KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – The sudden disappearance on Saturday of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 – with no distress call or other signs of trouble – has ignited intense speculation over what happened to the jet and its 239 passengers.

The following are some of the scenarios being mulled over by the regional authorities, investigators and industry experts.

… Q: Is lax security at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to blame? The modern facility does not have a history of known security breaches.
A: But Mr Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said the passport issue could indicate a “glaring flaw” in the airport’s immigration clearance.

He noted that Interpol maintains a database of stolen passports that should have raised red flags at the immigration counter.

“There are two categories of people who use these (stolen passports) – criminals and terrorists,” he said.