Flight MH370s Two Mystery Passengers
It is heartbreaking to watch the families of those aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing early Saturday come to the slow-motion realization that their loves ones aren't coming back. Grieving survivors await any news on the fate of 237 people on the Boeing 777, a red-eye flight from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, a 2,700-mile voyage that was expected to end at dawn in the Chinese capital. But there were 239 people aboard the plane. What about those two other peoplethe passengers who made their way aboard the plane with stolen passports? Are their families grieving? Do theynever mind the rest of ushave any idea their loved ones were on the flight and are now presumed dead?, As of Monday, there are questions swirling around the pairbut few answers, Last year, more than 1 billion passengers flew without having their passports vetted by Interpol first. The Lyon, France-based international police group created the database, which now contains 40 million entries, following the 9/11 terror attacks. There are roughly 800 million passports searched annually, with about 60,000 popping up as stolen. "If Malaysia Airlines and all airlines worldwide were able to check the passport details of prospective passengers against Interpol's database, then we would not have to speculate whether stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said. "We would know that stolen passports were not used by any of the passengers to board that flight.", Absent that, the waiting continues.