Malaysia police probe flight engineer on missing plane

Malaysian investigators are probing the background of Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, an aviation engineer who was among the passengers on board the passenger jet that went missing more than a week ago.

“We are looking into Mohd Khairul as well as the other passengers and crew. The focus is on anyone else who might have had aviation skills on that plane,” a senior police official said Monday on the condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

Reports say the 29-year-old had worked for a private jet charter company.

Investigators are running background checks on all the passengers and crew in Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

No trace of the plane has been found since the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 vanished after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur on March 8.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Sunday that officials believed that the final words from the cockpit – “All right, good night” – were communicated with air traffic controllers after one of the Boeing 777’s data communication systems had been disabled.

Hussein also called on more countries to join the search mission for the airliner.

He also said the plane’s route proves that someone deliberately steered the jet off course.

Senior Chinese authorities also said Beijing will continue search operations as long as there is a glimmer of hope. At least 150 Chinese citizens were on board the missing plane.