Updated: Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
UPDATE|Tuesday, March 11: New radar data confirms the missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course and reached the Strait of Malacca, miles away from the last position recorded by authorities.
Search and rescue teams have expanded their search to the Strait of Malacca, according to a statement released Tuesday by Malaysian Airlines.
About 40 ships and 34 aircrafts from nine different countries are searching for the Malaysian jetliner.
The Malaysian military says it believes the plan changed course mid-flight and may have been flying dangerously low. Aviation expert Thomas Anthony said it's not uncommon for planes to lose signal.
Malaysian and international police authorities also announced that the two people who boarded the flight with stolen passports were Iranians who purchased tickets to Europe, where they were planning to migrate.
The use of stolen passports have raised the possibility of a terrorist link. Authorities have released the names of the two Iranian men with stolen passports as Pouria Nourmohammadi Mehrdad, 19, and Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, 29. Mehrdad is not believed to be a member of any terrorist group, Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysian police chief, said.
CIA Director John Brennan said the investigation has not ruled out the possibility of terrorism while the search for the missing jetliner continues.
A woman told an Australia TV station, one of the pilots invited her and a friend into the cockpit of another plane back in 2011. She claims they spent the entire flight smoking and taking photos in the cockpit.
Malaysia Airlines released a statement saying, "We are shocked by these allegations. We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident."
ORIGINAL STORY|Monday, March 10: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is still missing Monday after it dissapeared on Friday. 34 planes, 40 ships and search crews from 10 countries are currently searching a large region of the South China Sea, the area near the plane’s last known location for debris. However, neither pieces of debris nor fuel oil discovered in the area seem to have originated from the missing plane.
These discoveries have led authorities to question whether or not they are searching in the correct area. The search has since expanded past the Gulf of Thailand and into the Indian Ocean. Time is sensitive in this case; if the plane is not found soon, ocean tides will further complicate the investigation by relocating parts of the plane.
An aviation expert commented on the safety of the plane that went missing, as wel las how how he thinks this disappearance could affect travel going forward.
