一名持被竊護照登失聯班機者與恐怖主義無關

Malaysian police say one of the two passengers who used stolen passports to board a missing passenger jet does not appear to have links to terrorism.

National Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar said Tuesday the 19-year-old Iranian national was likely trying to migrate to Germany, where his mother was waiting.

The other man's identity is still under investigation. But the development appears to reduce the likelihood they were involved in a terror plot, as some had suggested.

There has been no trace of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 since it disappeared from radar without any distress calls Saturday, about an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur.

The search for a missing jetliner expanded Tuesday, as relatives of the 239 people on board prepared to deal with expected bad news.

Dozens of ships and planes involved in the search have failed to turn up any leads, following earlier reports that possible debris or spilled oil was located.

The search has expanded well beyond the plane's scheduled flight path. It now spans a radius of 185 kilometers from where the jet disappeared, including areas on land.

Malaysian officials have been exploring a wide range of scenarios that may have brought down the Beijing-bound jet, including an explosion, hijackers, pilot error or mechanical failure.馬來西亞警方說，有兩人持被竊護照登上失聯班機，其中一人看來與恐怖主義沒有關聯。

馬來西亞警察總長巴卡爾星期二說，這名19歲的伊朗人很可能試圖移民德國，他的母親正在德國等候他。

持被竊護照登機的另一人的身份仍在調查中。有人曾暗示這兩名持被竊護照登機者與恐怖襲擊陰謀有關，但就目前情況而言，這種可能性看來已經減小。

這架波音777客機上星期六從吉隆坡起飛大約一小時後在雷達上消失，而且沒有發出呼救信號，此後再也沒有發現這架班機的蹤跡。

星期二，搜索馬來西亞航空公司失聯班機的範圍擴大，同時機上239人的親屬做好應對不幸消息的準備。

參加搜索行動的數十船隻和飛機都未能發現任何線索，而早些時候曾有報告說，可能看到了這架班機的殘骸碎片和油跡。

搜索範圍已經擴大到遠遠超出這架班機航線的地區，延伸到距離班機失聯地點185公里處，包括陸地。

馬來西亞官員正在研究可能導致這架班機失事的所有因素，包括爆炸、劫機、駕駛失誤以及機械故障。