KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 ― Two people who boarded the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 using the stolen passports of an Italian and an Austrian appear to have bought their tickets together, adding to the mystery.

The two tickets were bought from China Southern Airlines in Thai baht for identical prices and had contiguous numbers, international broadcaster CNN reported on its website today citing information from China's official e-ticket verification system Travelsky.

That the two tickets had adjoining numbers showed they were issued together, CNN said.

The revelation is likely to deepen speculation of foul play over the missing plane.

Malaysian authorities have confirmed two passengers has boarded the missing Beijing-bound flight under dubious identities.

“There are only two passengers on record on this aircraft with false passports and we have the CCTV recordings of those passengers from check in, right to the departure point and this record of the CCTVs are now being used in investigations on this,” Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told reporters at the Sama Sama Hotel in Sepang earlier today.

He added that the matter is still under investigation.

It was reported yesterday that one Italian and one Austrian listed on the flight manifest never boarded the plane.

According to several foreign news reports, Italian Luigi Maraldi and Austrian Christian Kozel, both had their passports stolen some time ago in Thailand.

The existence of two passengers with stolen passports onboard MH370 raised suspicion on the possibility of foul play.

The Boeing B777-200 Malaysia Airlines airship has now been missing for more than 40 hours.

It was first reported missing earlier yesterday morning after MAS confirmed that the Subang Air Traffic Control had notified it that the aircraft dropped off its radar at around 1.30am.

The Beijing-bound flight had departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.41am carrying 239 people on board, including 12 crew members and two infants.