The search for a missing Boeing 777 that disappeared between Malaysia and Vietnam is entering its fourth day, and there's still no trace of the plane and no explanation for what might have happened to it.
Earlier reports that search teams had found one of the plane's doors, its tail, an oil slick and even a life raft all failed to pan out. (Via The Wall Street Journal)
"Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft." (Via The Guardian)
Likewise, much has been made about the fact that two tickets on the missing flight were bought using stolen passports. Nearly every major media outlet has speculated over a link to terrorism. (Via MSNBC)
"It's a reason to assume at least an investigation of terrorism."
"And there was a meeting in Malaysia before 9/11 as well." (Via Fox News)
But now experts are cautioning the public not to jump to conclusions, with a U.S. homeland security official telling China Daily, the two passengers using stolen passports "may have been nothing more than thieves." CCTV points out an even more benign possibility.
"The two passengers had onward bookings. They were merely supposed to transit, it appears, through Beijing and fly on to Amsterdam and then to other locations within Europe. This fits much more with the pattern of asylum seekers."
So basically the search is still at square one. And with more than half of the missing plane's passengers being Chinese, China's government is letting Malaysia know it's not impressed with the search's progress.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson urged Malaysia to "speed up investigation, search and rescue efforts" and find the lost plane "as soon as possible." (Via Xinhua)
But who knows when some evidence might turn up. The search area is expanding every day, and is now the size of Pennsylvania. Critics point out the last time a plane vanished, Air France Flight 447 in 2009, debris from the missing plane was discovered the next day. (Via Sky News, Fox News)
