suspicion of any mechanical problems.

Dozens of planes and ships have already searched tens of thousands of square miles of Malaysia and off both its coasts without finding a trace of the Boeing 777.

Adding to the frustration and uncertainty, Malaysia's military has said the plane could have turned around from its planned flight path, but there were conflicting statements and reports about how far and in which direction it could have flown after communication was lost.

Off course?

Malaysia's air force chief, General Rodzali Daud, denied saying military radar had tracked MH370 flying over the Strait of Malacca off the country's west coast, about 500km from the point, roughly midway between the east coast town of Kota Baru and Vietnam, where it was last seen by air traffic control.

Malaysia's Berita Harian newspaper on Tuesday quoted Rodzali as saying the plane was last detected at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca at 2.40am on Saturday, more than an hour after it lost contact.

"It would not be appropriate for the Royal Malaysian Air Force to issue any official conclusions as to the aircraft's flight path until a high amount of certainty and verification is achieved," Rodzali said in a statement on Wednesday.

"However all ongoing search operations are at the moment being conducted to cover all possible areas where the aircraft could have gone down in order to ensure no possibility is overlooked."

Indonesia and Thailand, which lie on either side of the northern part of the Malacca Strait, have said their militaries detected no sign of any unusual aircraft in their airspace.

The massive search operation involving ships and aircraft from 10 countries is spread out over the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, which lie betweenMalaysia and Vietnam, and in the Strait of Malacca extending into the Andaman Sea.

An Indian foreign ministry official said Malaysia has sought its help in the search. India has a large military command in its Andaman and Nicobar islands and itsnavy patrols in the Malacca Strait.

One of several theories

A senior military officer who had been briefed on the investigation told Reuters on Tuesday that the missing aircraft had made a detour to the west after communications with civilian authorities ended.

"It changed course after Kota Baru and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the officer said.

After the comments from the officer, a non-military source familiar with the investigations said the reported detour was one of several theories and was being checked.

If the plane had made such a detour it would undermine the theory that it suffered a sudden, catastrophic mechanical failure, as it would mean it flew at least 500kmd after its last contact with air traffic control.

In the absence of any concrete evidence to explain the plane's disappearance, authorities have not ruled out anything. Police have said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

The airline said it was taking seriously a report by a South African woman who said the co-pilot of the missing plane had invited her and a female companion to sit in the cockpit during a flight two years ago, in an apparent breach of security.

"Malaysia Airlines has become aware of the allegations being made against First Officer Fariq Ab Hamid which we take very seriously. We are shocked by these allegations. We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident," the airline said in a statement.

The woman, Jonti Roos, told Reuters that she and her friend were invited to fly in the cockpit by Fariq and the pilot between Phuket, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur in December 2011.

"I thought that they were highly skilled and highly competent and since they were doing it that it was allowed," Roos said. "I want to make it clear, at no point did I feel we were in danger or that they were acting irresponsibly."

Hugh Dunleavy, the commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, told Reuters there was no reason to blame the crew.

"We have no reason to believe that there was anything, any actions, internally by the crew that caused the disappearance of this aircraft," he said.

The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service. Its only previous fatal crash came on July 6 last year when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 struck a seawall on landing in San Francisco, killing three people.

US planemaker Boeing has declined to comment beyond a brief statement saying it was monitoring the situation. – Reuters, March 12, 2014.

Jumpa rakit getah di Selat Melaka

Oleh Mohd Helmi Irwadi Mohd Nor

Port Dickson: Satu objek dipercayai rakit getah keselamatan kapal terbang dengan tulisan 'boarding' ditemui sekumpulan empat nelayan kira-kira 10 batu nautika dari pantai di sini, semalam.

Penemuan kira-kira jam 12 tengah hari itu dipercayai dapat memberi petunjuk dalam usaha pihak berkuasa mengesan pesawat MH370 milik Penerbangan Malaysia (MAS) yang dilaporkan hilang dan terputus hubungan dengan menara kawalan sejak awal Sabtu lalu.

Nelayan Azman Mohamad, 40 berkata, mereka sedang menangkap ikan di perairan terbabit sebelum sebelum terpandang objek berkenaan tenggelam timbul dipukul ombak.


Katanya, dia bersama tiga rakan yang mengikuti perkembangan kes kehilangan pesawat MH370 melalui media, tertarik untuk melihat objek itu dengan lebih dekat.

"Saya dan rakan sedaya upaya cuba mengambil objek itu dan berjaya sebelum menambatnya pada bot kerana bimbang ia tenggelam dalam laut.

"Objek itu mungkin tidak mampu terapung lama kerana koyak atau bocor," katanya, ketika dihubungi semalam.
Azman yang sudah 20 tahun menjadi nelayan berkata, mereka keluar menangkap ikan pada jam 8 pagi dan pulang kira-kira jam 8 malam.

"Sebaik menemui objek itu, saya terus menghubungi Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia (APMM) di Kuala Linggi, Melaka, untuk mendapatkan bantuan selepas gagal menaikkan objek itu yang terlalu berat.

"Saya yakin penemuan objek itu penting kerana mungkin boleh menjadi petunjuk kepada usaha mencari pesawat MH370 kerana terdapat tulisan ‘boarding’ pada permukaan objek itu.

"Ia mungkin adalah rakit getah penyelamat yang dibekalkan kepada penumpang pesawat untuk menyelamatkan diri di laut," katanya.

Katanya, sebaik bot APMM tiba di lokasi, tugas mengangkat objek itu diserahkan kepada pasukan berkenaan, manakala mereka kemudian menyambung kerja menangkap ikan.

Sementara itu, jurucakap APMM Kuala Linggi ketika dihubungi mengesahkan sepasukan anggotanya dihantar ke tempat kejadian untuk menyiasat penemuan itu.

Bagaimanapun, katanya objek itu terus tenggelam dalam laut dan tidak sempat diselamatkan.

Artikel ini disiarkan pada : 2014/03/12@Harian Metro

MH370: Slow decompression may have knocked all onboard MH370 unconscious, says blog

A slow decompression may have occurred onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and knocked its occupants, including its crew members, unconscious as the plane continued to fly on autopilot.

The decompression might have been caused by cracking or corrosion on the aircraft's fuselage skin, which might have also disabled communication.

These explanations are contained in a blog article titled "MH370 – what happened".

The article, however, does not carry the name of the writer who has come up with the "plausible explanation" on what happened to the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER passenger jet and why it was missing.

The author said the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airworthiness Directive (AD) for Boeing 777 aircraft could be a clue for investigators.

According to the directive issued in September last year, the FAA had proposed the adoption of a new AD for certain Boeing 777 aircraft. This followed a report of cracking in the fuselage skin underneath the satellite communication (Satcom) antenna adapter.

The AD requires repetitive inspections of the visible fuselage skin and doubler, if installed, for cracking, corrosion, and any indication of contact of a certain fastener to a bonding jumper, and repair if necessary.

Cracking and corrosion in the fuselage skin can lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane.

The nameless author said it was plausible that a fuselage section near the Satcom antenna adapter failed. It would then disable the satellite-based GPS (global positioning system), ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system), and ADS-B/C (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast/contract) communications, and leading to a slow decompression that left all occupants unconscious.

The writer said if such decompression left the aircraft intact, the autopilot would have flown on the planned route or maintained its direction or altitude until it runs out of fuel.

A slow decompression, from a golf-ball-sized hole for instance, would have gradually impaired and confused the pilots before cabin altitude (pressure) warnings sounded.

The writer offered a chain of events that could have happened onboard MH370.

"Likely fuselage failure near Satcom antenna adapter disabled some or all of GPS, ACARS, ADS-B, and ADS-C antennas and systems.

"Thus, only primary radars would detect the plane. Primary radar range is usually less than 100nm (nautical miles) and is generally ineffective at high altitudes.

"If the decompression was slow enough, it’s possible the pilots did not realise to put on oxygen masks until it was too late." The writer said oxygen masks would not deploy until cabin altitude reaches 13,500m and the passengers were likely already unconscious by then.

Since it was also a red-eye flight, most passengers would had been sleeping and perhaps unaware of oxygen deprivation.

"No confirmed debris has been found anywhere near the search area, consistent with the plane having flown for hours after it lost radar contact."

The writer said another pilot flying 30 minutes ahead of MH370 heard "mumbling" from the missing plane.

It was because very high frequency (VHF) communication would be unaffected by Satcom equipment failure, he said. It was reported earlier this week that another Boeing 777 pilot, who was flying to Narita, Japan, had established contact with MH370 just after 1.30am on Saturday around the time the plane went off the radar.

The pilot was asked by Vietnamese air traffic control to use his plane's emergency frequency to ask MH370 to establish its position after the authorities lost contact with the MAS jet.

The pilot had reported that there was a lot of interference and static, as well as mumbling before he lost contact with MH370.

On how relatives got through the mobile phones of the missing MH370 passengers, the writer said the plane was equipped with cellular communication hardware, supplied by AeroMobile, to provide GSM services via satellite.

The hardware is, however, an aftermarket product, which is not connected through Satcom to the writer's knowledge.

"This explains why 19 families signed a statement alleging they were able to call the MH370 passengers and hear their phones to ring, but with no response.

"When Malaysia Airlines tried to call the phone numbers a day later, the phones did not ring. By this time, fuel would have been exhausted."

The writer also agreed with some early reports that an “explosive decompression” or “inflight disintegration” was unlikely.

"This was likely a slow decompression that gradually deprived all crew and passengers of oxygen, leaving the autopilot to continue along the route autonomously.

"The aircraft may be at the floor of the East China Sea, Sea of Japan, or the Pacific Ocean thousands of miles northeast from the current search zone."

The author also offered some "sensible and low-cost recommendations to best aid recovery efforts". Investigators, the writer said, should obtain data logs from primary radars throughout mainland China that would have been along the planned route because they may be the best clue as to the trajectory of the aircraft.

"Per the latest reported news, the Strait of Malacca is a possibility. Investigators should also obtain all passengers’ cell phone log and location data.

"The timing of the last successful cellular connection (ring/SMS/data-packet) can predict how long the plane was in the air. iPhone/iOS location (GPS) data may be available from Apple if subpoenaed. Android location data may be available from Google.

"Add a secondary search space to include a 300nm radius around Beijing, focusing on surrounding bodies of water. Using planned routing trajectory, known autopilot logics, fuel quantities, and weather patterns, it may be possible to define a smaller 50nm x 50nm search space. Consider running the above scenario in the MH’s 777-200ER full flight simulator.

"Boeing should provide expertise about the Satcom antenna schematics and autopilot/navigation logic, so as to help plot this second search space."

The author added that an email with the recommendations had been sent to the National Transportation Safety Board's media relations.

MH370 left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at a 12.41am on Saturday with 227 passengers and an all-Malaysian crew of 12.

The plane was supposed to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day but it never showed.

According to reports, all contact with the plane was lost about 1.30am. Search and rescue operations around the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea have yet to yield any results. – March 12, 2014.

@Malaysian Insider

Search for MH370 focusing on Andaman Sea, Vietnam stops air operations

The international search for the missing Malaysia Airlines B777-200ER has been expanded into the Andaman Sea, hundreds of kilometres to the northwest of the original search radius as Vietnam suspended air operations in its waters.

The multinational search for flight MH370 which vanished last Saturday involves more than 40 ships and three dozen aircraft combing an area from the Andaman Sea to the South China Sea.

"Yes, above Sumatra is the Andaman Sea," director-general of Civil Aviation Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told AFP when asked to confirm whether ships and planes were searching for missing flight MH370 there.

Sumatra is a large Indonesian island south of the Andaman Sea. The body of water is off Thailand's west coast.

Flight MH370 with 239 people on board had left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early Saturday but went missing from radar screens 40 minutes into the six-hour flight. It never arrived.

Vietnam also said today it had suspended its air search for MH370 as it waited for Malaysia to clarify the potential new direction of the multi-national hunt.

"We've decided to temporarily suspend some search and rescue activities, pending information from Malaysia," deputy minister of transport Pham Quy Tieu said, adding that a sea search was ongoing, but on a smaller scale. – March 12, 2014.

@Malaysian Insider & Yahoo News

China says search efforts for missing MH370 airplane to be expanded to land areas

China's air force will add two planes to the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 jetliner, the country's civil aviation chief said today, adding that search and rescue efforts would be broadened to include land areas.

Li Jiaxiang, chairman of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, made the comments on the sidelines of China's annual parliament.

In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation has so far found no trace of the aircraft days after it disappeared, carrying 239 passengers and an all-Malaysian crew of 12.

The passengers included 154 citizens from China or Taiwan, and 38 Malaysians.

Into its fifth day of searching, the operation had grown to involve 42 ships and 35 aircraft from Southeast Asian countries, Australia, China, New Zealand and the United States, with India being the latest country to join the search. – Reuters, March 12, 2014.

Investigators chasing 'every angle' on missing jet

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Dozens of ships and aircraft have failed to find any piece of the missing Boeing 777 jet that vanished more than two days ago above waters south of Vietnam as investigators pursued "every angle" to explain its disappearance, including hijacking, Malaysia's civil aviation chief said Monday.

Malaysian maritime officials found some oil slicks in the South China Sea and sent a sample to a lab to see if it came from the plane, the Department of Civil Aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, told a news conference.

Hundreds of distraught relatives were gathered in a hotel in Beijing, waiting to be flown to Malaysia. Of the 227 passengers, two-thirds were Chinese. There were also 38 passengers and 12 crew members from Malaysia, and others from elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America, including three Americans.

"We accept God's will. Whether he is found alive or dead, we surrender to Allah," said Selamat Omar, a Malaysian whose 29-year-old son Mohamad Khairul Amri Selamat was heading to Beijing for a business trip. He said he was expecting a call from his son after the flight's scheduled arrival time at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Instead he got a call from the airline to say the plane was missing.

Vietnamese ships working throughout the night could not find a rectangular object spotted Sunday afternoon that was thought to be one of the doors of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.

"We have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft," Azharuddin said, adding that the search operation has involved 34 aircraft and 40 ships covering a 50-nautical mile radius from the point the plane vanished from radar screens early Saturday about one hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

He said officials from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board have arrived to help in the investigation.

As hope faded for relatives of the 239 people who were aboard Flight MH370, attention focused on how two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft using stolen passports. Interpol confirmed it knew about the stolen passports but said no authorities checked its vast databases on stolen documents before the jet departed

Warning that "only a handful of countries" routinely make such checks, Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble chided authorities for "waiting for a tragedy to put prudent security measures in place at borders and boarding gates."

Still, there was no indication that the two men had anything to do with the tragedy.

Possible causes of the apparent crash include an explosion, catastrophic engine failure, extreme turbulence, or pilot error or even suicide.

Azharuddin acknowledged many theories about the plane's disappearance, including hijacking.

"We are not discounting this. We are looking at every angle but again, we have to find concrete evidence," he said.

The baggage of five passengers who had checked in to the flight but did not board the plane were removed before it departed, he said. Airport security was strict according to international standards, surveillance has been done and the airport has been audited, he said.

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 at a news conference late Sunday, adding that the footage was being examined. "We have intelligence agencies, both local and international, on board."

The thefts of the two passports — one belonging to Austrian Christian Kozel and the other to Luigi Maraldi of Italy — were entered into Interpol's database after they were stolen in Thailand in 2012 and last year, the police body said.

Electronic booking records show that one-way tickets with those names were issued Thursday from a travel agency in the beach resort of Pattaya in eastern Thailand. A person who answered the phone at the agency said she could not comment.

But no authorities in Malaysia or elsewhere checked the passports against the database of 40 million stolen or lost travel documents before the Malaysia Airlines plane took off.

A telephone operator on a China-based KLM hotline confirmed Sunday that passengers named Maraldi and Kozel had been booked on one-way tickets on the same KLM flight, flying from Beijing to Amsterdam on Saturday. Maraldi was to fly on to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Kozel to Frankfurt, Germany. She said the pair booked the tickets through China Southern Airlines.

As holders of EU passports with onward flights to Europe, the passengers would not have needed visas for China.

The Thai national police chief on Monday set up a task force to investigate the issue of the stolen passports.

Interpol said it and national investigators were working to determine the true identities of those who used the stolen passports to board the flight. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the U.S. was looking into the stolen passports, but that investigators had reached no conclusions.

Interpol has long sounded the alarm that growing international travel has underpinned a new market for identity theft: Bogus passports are mostly used by illegal immigrants, but also pretty much anyone looking to travel unnoticed such as drug runners or terrorists. More than 1 billion times last year, travelers boarded planes without their passports being checked against Interpol's database of 40 million stolen or lost travel documents, the police agency said.

Finding traces of an aircraft that disappears over sea can take days or longer, even with a sustained search effort. Depending on the circumstances of the crash, wreckage can be scattered over a large area. If the plane enters the water before breaking up, there can be relatively little debris.

__

Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt in Hanoi, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Didi Tang, Gillian Wong and Louise Watt in Beijing, Joan Lowy in Washington and Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed this report.

@AP