Post date:
8 Mar 2014 - 11:41pm
Background Story: MALAYSIA AIRLINES LOSES CONTACT WITH PLANE CARRYING 239 PEOPLE
MILAN - Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirm that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysian airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry said today (March 8) that an Italian man whose name was listed as being aboard is travelling in Thailand and was not aboard the plane.
A foreign ministry functionary, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed Italian reports that Mr Luigi Maraldi had reported his passport stolen last August.
Italian news agency ANSA says Mr Maraldi called home after hearing reports that an Italian with his name was aboard the plane.
Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matches an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Thailand. Mr Weiss would not confirm the identity.
According to foreign news reports, passenger Luigi Maraldi, 37, was listed on the flight manifest released by Malaysia Airlines earlier, but Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra reported that he was not on the plane.
Corriere Della Serra reported that Maraldi's parent were contacted by MAS but said that their son is not aboard the plane which went missing at 1.30am today.
Another "passenger" also reported that he is actually not on the missing plane. This comes as CNN reported that Austrian officials confirm that the sole Austrian listed on the manifest, Christian Kozel, did not board the plane and had his passport stolen.
"An Austrian citizen listed as a passenger on missing Malaysia Airlines plane was not aboard, and his passport had been stolen two years ago, official tells CNN," the news brief on CNN's website reads.
Source: AP
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