Malaysia Air dismisses missing plane ‘speculation’

Malaysia Airlines is saying that it is dismissing “media speculation” about the fate of its airplane that has been missing for a week.

Conflicting reports about the potential whereabouts about the plane have emerged in the seven days officials have been searching for the flight, which has been missing since losing contact with air traffic controllers about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing.

The company said it is “fully aware of the on-going media speculations and we have nothing further to add to the information we have already provided.

{mosads}“Our primary focus at this point in time is to care for the families of the passengers and crew of MH370,” the airline said in a statement. “This means providing them with timely information, travel facilities, accommodation, meals, medical and emotional support.”

Investigators initially believed the Malaysia Airlines flight, which was carrying 239 passengers, had likely crashed into the water in the Gulf of Thailand.

The focus of the search later moved west of Malaysia to the Straits of Malacca when officials came to believe the Malaysia Air flight turned off its air traffic control radars and flew back toward Kuala Lumpur.

Officials have now widened their search area to the Indian Ocean, based on communications investigators have said were received from the airplane’s engine.

The disappearance of Malaysia Air’s Flight 370 has sparked terrorism concerns. Malaysian officials have confirmed that at least two of the passengers who were on the plane were traveling on stolen passports, but said the identification mix-up is not related to the plane’s disappearance.

Aviation experts have said it is very rare for an airplane to disappear from the sky without remnants of a crash being found.

U.S. officials have confirmed that three of the passengers who were on the Malaysia Air flight were American citizens.