Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'may have turned back'

Friends and relatives expecting to meet passengers from the flight in Beijing were taken to a nearby hotel

Radar signals show a Malaysia Airlines plane that has been missing for more than 24 hours may have turned back, Malaysian officials have said.

Rescue teams looking for the plane have now widened their search area.

Investigators are also checking CCTV footage of two passengers who are believed to have boarded the plane using stolen passports.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared south of Vietnam with 239 people on board.
Air and sea rescue teams have been searching an area of the South China Sea south of Vietnam for more than 24 hours.

But Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that the search area had been expanded, to include the west coast of Malaysia.
He also said five passengers booked on to the flight did not board, though their luggage was removed.
Twenty-two aircraft and 40 ships are now involved in the search, armed forces chief Gen Zulkefli Zin said.

Air force chief Rodzali Daud said the investigation was now focusing on a recording of radar signals that showed there was a "possibility" that the aircraft turned back from its flight path.
Vietnamese navy ships which reached two oil slicks spotted earlier in the South China Sea found no signs of wreckage.

'Suspect' Earlier Malaysia's transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said that at least four names on the passenger list were "suspect", but the whole manifest was being investigated.

Malaysia transport minister: "The four names are with me and I have spoken to intelligence agencies"

It follows reports that two of the passengers listed as travelling

 - an Italian and an Austrian - were not actually on the flight.

They both reportedly had their passports stolen in Thailand in recent years.
Mr Hussein said international agencies including the FBI had joined the investigation and that all angles were being examined.

"Our own intelligence have been activated, and of course, the counterterrorism units... from all the relevant countries have been informed," he said.
"The main thing here for me and for the families concerned is that we find the aircraft."

Developments have been the subject of intense media attention in Beijing

 

Aerial search teams have yet to spot any wreckage

 

Military ships have been searching the sea south of Vietnam

 

The passengers on the flight were of 14 different nationalities. Two-thirds were from China, while others were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.
When he was asked earlier whether terrorism was suspected as a reason for the plane's disappearance, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said: "We are looking at all possibilities, but it is too early to make any conclusive remarks."

The plane vanished at 17:30 GMT Friday (01:30 local time Saturday).
It reportedly went off the radar south of Vietnam.
Malaysian Airlines had previously said it last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.