Malaysia: Two suspects didn’t have Asian features

The plan was lost shortly after taking off from the international airport of Kuala Lumpur and was carrying 239 passengers and crew members. The terror group "Chinese Martyrs Brigade" took responsibility for the disappearance with a e-mail, in which they wrote: "You killed a race, we will kill 100 yours in retaliation". However, Malaysian officials are not convinced that the message is authentic, as they think it might be a hoax. In any case, the message doesn't mention the fate of the aircraft and was sent by an anonymous service Hushmail making it impossible to identify the sender.

At the same time , China stepped up pressure on the Malaysian authorities to broaden their investigations in order to identify the aircraft. As stated by Foreign Minister Qin Gang: "We have to demand that the government of Malaysia tries harder and starts as soon as possible a survey to give us accurate information".

Earlier Monday, the Malaysian authorities had announced that they will expand the area of research, but so far there has been nothing to explain where and why the aircraft disappeared. The General Director of Civil Aviation of the country, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said that the radius of investigation will double, reaching 100 nautical miles from Mount Ikari Malaysia, where he the Boeing was last seen.

"Our efforts to identify the airplane will intensify" he said, adding that a large oil slick that was found Sunday in the maritime region of Kelantan state, located 180 km from the east coast of Malaysia, wasn't from the Boeing. "These fuels are not used by aircraft, but by ships" was stated by the representative of the port body, Farida Suim.

Earlier, Vietnamese officials had announced that an object found floating in the sea and from the air resembled a lifeboat, also has no relation to the missing aircraft. A warship that arrived from Vietnam found that it was a cable winder, covered by green algae, that apparently floated at sea for a long time. "I do not think there's even a suspicious object" was the comment Vietnamese army deputy chief of staff Vo Vo Tuan, although he admitted that "it is difficult to be 100% sure because of the trash in the sea".

The Boeing 777-200 took off from the international airport of Kuala Lumpur just before dawn Saturday. It disappeared from the radar after an hour and was initially thought that it probably crashed into the South China Sea.

Azarountin said the two suspects who used stolen passports to board the aircraft don't have Asian features, contradicting Interior Minister of Malaysia, Zaid Hamid of Malaysia. "We saw and re-saw the videos and photos. It has been confirmed now that they don't have Asian features" he said.

According to Azarountin, the Malaysian authorities are investigating all possibilities to find answers for this mystery. They haven't ruled out the possibility of hijacking, as result of a statement made by an official on Sunday about a 180 degree turn before the disappearing. Besides the two suspicious passengers, five others who had tickets, but didn't board the Boeing tickets, had all their bags removed before takeoff.

In the sea area where it is estimated that the Boeing may have crashed, surveys by more than 30 planes and 40 ships of Malaysia are taken. Vietnam has also sent ships and air resources to investigate in its own territorial waters while Australia is involved in the investigations with two aircrafts.

The Chinese government has also sent a team of experts in Kuala Lumpur, among which are specials from the Ministries of Transport and Public Safety, to assist in investigations, as the 154 occupants of the airplane was Chinese. Three Americans were also among the passengers, so FBI sent agents stressing that so far there is no evidence that this was a terrorist act.