The head of Malaysia’s aviation authority called the disappearance of flight 370 an “unprecedented mystery” – on Tuesday the puzzle got even more perplexing.
On Monday, the head of Malaysia‘s aviation authority called the disappearance of flight 370 an “unprecedented mystery”.
On Tuesday, at a typically chaotic press conference in Kuala Lumpur, the puzzle got even more perplexing.
However, that scenario seems far less likely now after the Malaysian authorities determined that one of the men was an Iranian asylum seeker.
The man in question, a 19-year-old, was named as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad.
Read more: Iranian asylum seeker on missing plane – officials
Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters it was thought he was trying to migrate to Germany.
He added that the young man’s mother was waiting for him in Frankfurt and contacted the Malaysian authorities when her son failed to get in touch.
Mr Abu Bakar said the other man holding a stolen passport arrived in Malaysia on the same day and had not been identified, although officials provided pictures of both men, taken from CCTV footage at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
These details effectively rubbished comments given by Azharuddin Abdul Rahnam, the head of the country’s aviation authority, who told the media on Monday that the stolen passport holders were black.
In a clumsy comparison he said: “Do you know of a footballer by the name of Balotelli? He is an Italian. Do you know what he looks like?”
Read more: The plane that disappeared
Other snippets of information were passed on at the press conference, giving shape the sheer breadth of this investigation.
The Malaysian police chief revealed that his officers were closely inspecting pictures and video of cargo loaded on the jet liner and he said they were investigating whether “psychological issues” on the part of passengers or the crew had played a role in the plane’s disappearance.
Ultimately, recovery experts will have to find the plane – or what’s left of it – before a convincing explanation can be found.
This is vital for other reasons too – there were 239 people on that flight and their friends and relatives need to know what happened.
Follow @c4sparks on Twitter