So the Austrians and Italians who were supposedly on board that airline

[malaise]

had their passports stolen.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This one reminds me of 1976

[femmocrat]

1. Yes.... could be nothing....

or it could be something! Hmmm.....

Interesting development though!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. ? I'm intrigued but not aware what this references. What happened in '76?

[Octafish]

9. CIA affiliated terrorists blew up Cuban airliner.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2261784

[malaise]

10. Could be any terrorists

Aircraft blownup - who knows?

[11 Bravo]

11. Thanks. All I could think of was Entebbe, and I was struggling to find a connection.

[FarCenter]

3. Oil slick spotted likely from missing Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines jet

Foreign ministry officials in Italy and Austria said the names of two nationals from those countries listed on the flight's manifest matched passports reported stolen in Thailand.

Italy's Foreign Ministry said the Italian man who was listed as being a passenger, Luigi Maraldi, was traveling in Thailand and was not aboard the plane. It said he reported his passport stolen last August.

Austria's Foreign Ministry confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matched an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Thailand. It said the Austrian was not on the plane, but would not confirm the person's identity.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/08/malaysia-airlines-loses-contact-with-plane-carrying-23-people/

[ChisolmTrailDem]

4. Uh-oh. nt

[Major Nikon]

5. Stolen passports are very valuable on the black market

So it's not all that uncommon that they are stolen.

[FarCenter]

6. More like 1988 if things had gone as intended

Malaysia Airlines plane missing at sea off Vietnam, presumed crashed

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140308

However, in Europe, news reports and officials said at least two people on board may have been carrying stolen passports.

The Italian foreign ministry said in Rome that an Italian was listed on the flight's manifest although no national from the country was on board.

The passenger list provided by the airline includes Luigi Maraldi, 37, an Italian citizen. Newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported that Maraldi's passport was stolen in Thailand last August. The Italian Interior Ministry was unable to immediately comment on the report.

In Vienna, the Austrian foreign ministry said an Austrian listed among the passengers was safe and had reported his passport stolen two years ago while he was travelling in Thailand.

Asked for a possible explanation for the plane's disappearance, Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference: "We are not ruling out any possibilities."

Stolen passports were used to buy two tickets for Malaysia Airlines missing flight

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1443908/stolen-passports-were-used-buy-two-tickets-malaysia-airlines-missing

The revelations will raise questions over security at Kuala Lumpur's airport, and how the stolen passports were able to be used by people other than their rightful owners.

[xchrom]

7. yes. it adds to the mystery. nt

[malaise]

13. The problem is that if the plane exploded there would be some visible piece

of wreckage

[FarCenter]

8. Depth of the Gulf of Thailand in that vicinity appears to be less than 75 meters

It should be possible to locate the pingers on the black boxes.

http://www.nauticalchartsonline.com/chart/zoom?chart=93010

[malaise]

12. Great news n/t