WASHINGTON: The FBI is sending agents and technical experts to assist a team probing the disappearances of a
Malaysia Airlines jet that had several Americans aboard, US media reported Saturday.
US officials told The Los Angeles Times that they are trying to
determine whether there was any terror link to what caused Flight 370 to
go missing as it carried 239 people from
Kuala Lumpur toward Beijing.
The fact that at least three of the passengers are believed to be
Americans "gives us entree" to the case," a top federal law enforcement
official told the newspaper.
"But so far, what happened is a
mystery." A US official told CNN that FBI agents stationed at the
American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, including an FBI legal attache, were
monitoring the situation closely.
Asked to confirm the reports, an FBI spokesman only replied: "We are ready to assist if needed."
Although two passengers appeared to have been using stolen EU
passports, "there is no indication this is a terrorist attack; stolen
passports are certainly not indicative of a terrorist attack," a senior
counterterrorism official told the Times.
The official stressed
there was "no evidence" of terrorism thus far. According to the federal
law enforcement official, FBI personnel will help review video of the
Kuala Lumpur airport for images of passengers at the ticket counter,
security sections and the boarding area. The agents would then use
counterterrorism technology to find any possible matches with known
members of
Al-Qaeda or other terror groups.
And the
US National Transportation Safety Board may also join the investigation "because the jet was built by Boeing in this country," the law enforcement official said.
The stolen passports used by two passengers on the plane are believed to have come from an Italian and a an Austrian.
"Just because they were stolen doesn't
mean
the travelers were terrorists," a Department of Homeland Security
official said. "They could have been nothing more than thieves. Or they
could have simply bought the passports on the black market."
Meanwhile, mystery surrounded the identity of two passengers who appear to have used stolen European passports to board a jet.
More than 30 hours after air traffic control lost communication with
the Boeing 777, concerns were mounting over the possible security
breach, as authorities in Southeast Asia said there was still no sign of
the plane after the search resumed at sea.
Thirty-eight
Malaysians and seven Indonesians were aboard, as well as a range of
other nationalities including Australian, Indian, American, Dutch, and
French.
Malaysia Airlines urged "all Malaysians and people around the world to pray for flight MH370".
The carrier admitted: "It has been more than 24 hours since we last
heard from MH370 at 1:30 am. The search and rescue team is yet to
determine the whereabouts of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft."
The
plane's disappearance triggered a search effort involving vessels from
several nations with rival maritime claims in the tense South China Sea.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore threw
vessels and aircraft into the effort, as did the US Navy with a
surveillance plane and a destroyer carrying two helicopters.
"We are setting these (territorial) issues aside in view of humanitarian
reasons," Philippine military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cheryl Tindog
said.
If the worst is confirmed, it would be the second fatal
crash in the nearly 20-year history of the popular Boeing plane. A
777-200 operated by South Korea's
Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway after hitting a sea wall in San Francisco last year, killing three people.
Malaysia Airlines has suffered few safety incidents in the past. Its
worst occurred in 1977, when 93 people perished in a hijacking and
subsequent crash in southern Malaysia.
