Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/275218
By Jim Gomez The Associated Press PATTAYA, ThAilAnd » Authorities questioned travel agents Monday at a beach resort in Thailand about two men who boarded the van - ished Malaysia Airlines plane with stolen passports, part of a grow- ing international investigation into what they were doing on the flight. Nearly three days after the Boe- ing 777 with 239 people on board disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, no debris has been seen in Southeast Asian wa - ters. Five passengers who checked in for Flight MH370 didn't board the plane, and their luggage was removed from it, Malaysian au - thorities said. Malaysian Trans- port Minister Hishammuddin Hus- sein said this also was being inves- tigated, but he didn't say whether this was suspicious. The search effort, involving at least 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries, was being wid- ened to a 100-nautical mile radius from the point the plane vanished from radar screens between Ma- laysia and Vietnam early Saturday with no distress signal. Two of the passengers were traveling on passports stolen in Thailand and had onward tick - ets to Europe, but it's not known whether the two men had anything to do with the plane's disappear- ance. Criminals and illegal mi- grants regularly travel on fake or stolen documents. Hishammuddin said biometric information and CCTV footage of the men has been shared with Chi - nese and U.S. intelligence agen- cies, which were helping with the investigation. Almost two-thirds of the passengers on the flight were from China. The stolen passports, one be - longing to Christian Kozel of Aus- tria and the other to Luigi Maraldi of Italy, were entered into Inter- pol's database after they were taken in Thailand in 2012 and 2013, the police organization said. Electronic booking records show that one-way tickets with those names were issued Thurs - day from a travel agency in the beach resort of Pattaya in east- ern Thailand. Thai police Col. Su- pachai Phuykaeokam said those reservations were placed with the agency by a second travel agency in Pattaya, Grand Horizon. Thai police and Interpol officers questioned the owners. Officials at Grand Horizon refused to talk to The Associated Press. Police Lt. Col. Ratchthapong Tia-sood said the travel agency was contacted by an Iranian man known only as "Mr. Ali" to book the tickets for the two men. "We have to look further into this Mr. Ali's identity because it's almost a tradition to use an alias when doing business around here," he said. The travel agency's owner, Ben - japorn Krutnait, told The Finan- cial Times she believed Mr. Ali was not connected to terrorism because he had asked for cheap- est tickets to Europe and did not specify the Kuala Lumpur to Bei- jing flight. Malaysia's police chief was quoted by local media as saying that one of the two men had been identified — something that could speed up the investigation. Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman declined to con - firm this, but said they were of "non-Asian" appearance, adding that authorities were looking at the possibility the men were con - nected to a stolen passport syndi- cate. Possible causes of the apparent crash include an explosion, cata- strophic engine failure, terrorist attack, extreme turbulence, pilot error or even suicide, according to experts, many of whom cautioned against speculation because so lit - tle is known. Malaysia's air force chief, Rodzali Daud, has said radar indi- cated that before it disappeared, the plane may have turned back, but there were no further details on which direction it went or how far it veered off course. On Sunday, a Vietnamese plane spotted a rectangular object that was thought to be one of the plane's doors, but ships could not locate it. On Monday, a Singapor - ean search plane spotted a yellow object 87 miles southwest of Tho Chu island, but it turned out to be sea trash. eAsT AsiA Stolen passports probed in Malaysian jet mystery Police: 'Mr. Ali' booked tickets through Thai travel agency Lai Seng Sin — The aSSociaTed PreSS a girl lights a candle next to a message reading "Pray for Mh370" during a candlelight vigil for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia airlines plane in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday. By denise lavoie The Associated Press The enhanced police pres- ence is part of a beefed-up security plan detailed Mon- day by public safety officials as they prepare for the April 21 marathon. Spectators who plan to at - tend the marathon are being strongly discouraged from bringing backpacks, roll- ing bags, coolers and other large items, and are instead being asked to carry per- sonal items in clear plastic bags. Anyone who does bring a bulky bag will be subject to search, officials said during a news conference at the Mas - sachusetts Emergency Man- agement Agency's bunker in Framingham. The new guidelines for spectators are similar to rules for runners made pub - lic several weeks ago by the Boston Athletic Association. Authorities said they sought to strike a balance between keeping the tradi - tional feel and character of the marathon and tightening security in response to last year's deadly terror attack. "We are confident that the overall experience of run - ners and spectators will not be impacted, and that all will enjoy a fun, festive and fam- ily-oriented day," said Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Schwartz said police are looking to spectators to be especially vigilant and re - port any suspicious items or activity. Like runners, spectators are also being told they can - not bring containers with more than 1 liter of liquid and cannot wear bulky cos- tumes or anything that cov- ers their faces. Unregistered runners known as "bandits" will be prohibited this year. Offi - cials said the move was nec- essary because or security concerns and because orga- nizers are expecting 9,000 additional runners this year — bringing the total field to 36,000 — and double the typical number of spectators for a crowd of up to one mil - lion. BosTon mArAThon Police presence beefed up for race By Albert Aji The Associated Press dAmAsCUs, sYriA » Syrian militants released Monday a group of Greek Orthodox nuns in exchange for dozens of women held in govern - ment prisons — a rare deal between Damascus and al- Qaida-linked rebels that was mediated by Qatari and Leb - anese officials. The dramatic scene of the nuns being freed from vehicles in the dead of night along the Lebanese-Syrian border, bidding their cap - tors a surprisingly friendly farewell, ended the wom- en's three-month ordeal. The nuns were captured as opposition fighters over- ran a Christian village and were held in a border town. They were released as gov- ernment-backed forces bat- tled their way into the stra- tegic border town in which they were held. It provided an unusual example of regional actors cooperating to reach across the Syrian civil war's sec - tarian and ideological fault lines. 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