MH 777 missing - MH370 media statement

[Buzzard]

I thought that there was an international database of stolen passports.



Do reissued passports come with new passport numbers? Conventional logic would state that it would? but I am not sure.

Yes, when a passport is reissued a new number is allocated

 

[Programme]

There is some information here from Vietnamese media that isn't readily available elsewhere (probably because of the language barrier):
Thủy phi cơ của Hải quân VN phát hiện mảnh vỡ nghi cửa sổ máy bay


It also includes a bit of floating debris that the Vietnamese search planes have located, which does highlight the difficulty of finding aeroplane debris in the sea. Is this a bit of floating rubbish or part of a 777 window? (same image but from a different source as the above Vietnamese news article)

 

[Flying mermaid]

Our lives are pre ordained?

not our lives but our deaths ......I believe in free will and that we are responsible for how we live our lives and what we make of them. Do feel that when it is our time to go we go. I remember taking the quite young kids to Europe straight after 9/11 when many of my friends were refusing to fly. While it was a bit edgy, there were benefits e.g no-one ( and I mean no-one) in the queue for the jewels at the Tower in London.

 

[NTflyer]

Had my passport stolen in South Africa in 2010 and had a new one issued over there. Had no troubles with the new passport travelling through multiple countries in Africa and Middle East. Also since travelled to a few countries in Asia and no problems. Went to USA in 2013 and got held up at passport control would not let me in until they spoke to Australian authorities in regards to my stolen passport. After a 2 hour wait finally let in. A week later the same thing happen when I returned to the US from the caribbean.

 

[Programme]

Interpol have confirmed that the stolen Italian and Austrian passports used to board MH370 were on their stolen and lost travel document database, but there were no searches for them since they were reported stolen. This is a bit of a worry - despite the increasingly invasive security screening at airports, something that would be relatively simple to verify, non invasive and most probably be able to be automated at check in or at immigration isn't being done.

N2014-038 / 2014 / News / News and media / Internet / Home - INTERPOL

 

[boomy]

If a stolen passport gets into the hands of people with the right knowledge and equipment it can be forged and re-used. Thailand is well known as a place where it's possible to buy a passport for a few thousands dollars so the right equipment is definitely available there.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Another possibility of course is that the Chinese shot them down ala JAL007. They have been rattling sabres very loudly over the last few months and something could have gone horribly wrong.

Your post is as alarming as it is factually incorrect!

take us through the scenario where the Chinese gov takes out a neighbors plane with the majority of its own people aboard......really.

 

[Sprucegoose]

i find that unusual too. In the past, following events like this any number of "terrorist" groups would simultaneously claim responsibility. Might the apparent lack of these claims suggest a new official response, to try and deny these groups of the exposure they hope their actions will command?

might be that it's not terrorist related?

 

[jlien]

There is some information here from Vietnamese media that isn't readily available elsewhere (probably because of the language barrier):
Thủy phi cơ của Hải quân VN phát hiện mảnh vỡ nghi cửa sổ máy bay


It also includes a bit of floating debris that the Vietnamese search planes have located, which does highlight the difficulty of finding aeroplane debris in the sea. Is this a bit of floating rubbish or part of a 777 window? (same image but from a different source as the above Vietnamese news article)

Think it's been confirmed that the debris isn't from MH370

 

[Programme]

Another possibility of course is that the Chinese shot them down ala JAL007. They have been rattling sabres very loudly over the last few months and something could have gone horribly wrong.

I think that you might mean KE007, not JL007. It was a regular service JFK-ANC-GMP which strayed into Soviet airspace and was shot down by the Soviet military, not the Chinese.

JL007 appears to also have a history, but related to 787 tech issues.

I don't think there is any evidence that MH370 encountered a fate like KE007, and in any case, the airspace in that region is open and constantly covered with commercial jets. While there are some political tensions surrounding islands in the nearby South China Sea (or Eastern Sea if you're Vietnamese), it's not the Cold War any more.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I was merely suggesting another explanation for an aircraft disappearing in mid-air without warning; random depressurisation and terrorists using stolen passports were suggested. I suggested a third alternative that is not without historical precedent.

Clearly you know all the facts, please inform us what happened.

no Robbi I don't know the facts but I certainly won't speculate using false statements, that would make me look like a cough!

 

[jlien]

I was merely suggesting another explanation for an aircraft disappearing in mid-air without warning; random depressurisation and terrorists using stolen passports were suggested. I suggested a third alternative that is not without historical precedent.

Clearly you know all the facts, please inform us what happened.

I think there was a confirmation from one of the US Government departments that no explosion was detected in the area, ruling out a bomb or missile

 

[Robbi]

no Robbi I don't know the facts but I certainly won't speculate using false statements, that would make me look like a cough!

How is my statement false?

 

[Robbi]

I think that you might mean KE007, not JL007. It was a regular service JFK-ANC-GMP which strayed into Soviet airspace and was shot down by the Soviet military, not the Chinese.

JL007 appears to also have a history, but related to 787 tech issues.

I don't think there is any evidence that MH370 encountered a fate like KE007, and in any case, the airspace in that region is open and constantly covered with commercial jets. While there are some political tensions surrounding islands in the nearby South China Sea (or Eastern Sea if you're Vietnamese), it's not the Cold War any more.

Yes, KAL007. Thanks for picking that up.

There is no evidence for the other options yet either.

 

[lukenet]

Wild speculation looks to be running hot now!

I am personally waiting for the alien abduction theories to start in this thread.

It is important to note that alien abduction theories are about as accurate as most of the other cough people have wasted their time speculating on..

As far as we know, the transponder could have simply been turned off and they went somewhere else whilst in a radar blackspot.

EDIT: Damn it, now I am doing it! See how pointless it is?

 

[Rox]

I did find an article (but just one) saying that the pilots of a plane in the vicinity had been asked to try and talk to them, and succeeded, but the sound was very garbled and then cut out.
Supports any theory you want it to.

 

[Airbourne]

Hey Guys,

I am new to AFF but I find it amazing that in this day and age an airliner with such a great safety record could just vanish.

I really hope that we get some answers and not just speculation.

 

[medhead]

Surely this is the whole point of a passport...it is a primary form of identification that is used to control access to/from a country. And yes, I would expect stolen passports to be flagged internationally and for the customs agent to get a prompt on their screen saying it was stolen.

That's my point. It is a form of identification. Someone turns up with an apparently valid passport (ignoring that the picture was probably changed) they can pretty much pass the check point. The immigration/emigration people just put it on their machine and scan it. I'm just not sure about the level of data sharing going on.

It is also possible that these guys transited in KUL without needing to show their passport.

 

[serfty]

...

It is also possible that these guys transited in KUL without needing to show their passport.

very possible.

In a way, a passport is an anachronism - ...

 

[Jack_OC]

From BBC report:
"Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol databases," the Secretary General of international police agency Interpol, Ronald Noble, said in a statement.

He said no checks of Interpol's database had been made for either passport between the time they were stolen and the departure of the flight, and expressed frustration that few of Interpol's 190 member countries "systematically" search the database.