Saturday, March 8, 2014

Was it a terror attack? Two people aboard Boeing 777 that disappeared over Vietnam were traveling on STOLEN PASSPORTS as missing U.S passengers identified as IBM exec and two toddlers

MailOnline - news, sport, celebrity, science and health stories

By RICHARD SHEARS and LIZZIE PARRY-8 March 2014
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.21am
Vietnamese Navy detected emergency signal 153 miles out to sea
Flight MH370 declared missing nearly 90 minutes after it was due to land
Malaysian Transport Minister said 'no crash site has been found'
227 passengers and 12 crew were from 14 different countries including Malaysia, China, U.S., France, Canada, and Australia
Three Americans, including two toddlers, feared dead
IBM employee Philip Wood, 51, identified as sole adult American national aboard the missing plane
Two passengers believed to have been travelling on a stolen passports
Aviation expert Chris Yates said the aircraft will not have been carrying enough fuel to still be flying and 'will have crashed'
He said the investigation will look at two areas, the maintenance of the aircraft and possible terrorism
Vietnamese air force spot two oil slicks suspected to be from the wreckage

An American national working for IBM in Malaysia has been identified as one of the passengers traveling aboard the Malaysian Airlines plane that vanished off the coast of Vietnam as new information concerning stolen passports has raised fears that it may have been an act of terror.

Philip Wood, 51, was identified as the only adult passenger traveling on a U.S. passport on Flight MH307. Two other American travelers have been named as toddlers Leo Meng, 2, and Nicole Meng, 4.

Earlier today, two oil slicks were spotted by the Vietnamese air force earlier today, as the major search and rescue operation was launched when the aircraft disappeared shortly after losing contact with air traffic controllers.

The Boeing 777, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.21am (4.21pm GMT) bound for Beijing, where it was expected to land at 6.30am (10.30pm GMT). Among them were three Americans, including two toddlers.

But after reaching 35,000ft and 120 nautical miles off the coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu the plane vanished, prompting fears the aircraft 'could have crashed'.

As Malaysian Airlines released a full list of the passengers on board - including five children aged two to four years old - it emerged two passengers were traveling on stolen passports.