Despite new Indian Ocean lead, US maintains no terror link to MH370

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The fresh lead that emerged hours ago this morning of the possibility that MH370 could have gone down in the Indian Ocean has not changed the position of US security officials on the absence of a terror link to the missing jet.

CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto said in a 3am news broadcast that American intelligence officials still see no sign that could point to terrorism, despite possible evidence that the Boeing 777 had veered sharply hundreds of miles off-course in mid-flight.

“I’m told by US intelligence officials that we have not seen a tie to terrorism, but we still have not ruled it out. That’s been the position of US intelligence officials for numbers of days,” he said.

A possible terror link was raised in the first few days of investigation into the disappearance of MH370 after information emerged that two men on the flight were travelling with stolen passports.

The theory was later shot down when the men’s identities were traced and no terror links were discovered. Police are still, however, poring over the backgrounds of all the 239 people on board the missing flight, looking for signs of psychological or even personal problems among them that could be used as a lead.

Earlier this morning, an ABC news report quoted a US official as saying there was an “indication” that the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft may have crashed in the Indian Ocean and that the USS Kidd has been dispatched to the area to begin searching.

“We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean,” the senior Pentagon official told ABC News.

The official added there were indications that the plane flew four or five hours after disappearing from radar and that they believe it went into the water.

CNN reported the same information from its contacts, and adding to the latest twist in the mystery, Sciutto said it was likely that investigators had relied on a combination of data in order to arrive at the possibility of a crash in the Indian Ocean.

“It's my understanding that it is a combination of data... the data they’re getting from the engines, radar data, as well as their understanding of the range of the plane, based on the fuel it had in those tanks when it lost contact,” he said.

MH370 disappeared from radar at around 1.30am last Saturday morning, just 40 minutes after it left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft had enough fuel to fly up to 8.30am that morning, leaving it with some seven hours of fuel in its tanks when it lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control (ATC).

When it disappeared, the plane was flying 120 nautical miles off Kota Baru in the east coast of Malaysia, between the waters of Malaysia and Vietnam.

A Wall Street Journal report yesterday suggested that MH370 flew on for four more hours after the time it went missing, based on engine data transmitted from the aircraft.

But Malaysia denied the report, citing information from plane maker Boeing Co and engine makers Rolls Royce. Other media reports citing Rolls Royce officials corroborated that information.

The latest revelation on the possibility that MH370 had crashed in the Indian Ocean appears to suggest the opposite, however.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr said in a news broadcast that sources said several “pings” of pulses did get transmitted from the plane according to satellite data, possibly indicating that it flew on several hours after disappearing from sight.

She said US and Malaysian officials are working closely together to analyse the data.

Another piece of information that supports this is the confirmation from the Malaysian air force that an unidentified aircraft was spotted flying over the Straits of Malacca near Penang at 2.15am that same morning that flight MH370 went missing.

The aircraft may not be MH370, Malaysian officials were quick to say however, in a news conference two days ago, adding that the information was still being cross-checked with other intelligence agencies.

Noting that if indeed MH370 had travelled towards the Indian Ocean, it was vastly off-course, CNN aviation expert Richard Quest said this morning that at this point, the paramount question to be answered is where the aircraft is and not why it altered directions.