Plane with 239 people on board crashes in Southern Indian Ocean

[Tender Branson]

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Also: At least 2 of the 239 people on board apparently used stolen passports to get on the plane.

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[Tender Branson]

The Austrian guy's passport was stolen 2 years ago when he was on vacation in Thailand.

So, we cannot rule out a terrorist attack yet ... considering the plane was full of Chinese and the recent terrorist attack in Southern China when a few men stabbed to death over 30 people at a train station.

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian guy's passport was stolen 2 years ago when he was on vacation in Thailand.

So, we cannot rule out a terrorist attack yet ... considering the plane was full of Chinese and the recent terrorist attack in Southern China when a few men stabbed to death over 30 people at a train station.

That's a bit of a stretch.

Yes, I'm just saying "we can't rule it out".

Based on that oil stream they found in the GoT, I think it's more likely an engine failure though.

But aside from the tragedy, it's pretty alarming that you can still get on a plane anywhere with a passport that was stolen 2 years ago and that was already reported as stolen and therefore on a list. The people boarding the plane should have been arrested at the airport. That is something that the airline/-port has to look into as well.

[Tender Branson]

The FBI is now investigating because of 4 "potentially suspicious people" on the plane of which at least 2 used stolen passports and 2 tickets were purchased together.

[Tender Branson]

This is getting weird ...

And it has some handwritings of Al-Qaeda:

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Maybe some attackers wanted to hijack the plane, killing the pilots and made a u-turn to crash the plane into the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur ?

But some passengers tried to overwhelm the attackers and the plane crashed into the ocean ?

Maybe that's why Al-Qaeda is not taking responsibility for it yet ? Because they didn't reach their attack target and their "mission" was foiled ?

Very weird indeed.

[Tender Branson]

From CNN:

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Why would someone with a stolen passport buy tickets in Thailand, then fly from Malaysia to China and from there to Amsterdam and from there to Frankfurt and Copenhagen ?

[Tender Branson]

It should also be noted that the Austrian, who's passport was stolen in Thailand a few years ago, is now 29 years old.

The late 20s are a good fit for Al-Qaeda terrorists ...

It's not like they are 50 or 60 years old.

[Tender Branson]

That's not terribly unusual, the route. China Southern from Europe to Asia always seems to connect in Amsterdam.

Yes, but the combination of the routes/passports is strange ...

But it could also be a fake plane trail set up by the terrorists to confuse the authorities.

[Tender Branson]

The 2 persons with the stolen passports must have been quite optimistic about their plans to fly into the EU with faked passports. There would have been a big chance that they'd been caught with the fake documents there.

Which makes the "fake terrorist trail" more likely.

But they could also be random people who wanted to immigrate to the EU ... Who knows ?

Or random criminals.

[Tender Branson]

The Malaysian airport workers did not verify the passports in the Interpol database of the 2 people who had the fake ones. Both passports were reported stolen in the Interpol database, but it seems that either they didn't check them, or that no system for this was in place.

Interpol is now strongly critizising Malaysia for this. Malaysia has said they will improve their systems in the future, which is high time.

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Of course, this could still all be not related to terrorism.

[Tender Branson]

What the heck ?

First, the airport video-footage apparently showed that the 2 guys with the stolen passports were "Asian-looking".

Now, the guy from the investigation says they look like footballer Mario Balotelli:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/mar/10/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-continues-live-updates

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[Tender Branson]

What the heck ?

First, the airport video-footage apparently showed that the 2 guys with the stolen passports were "Asian-looking".

Now, the guy from the investigation says they look like footballer Mario Balotelli:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/mar/10/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-continues-live-updates

Well, remember the racial confusion over the early pics of the Tsarnaev brothers?  People bring their own assumptions into things like this, and that colors what they see.

Yeah, sure.

But in 2014, we could assume that airports had HD-surveillance cams installed, where you can identify every pimple on a person's face ...

Or at least tell if the person looks like a Thai or like a Mario Balotelli ...

[Tender Branson]

What amazes me is that it's been three days and they haven't even found any wreckage yet.  I know the waters out there are deep, but no signs at all? 

Yeah, I've always thought this area is one of the most busiest in the world, with oil tankers and all other kind of ships passing through to Singapore and from there to China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.

So, it's strange that no ship reported plane debris.

Except the plane crashed in the jungle ...

Doesn't NASA have high-resolution satellites that could help spot plane debris ?

[Tender Branson]

New development:

The 2 with the stolen passports could have been simple asylum seekers who wanted to go to Germany and Denmark.

The 19-year old Iranian wanted to travel to Frankfurt, where his mother lives to visit her.

[Tender Branson]

So, we have a 19-year old Iranian - checking in with a stolen passport on which his birth date is 1984 (so 29/30 years old) - while the actual guy who is safe in Austria is 60 years old:

http://www.krone.at/Oesterreich/Phantom-Passagier_auf_Flug_MH370_hatte_seinen_Pass-Im_Krone-Gespraech-Story-396497

[Tender Branson]

Helpful AFP graphic:



What if the jet went down over some jungle in Northern Malaysia, Southern Thailand or in Cambodia ?

[Tender Branson]

I have looked through NASA's high-definition satellite image of the region from the day of the crash, but didn't find much clues:

http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Indochina2.2014068.terra.250m.jpg

Maybe you have more luck ...

Or maybe the resolution is still not good enough to spot plane debris, oil, etc.

[Tender Branson]

According to the latest developments, the plane made a u-turn in North Malaysia just into the Gulf of Thailand and then went towards the Strait of Malakka for ANOTHER HOUR or so, WITHOUT tracking systems on ... WTF ?

[Tender Branson]

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[Tender Branson]

But why would the Malaysian military shoot down a plane from their own country ?

Makes not much sense ...

[Tender Branson]

What about this ? If true they might find it soon.

[Tender Branson]

This might be it after all:

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[Tender Branson]

I just checked this ...

The coast of Vietnam on March 8 on NASA's "World View" Programme (which has real-time satellite pictures) shows this:



https://earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview

[Tender Branson]

That could be a number of things.

Probably, yeah.

But, if the plane went down there and the fuel continued to burn, wouldn't that create fume lines like those that are visible after hours by satellite ?

[Tender Branson]

That could be a number of things.

Probably, yeah.

But, if the plane went down there and the fuel continued to burn, wouldn't that create fume lines like those that are visible after hours by satellite ?

EVERY satellite image website has said not to use their data for this.  It's not real time, and it's not reliable.

Near real-time though ...

I know, the resolution is probably not nearly high enough to spot a burning plane or debris and it could of course be something else like a burning oil field etc. - but why not try ?