Malaysian authorities have officially confirmed that one of the two passengers who boarded the missing Boeing with stolen passports was Iranian, the Associated Press reports . According to Malaysian police inspector general Khalid Abu Bakar, cited by CNN, 19-year-old Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad was most likely not associated with terrorists.

According to the authorities, the Iranian, who was flying on false documents, was planning to seek asylum in Germany. Through Beijing, where the missing plane was flying, he was supposed to arrive in Frankfurt, where his mother was waiting for him. Unable to contact her son, she turned to the Malaysian authorities herself.

A fellow countryman living in Kuala Lumpur previously told the BBC Persian service that both holders of stolen passports flying on board the missing plane were from Iran. According to him, both Iranians stayed at his house. The TV and radio company's interlocutor said that in Malaysia they bought fake passports and tickets to Amsterdam via Beijing. According to him, the men planned to emigrate to Europe.

Malaysian authorities have not yet been able to identify Mehrdad's fellow traveler.

The emergence of information that two passengers of the missing airliner were flying with stolen passports forced the investigation to turn to the version of the hijacking of the plane or its explosion. Interpol and the FBI were involved in the case. As it became known during the investigation, the unknown persons were flying on the documents of the Italian Luigi Maraldi and the Austrian Christian Kotzel. The final destination of the first of them was Copenhagen, and the second was Frankfurt am Main in Germany.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared from radar on the night of March 8. There were 227 passengers on board (153 of them were Chinese and Taiwanese) and 12 crew members. The last contact with the crew occurred while the plane was over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam. There is no information about what might have happened to the plane. It is known that shortly before disappearing from radar, the Boeing began an unplanned turn.

The search, which involves military personnel from nine countries, has so far yielded nothing. Due to the lack of any data, the investigation is considering all versions, including a terrorist attack.

One of the Iranians from the missing Boeing turned out to be a refugee