Five passengers holding tickets had failed to board that flight, Rahman said.
“Their luggage was off loaded and would not have been in the plane. All check in luggage was screened,” he said.
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday said the two passengers who used stolen passports to board the plane had “Asian facial features” “I am still puzzled how come (immigration officers) cannot think, an Italian and Austrian (passengers) but with Asian facial features,” he told reporters yesterday.
Asked about how the two passengers with Asian features could have been allowed to pass, Rahman said the investigating officials were looking into it and added that authorities were going though all video footage and records.
“There are a number of reports, number of sightings that we have made. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement agency also spotted slicks in the South China Sea and they took samples of it and those samples have been sent to the labs,” Rahman said.
The Malaysian official said the authorities were as “puzzled” as others over the mysterious disappearance of the plane and stressed that search efforts had been intensified expanding area of search to the Andaman sea.
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