Mystery shrouds MH370

Graphics: AFP/GT

It is now too dark to confirm a possible sighting of wreckage from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 aboard, Vietnamese officials said late Sunday.

"We received information from a Vietnamese plane saying that they found two broken objects, which seem like those of an aircraft, located about 80 kilometers to the southwest of Tho Chu Island," said an official from Vietnam's National Committee for Search and Rescue, who did not want to be named.

The island is in a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Vietnam.

Neither Malaysian officials nor the airline have confirmed the sightings. There have been no confirmed traces of the Boeing 777-200ER nearly 48 hours after it disappeared around 50 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early Saturday.

The airline said it was "fearing for the worst" and that it had sought assistance from an Atlanta-based disaster recovery management specialist.

International authorities continued to investigate two men who apparently boarded flight MH370 under assumed identities, adding to the confusion surrounding the fate of the plane. The US has sent an FBI team to aid in the investigation, as well as aviation experts.

Malaysian authorities said Sunday that the plane may have turned back from its scheduled route before disappearing.

Of the 227 passengers on board, 154 are Chinese, with 13 other nationalities represented.

Relatives of the Chinese passengers, who have been staying at a hotel in Beijing, have vented their frustration over the airline company's failure to provide information about their loved ones in a timely manner.

On Sunday, the relatives issued a joint statement demanding the truth about the incident from the airline company, intervention from China's foreign ministry and Chinese officials' help in their negotiation with the airliner.

Ignatins Ong, Malaysia Airlines spokesman, told a press conference in Beijing Sunday afternoon that family members of the MH370 passengers from China who wish to travel will be flown in stages to Kuala Lumpur on available flights as soon as possible starting from Monday.

For each passenger, two relatives will be able to travel initially, with up to five relatives being able to go to Kuala Lumpur. After the aircraft's specific location is confirmed, the company will send the relatives to the scene if they wish.

A middle-aged woman, who refused to give her name claiming her mother was on the plane, told media on Saturday afternoon that hundreds of relatives were being kept in a hall in Beijing's Lido Hotel since Saturday morning.

There were not enough chairs in the hall and some relatives sat on the ground, she said.

"No one told us what happened and no staffers from Malaysia Airlines showed up. We were given water, biscuits and bread to eat," she said, weeping. "We were treated like dogs."

A 93-member "Go Team" from the airline has arrived in Beijing to help grieving relatives.

General Rodzali Daud, Royal Malaysian Air Force chief, told a press conference that military radar indicated there was a possibility that the missing jet made a turn-back, likely toward Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysian rescue teams have expanded their scope of search.

A total of 34 aircraft and 40 ships from nine different nationalities, including China, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and the US are in the hunt for the commercial airliner.

China has sent four warships, a coast guard patrol ship and a civilian ship to the area.

"Pilots may choose to turn back when they spot technical obstacles but they will issue signals. The plane suddenly vanishing from the radar means it may have broken apart in the air," said Huang Jun, a professor with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He noted that the plane was identified as possibly turning back based on the flight path detected by radar, and it's unsure whether the jet really attempted to turn back.

Closed-circuit cameras confirm that two passengers with false documents boarded the plane, Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Director General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman confirmed at the press conference on Sunday, noting that they are conducting investigation into the records.

An Austrian and an Italian, both listed on the passenger manifest, were not on board, according to their foreign ministers, and their passports had both been stolen in Phuket, Thailand within the last two years, Reuters reported.

The BBC reported that men using their passports had purchased tickets together from China Southern Airlines, the flight's codeshare partner, and were flying on to Europe from Beijing, meaning they did not have to apply for a Chinese visa.

International police agency Interpol on Sunday confirmed "at least" two passports recorded as lost or stolen in its database were used by passengers on board the missing flight.

The agency said that no checks of its database had been made by any country on an Austrian and an Italian passport between the time that they were stolen and the departure of the flight.

Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble expressed frustration that few of Interpol's 190 member countries "systematically" search the database to identify whether passports of passengers on board are registered as lost or stolen.

Anti-terrorism expert Li Wei, from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told the Global Times that there is a possibility, albeit very small, that the problematic passports are involved in a terrorist attack, noting that using stolen or purchased passports to commit cross-border crimes is a deep-rooted problem internationally and mostly used for drug deals, smuggling or illegal immigration.