Well-wishers have flooded the Facebook page of an Iranian teenager, who used a stolen passport to board Malaysian airline flight MH370.
The last, and possibly final, Facebook update by 19-year-old Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad was a photo of himself in front of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The caption said that he was “feeling excited”.
Mehrdad was en-route to Germany to meet his mother and to start a new life outside of Iran. He was travelling on a stolen passport.
On his Facebook page, Mehrdad had hinted on February 24 that he would be going on a long, life-changing trip. “Because of some problems I will deactivate my account. Friends, seriously, if I’ve done any of you a bad turn, forgive me because maybe…” he posted.
The life-changing trip was more than he bargained for. Early Saturday morning, the Malaysia Airlines flight that Mehrdad was travelling on, MH370, mysteriously disappeared while en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Ten countries have offered to help find the plane including the United States, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Australia, but after four days, authorities are still none the wiser as to the whereabouts of the plane.
“My heart is with your family now. Wish you would be found safe and sound,” commented Zak Hofman on Mehrdad’s Facebook page.
Wendy Bligh added: “As a mother my thoughts and prayers are with you. May you and the other passengers and crew on Malaysian flight 370, be found safe and may your journey continue to find yourself safe in your mothers arms again, prayers and thoughts to your mum from me in Australia.”
Malaysia's police chief Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar said the young Iranian was "not likely to be a member of a terrorist group".
He said authorities were in touch with his mother in Germany, who had been expecting her son to arrive in the city of Frankfurt, with the intention of making a plea for asylum.
Malaysian Airlines say the second stolen passport user is still being investigated in addition to the other 238 passengers on flight MH370.
"Judging by the ticket booking alone, if it was terrorism they would have specified the route and the plane they wanted to take. Instead, they asked for the most cost-effective ticket and did not specify the route or the airline," Pattaya chief of police Supachai Puikaewcome told Reuters news agency.
Thai police and investigators have been questioning two travel agents in the Thai resort city of Pattaya, where the tickets were bought for the two men who boarded the flight using the stolen passports.
Mr Supachai says Thai police are also investigating the stolen passport users' possible involvement with people smuggling.
"We're looking into all angles including the possibility that these men were involved in human smuggling as Mr Ali had a relationship with the travel agency and had booked through them previously, very possibly for Iranian nationals."
One of the stolen passports was reported stolen last year, and belonged to an Italian man. The other passport belonged to an Austrian man and was reported missing in 2012, according to an immigration police officer.
