The plane, flight MH370 from Malaysia to Beijing, disappeared off the radar three days ago, leading some to believe it exploded at 35,000ft before hitting the ocean.
A source close to the investigation said: “The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far indicates that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated.”
The plane had 239 passengers and it has been confirmed that two of them were using stolen passports.
Malaysia’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been quoted confirming that the two people using the passports, which were Austrian and Italian, were ‘of Asian appearance’.
The revelation of the use of stolen passports raised suspicions of ‘foul play’, leading the Home Minister to criticise the border officials.
He said: “I am still perturbed. Can’t these immigration officials think? Italian and Austrian [passport holders] but with Asian face.”
The owners of the two stolen passports used her confirmed not to have been on the plane, and both are said to have had their passports stolen in Thailand within the last few years.
The thefts were reported to Interpol, a database that lists stolen travel documents.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said: “Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connections between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight was using a stolen passport listed in Interpol’s databases.”
The search for the missing plane covers the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand and the west coast of the Malay Peninsula.
Ships and aircrafts from Malaysia, Vietnam, China and the US have been deployed to the search.