Malaysian Jet Search: 'We Never Give Up'

Missing Plane: 13 Things You Need To Know

Updated: 7:33am UK, Thursday 13 March 2014

As the search for Flight MH370 continues, we answer 13 questions about the disappearance and what could have happened.

When did the plane disappear?

Flight MH370 vanished from radars early on Saturday local time, an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. When it last made contact, the jet was cruising at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea.

There are reports that the plane tried to turn around, but this would give rise to the question why didn't the pilot communicate this decision to air traffic control? Meanwhile, at an undisclosed time a relative reportedly managed to call one of the passengers. Investigators have repeatedly tried to call the same number without success.

Who was on board?

The plane's manifest contained 12 crew members from Malaysia and 227 passengers from 14 different countries.

There were 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French, three Americans, two each from Iran (both travelling on fake passports), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada, and one each from Russia, Taiwan and The Netherlands.

Among the passengers was a 19-strong group of prominent artists returning from an exhibition in Malaysia. Five children - aged two to four - were on board. The oldest person on the plane was 79.

What are the main theories?

Mechanical error remains the most likely explanation. Poor conditions and strong turbulence always have to be considered, but weather conditions were good in this instance. Four areas of investigation are focused on the possibility of human involvement: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems or personal problems with passengers or crew.

Could there have been a mechanical error?

Inquiries into Air France Flight 447 that dived into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing 228 people, blamed both technical and human error.

However, in the event of engine failure, a plane such as the Boeing 777-200 could glide for 80-90 miles (128-145km), giving the pilot time to issue a distress signal. The descent would also have been traced by radars. The lack of any Mayday call makes an explosion a possibility.

Could the plane have broken up in the air?

The apparent lack of wreckage from MH370 does point to a high-altitude disaster. In such an event the debris would be spread far and wide, making it difficult to find.

A smaller debris field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up on impact with the water. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure due to a window blowing out the crew would dive the plane in order to lose altitude - but this would not cause the plane to disintegrate.

How about the plane's safety record?

Sudden, accidental, structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft. This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

One of the missing plane's wingtips was clipped in an incident while taxiing in 2012, but it was repaired and certified as safe.

Could it have been a terrorist attack or hijacking?

In the event of a hijacker trying to enter the cockpit, a pilot can send a secret distress code - something that wasn't done on Flight MH370.

The profiles of all 239 passengers are being checked against databases worldwide, but the terrorism theory was weakened on Tuesday when Malaysian police confirmed it had identified the two passengers who were travelling on fake passports. Both were said to be seeking asylum in Europe.

In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster - but no one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Human error?

The 53-year-old pilot was experienced, having amassed more than 18,000 flying hours since being employed by the airline in 1981.

However, in Indonesia in 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 disappeared with 102 passengers during a domestic flight, where the authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

Former naval pilot Dr Simon Mitchell told Sky News: "We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made."

Why was there no distress signal?

One explanation is that the plane fell into a communications black spot. Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer explained: "These are very sophisticated (items of) equipment that should have been working under any conditions - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet.

"There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you cannot communicate for some reason. Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots."

Where is the search taking place?

A number of aircraft and ships have been taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Search teams from Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and the US are assisting.

Officials said on Tuesday that the search was being conducted on both sides of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane disappeared - over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam - to 100 nautical miles (115 miles; 185km).

This expansion was a result of a new report from the Malaysian military, which said it tracked the plane in the Strait of Malacca - a long distance from where it last made contact - in the hours following its disappearance.

Why has no wreckage been found?

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find. It took two years to find the main wreckage of Air France Flight 447 in 2009.

In 2007, in the case of the Adam Air flight, it was a week before an Indonesian naval vessel detected metal on the ocean floor. It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders and seven months for the recorder to be recovered.

If the plane had crashed on land, chances are the wreckage would have been found by now. At sea, much of the plane would have sunk, but some debris should remain on the surface. But the longer the search takes the harder it becomes as the wind and tide spread any debris further from the initial crash zone.

Could the flight data recorder provide answers?

As well as wreckage, search teams are looking for the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) - though these do not always work if a plane hits water. However, attached to the plane's "black box" is a device known as a pinger. This can emit radio signals deep underwater for up to 30 days - or 40 days in warm water.

Has a plane ever simply vanished?

Since the start of the jet age in the 1950s, nearly every major aircraft that disappeared was found - eventually - and the rare exceptions did not involve passengers.

In September 1990, a Boeing 727 plunged into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel. The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered.

Another Boeing 727 transporting diesel to diamond mines in Africa took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Plane Search Switches To Two Air Corridors

A week after it went missing, the search for the Malaysian Airlines plane is now being moved further west to two "air corridors" as it enters a "new phase".

One is from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and the other is further south, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

It comes after authorities confirmed the jet's last communication with a satellite was in one of those areas after it picked up a "ping" from the airliner.

This was nearly seven hours after the flight dropped off civilian air traffic control screens.

The corridors represent a satellite track, which appears as an arc on a map.

The Boeing 777 did not necessarily follow the corridor, but was at some point along its path at the moment the signal was sent.

Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak said that searching in the South China Sea, where the plane first lost contact with air traffic controllers, would be ended.

The Boeing has been missing for a week

Authorities believe Flight MH370 had its communications and tracking systems deliberately turned off amid reports that it had been hijacked.

Investigators have increasingly focused on the possibility it was flown off-course by the pilot or co-pilot, or someone else on board with detailed knowledge of how to fly and navigate a large commercial aircraft.

The plane, with 239 people on board, left Kuala Lumpur at 12.40am on Saturday March 8 and headed to Beijing.

About 40 minutes into the flight, the jet's communications with civilian air controllers were severed.

Investigators believe one of the aircraft's communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System - was disabled before the plane reached the east coast of Malaysia.

Shortly afterwards, someone on board then switched off the aircraft's transponder, which communicates with civilian air traffic controllers.

At 2.15am Malaysian air force defence radar picked up traces of the plane turning back westwards, crossing over Peninsular Malaysia before turning north west into the stretches of the Strait of Malacca.

But the last confirmed signal between the aircraft and a satellite was at 8.11am - seven and a half hours after take-off, meaning it could have flown as far north as Kazakhstan or the southern Indian Ocean.

Airline officials have said the plane had enough fuel to fly for up to about eight hours.

The PM said authorities were still looking at all possibilities and did not confirm the hijacking claim which was made by an unnamed Malaysian official.

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'Deliberate Action' Diverted Missing Plane

Was Flight MH370's Transponder Turned Off?

Updated: 12:57am UK, Friday 14 March 2014

The transponder on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet is likely to have been deliberately turned off by one of the crew, aircraft experts have told Sky News.

A massive search effort, using military warships and planes to scour a massive expanse of water, has failed to find any sign of the plane since it vanished on Saturday.

Theories about its mysterious disappearance include a structural fault causing explosive decompression, a terrorist attack or pilot suicide.

The transponder - a crucial device that identifies the plane, its position and altitude - stopped working just 40 minutes into Saturday's flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Radar systems engineer Daniel Holland believes it was intentionally disabled.

"The evidence points that way," he said.

"The pilots have never made a 7500 - the international code for 'my plane is hijacked'; it is the pure lack of transponder information (that is suspicious).

"For myself, you would look at the communications panel just behind the throttle quadrant on the Boeing 777 to either switch it off there, or even just removing the fuses."

Mark Weiss, a former commercial pilot now working as an aviation consultant, said he agreed that someone in the cockpit had probably disabled the transponder.

"I don't believe it was an explosive decompression," said Mr Weiss.

"In the US a few years ago we had a Southwest Airlines plane that had an explosive decompression and still maintained the basic structural integrity of the aircraft."

Disabling of the transponder might lend weight to the theory that one of the pilots sabotaged the flight.

However, it is also possible it was turned off for other reasons - for example if it was giving out faulty data.

Malaysia Airlines has opened an investigation into the conduct of one of the pilots, Fariq Abdul Hamid, after pictures emerged of himself with two women he allowed into the cockpit during a flight two years ago.

However, it has said it has "no reason to believe" the pilots had anything to do with the disappearance.

At a news conference on Thursday, Malaysia's transport minister, Hishammudin Hussein, denied reports the homes of crew members had been searched by police.

The plane was last heard from when the pilot responded to a message confirming it was moving from Malaysian to Vietnamese air traffic control.

The pilot replied "Okay, received, goodnight", but Vietnamese officials have said they never heard from flight MH370. 

Not all aviation experts agree that foul play is likely to be to blame for the disappearance.

Dr Colin Brown, director of engineering at Institution of Mechanical Engineers, told Sky he still believes the plane was ripped apart by "explosive decompression".

However, he admitted that the lack of any wreckage or 'black box' signal was hard to make sense of.

"This thing is 300 tons of metal with 239 people on board - I cannot understand how you can hide something that size."

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Was Missing Plane's Transponder Turned Off?

The transponder on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet is likely to have been deliberately turned off by one of the crew, aircraft experts have told Sky News.

A massive search effort, using military warships and planes to scour a massive expanse of water, has failed to find any sign of the plane since it vanished on Saturday.

Theories about its mysterious disappearance include a structural fault causing explosive decompression, a terrorist attack or pilot suicide.

The transponder - a crucial device that identifies the plane, its position and altitude - stopped working just 40 minutes into Saturday's flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The transponder is constantly 'pinged' for data by air traffic radar

Radar systems engineer Daniel Holland believes it was intentionally disabled.

"The evidence points that way," he said.

"The pilots have never made a 7500 - the international code for 'my plane is hijacked'; it is the pure lack of transponder information (that is suspicious).

"For myself, you would look at the communications panel just behind the throttle quadrant on the Boeing 777 to either switch it off there, or even just removing the fuses."

A US Sea Hawk helicopter prepares to join the search

Mark Weiss, a former commercial pilot now working as an aviation consultant, said he agreed that someone in the cockpit had probably disabled the transponder.

"I don't believe it was an explosive decompression," said Mr Weiss.

"In the US a few years ago we had a Southwest Airlines plane that had an explosive decompression and still maintained the basic structural integrity of the aircraft."

Disabling of the transponder might lend weight to the theory that one of the pilots sabotaged the flight.

One pilot apparently allowed two women to fly with him in the cockpit

However, it is also possible it was turned off for other reasons - for example if it was giving out faulty data.

Malaysia Airlines has opened an investigation into the conduct of one of the pilots, Fariq Abdul Hamid, after pictures emerged of himself with two women he allowed into the cockpit during a flight two years ago.

However, it has said it has "no reason to believe" the pilots had anything to do with the disappearance.

The search is taking in a massive area of ocean but no trace has been found

At a news conference on Thursday, Malaysia's transport minister, Hishammudin Hussein, denied reports the homes of crew members had been searched by police.

The plane was last heard from when the pilot responded to a message confirming it was moving from Malaysian to Vietnamese air traffic control.

The pilot replied "Okay, received, goodnight", but Vietnamese officials have said they never heard from flight MH370. 

Not all aviation experts agree that foul play is likely to be to blame for the disappearance.

Dr Colin Brown, director of engineering at Institution of Mechanical Engineers, told Sky he still believes the plane was ripped apart by "explosive decompression".

However, he admitted that the lack of any wreckage or 'black box' signal was hard to make sense of.

"This thing is 300 tons of metal with 239 people on board - I cannot understand how you can hide something that size."

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Missing Plane 'Flown Towards Andaman Islands'

Missing Plane: 13 Things You Need To Know

Updated: 7:33am UK, Thursday 13 March 2014

As the search for Flight MH370 continues, we answer 13 questions about the disappearance and what could have happened.

When did the plane disappear?

Flight MH370 vanished from radars early on Saturday local time, an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. When it last made contact, the jet was cruising at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea.

There are reports that the plane tried to turn around, but this would give rise to the question why didn't the pilot communicate this decision to air traffic control? Meanwhile, at an undisclosed time a relative reportedly managed to call one of the passengers. Investigators have repeatedly tried to call the same number without success.

Who was on board?

The plane's manifest contained 12 crew members from Malaysia and 227 passengers from 14 different countries.

There were 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French, three Americans, two each from Iran (both travelling on fake passports), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada, and one each from Russia, Taiwan and The Netherlands.

Among the passengers was a 19-strong group of prominent artists returning from an exhibition in Malaysia. Five children - aged two to four - were on board. The oldest person on the plane was 79.

What are the main theories?

Mechanical error remains the most likely explanation. Poor conditions and strong turbulence always have to be considered, but weather conditions were good in this instance. Four areas of investigation are focused on the possibility of human involvement: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems or personal problems with passengers or crew.

Could there have been a mechanical error?

Inquiries into Air France Flight 447 that dived into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing 228 people, blamed both technical and human error.

However, in the event of engine failure, a plane such as the Boeing 777-200 could glide for 80-90 miles (128-145km), giving the pilot time to issue a distress signal. The descent would also have been traced by radars. The lack of any Mayday call makes an explosion a possibility.

Could the plane have broken up in the air?

The apparent lack of wreckage from MH370 does point to a high-altitude disaster. In such an event the debris would be spread far and wide, making it difficult to find.

A smaller debris field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up on impact with the water. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure due to a window blowing out the crew would dive the plane in order to lose altitude - but this would not cause the plane to disintegrate.

How about the plane's safety record?

Sudden, accidental, structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft. This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

One of the missing plane's wingtips was clipped in an incident while taxiing in 2012, but it was repaired and certified as safe.

Could it have been a terrorist attack or hijacking?

In the event of a hijacker trying to enter the cockpit, a pilot can send a secret distress code - something that wasn't done on Flight MH370.

The profiles of all 239 passengers are being checked against databases worldwide, but the terrorism theory was weakened on Tuesday when Malaysian police confirmed it had identified the two passengers who were travelling on fake passports. Both were said to be seeking asylum in Europe.

In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster - but no one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Human error?

The 53-year-old pilot was experienced, having amassed more than 18,000 flying hours since being employed by the airline in 1981.

However, in Indonesia in 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 disappeared with 102 passengers during a domestic flight, where the authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

Former naval pilot Dr Simon Mitchell told Sky News: "We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made."

Why was there no distress signal?

One explanation is that the plane fell into a communications black spot. Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer explained: "These are very sophisticated (items of) equipment that should have been working under any conditions - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet.

"There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you cannot communicate for some reason. Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots."

Where is the search taking place?

A number of aircraft and ships have been taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Search teams from Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and the US are assisting.

Officials said on Tuesday that the search was being conducted on both sides of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane disappeared - over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam - to 100 nautical miles (115 miles; 185km).

This expansion was a result of a new report from the Malaysian military, which said it tracked the plane in the Strait of Malacca - a long distance from where it last made contact - in the hours following its disappearance.

Why has no wreckage been found?

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find. It took two years to find the main wreckage of Air France Flight 447 in 2009.

In 2007, in the case of the Adam Air flight, it was a week before an Indonesian naval vessel detected metal on the ocean floor. It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders and seven months for the recorder to be recovered.

If the plane had crashed on land, chances are the wreckage would have been found by now. At sea, much of the plane would have sunk, but some debris should remain on the surface. But the longer the search takes the harder it becomes as the wind and tide spread any debris further from the initial crash zone.

Could the flight data recorder provide answers?

As well as wreckage, search teams are looking for the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) - though these do not always work if a plane hits water. However, attached to the plane's "black box" is a device known as a pinger. This can emit radio signals deep underwater for up to 30 days - or 40 days in warm water.

Has a plane ever simply vanished?

Since the start of the jet age in the 1950s, nearly every major aircraft that disappeared was found - eventually - and the rare exceptions did not involve passengers.

In September 1990, a Boeing 727 plunged into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel. The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered.

Another Boeing 727 transporting diesel to diamond mines in Africa took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Searching For Malaysian Jet: 'We Never Give Up'

Missing Plane: 13 Things You Need To Know

Updated: 7:33am UK, Thursday 13 March 2014

As the search for Flight MH370 continues, we answer 13 questions about the disappearance and what could have happened.

When did the plane disappear?

Flight MH370 vanished from radars early on Saturday local time, an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. When it last made contact, the jet was cruising at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea.

There are reports that the plane tried to turn around, but this would give rise to the question why didn't the pilot communicate this decision to air traffic control? Meanwhile, at an undisclosed time a relative reportedly managed to call one of the passengers. Investigators have repeatedly tried to call the same number without success.

Who was on board?

The plane's manifest contained 12 crew members from Malaysia and 227 passengers from 14 different countries.

There were 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French, three Americans, two each from Iran (both travelling on fake passports), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada, and one each from Russia, Taiwan and The Netherlands.

Among the passengers was a 19-strong group of prominent artists returning from an exhibition in Malaysia. Five children - aged two to four - were on board. The oldest person on the plane was 79.

What are the main theories?

Mechanical error remains the most likely explanation. Poor conditions and strong turbulence always have to be considered, but weather conditions were good in this instance. Four areas of investigation are focused on the possibility of human involvement: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems or personal problems with passengers or crew.

Could there have been a mechanical error?

Inquiries into Air France Flight 447 that dived into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing 228 people, blamed both technical and human error.

However, in the event of engine failure, a plane such as the Boeing 777-200 could glide for 80-90 miles (128-145km), giving the pilot time to issue a distress signal. The descent would also have been traced by radars. The lack of any Mayday call makes an explosion a possibility.

Could the plane have broken up in the air?

The apparent lack of wreckage from MH370 does point to a high-altitude disaster. In such an event the debris would be spread far and wide, making it difficult to find.

A smaller debris field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up on impact with the water. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure due to a window blowing out the crew would dive the plane in order to lose altitude - but this would not cause the plane to disintegrate.

How about the plane's safety record?

Sudden, accidental, structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft. This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

One of the missing plane's wingtips was clipped in an incident while taxiing in 2012, but it was repaired and certified as safe.

Could it have been a terrorist attack or hijacking?

In the event of a hijacker trying to enter the cockpit, a pilot can send a secret distress code - something that wasn't done on Flight MH370.

The profiles of all 239 passengers are being checked against databases worldwide, but the terrorism theory was weakened on Tuesday when Malaysian police confirmed it had identified the two passengers who were travelling on fake passports. Both were said to be seeking asylum in Europe.

In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster - but no one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Human error?

The 53-year-old pilot was experienced, having amassed more than 18,000 flying hours since being employed by the airline in 1981.

However, in Indonesia in 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 disappeared with 102 passengers during a domestic flight, where the authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

Former naval pilot Dr Simon Mitchell told Sky News: "We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made."

Why was there no distress signal?

One explanation is that the plane fell into a communications black spot. Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer explained: "These are very sophisticated (items of) equipment that should have been working under any conditions - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet.

"There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you cannot communicate for some reason. Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots."

Where is the search taking place?

A number of aircraft and ships have been taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Search teams from Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and the US are assisting.

Officials said on Tuesday that the search was being conducted on both sides of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane disappeared - over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam - to 100 nautical miles (115 miles; 185km).

This expansion was a result of a new report from the Malaysian military, which said it tracked the plane in the Strait of Malacca - a long distance from where it last made contact - in the hours following its disappearance.

Why has no wreckage been found?

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find. It took two years to find the main wreckage of Air France Flight 447 in 2009.

In 2007, in the case of the Adam Air flight, it was a week before an Indonesian naval vessel detected metal on the ocean floor. It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders and seven months for the recorder to be recovered.

If the plane had crashed on land, chances are the wreckage would have been found by now. At sea, much of the plane would have sunk, but some debris should remain on the surface. But the longer the search takes the harder it becomes as the wind and tide spread any debris further from the initial crash zone.

Could the flight data recorder provide answers?

As well as wreckage, search teams are looking for the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) - though these do not always work if a plane hits water. However, attached to the plane's "black box" is a device known as a pinger. This can emit radio signals deep underwater for up to 30 days - or 40 days in warm water.

Has a plane ever simply vanished?

Since the start of the jet age in the 1950s, nearly every major aircraft that disappeared was found - eventually - and the rare exceptions did not involve passengers.

In September 1990, a Boeing 727 plunged into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel. The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered.

Another Boeing 727 transporting diesel to diamond mines in Africa took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Obama Hopes For Crimea Referendum 'Rethink'

Barack Obama is hopeful a last-ditch diplomatic effort can put a stop to a Russian-backed referendum to decide the future of Crimea.

At a meeting in the White House with Ukraine's interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the US President said that if the vote went ahead, America would not recognise the result.

"We will not recognise any referendum that goes forward," he said, to which Mr Yatsenyuk added: "Ukraine is and will be part of the Western world."

The proposed referendum in Crimea on Sunday will decide whether the region should separate from Ukraine and become part of Russia.

In a statement issued by the White House on behalf of the G7 leaders, the Obama administration declared that if the vote went ahead it would have no legal effect given the "intimidating presence of Russian troops".

Meanwhile, the US passed a bill authorising a $1bn loan to Ukraine's new government and paving the way for tough economic sanctions on Russia to put pressure on President Putin to pull Russian troops out of Crimea.

Youths hold up a Crimea flag ahead of a planned referendum

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is travelling to London to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday.

Mr Kerry said he would present Mr Lavrov a "series of options" to resolve the dispute.

"We will offer certain choices to Foreign Minister Lavrov and to President Putin through him and to Russia, with hopes, and I think the hopes of the world, that we will be able to find a way forward that defuses this," Mr Kerry told a House hearing in Washington.

Ukrainian military personnel remain in Crimea despite the tensions

He said it was not in anyone's interests to isolate Moscow "but we will do what we have to do if Russia cannot find a way to make the right choices here".

The frantic diplomatic effort came as Ukraine accused Russia of massing 80,000 troops, 270 tanks and 140 combat aircraft close to the border, creating the "threat of a full-scale invasion". 

The Black Sea peninsula has been the scene of a tense stand-off between Moscow and the West, following the toppling of Kremlin ally Viktor Yanukovych as Ukrainian president.

It led to the seizing of the region by pro-Russian forces.

Vladimir Putin is portrayed as a Nazi officer by protesters in Odessa

Crimea's majority Russian-speaking population are expected to back the split from Ukraine.

The vote has been denounced by the new Ukrainian government in Kiev, which has vowed not to give up a "single centimetre" of territory.

And in a statement ahead of a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the US and other Group of Seven nations said they would not recognise the referendum.

"We call on the Russian Federation to immediately halt actions supporting a referendum on the territory of Crimea regarding its status, in direct violation of the constitution of Ukraine," it read.

"Any such referendum would have no legal effect."

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the move arguing it is legal.

Mr Kerry has been unsuccessfully trying for more than a week to broker a meeting between Russian, Ukrainian and European diplomats to try and ease tensions.

The Secretary of State told Congress he would be flying to London to meet Mr Lavrov on the instruction of President Barack Obama.

He said: "Our job is to present them with a series of options that are appropriate in order to try to respect the people of Ukraine, international law, and the interests of all concerned."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Malaysia 'Nothing To Hide' Over Plane Search

Missing Plane: 13 Things You Need To Know

Updated: 7:33am UK, Thursday 13 March 2014

As the search for Flight MH370 continues, we answer 13 questions about the disappearance and what could have happened.

When did the plane disappear?

Flight MH370 vanished from radars early on Saturday local time, an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. When it last made contact, the jet was cruising at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea.

There are reports that the plane tried to turn around, but this would give rise to the question why didn't the pilot communicate this decision to air traffic control? Meanwhile, at an undisclosed time a relative reportedly managed to call one of the passengers. Investigators have repeatedly tried to call the same number without success.

Who was on board?

The plane's manifest contained 12 crew members from Malaysia and 227 passengers from 14 different countries.

There were 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French, three Americans, two each from Iran (both travelling on fake passports), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada, and one each from Russia, Taiwan and The Netherlands.

Among the passengers was a 19-strong group of prominent artists returning from an exhibition in Malaysia. Five children - aged two to four - were on board. The oldest person on the plane was 79.

What are the main theories?

Mechanical error remains the most likely explanation. Poor conditions and strong turbulence always have to be considered, but weather conditions were good in this instance. Four areas of investigation are focused on the possibility of human involvement: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems or personal problems with passengers or crew.

Could there have been a mechanical error?

Inquiries into Air France Flight 447 that dived into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing 228 people, blamed both technical and human error.

However, in the event of engine failure, a plane such as the Boeing 777-200 could glide for 80-90 miles (128-145km), giving the pilot time to issue a distress signal. The descent would also have been traced by radars. The lack of any Mayday call makes an explosion a possibility.

Could the plane have broken up in the air?

The apparent lack of wreckage from MH370 does point to a high-altitude disaster. In such an event the debris would be spread far and wide, making it difficult to find.

A smaller debris field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up on impact with the water. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure due to a window blowing out the crew would dive the plane in order to lose altitude - but this would not cause the plane to disintegrate.

How about the plane's safety record?

Sudden, accidental, structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft. This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

One of the missing plane's wingtips was clipped in an incident while taxiing in 2012, but it was repaired and certified as safe.

Could it have been a terrorist attack or hijacking?

In the event of a hijacker trying to enter the cockpit, a pilot can send a secret distress code - something that wasn't done on Flight MH370.

The profiles of all 239 passengers are being checked against databases worldwide, but the terrorism theory was weakened on Tuesday when Malaysian police confirmed it had identified the two passengers who were travelling on fake passports. Both were said to be seeking asylum in Europe.

In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster - but no one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Human error?

The 53-year-old pilot was experienced, having amassed more than 18,000 flying hours since being employed by the airline in 1981.

However, in Indonesia in 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 disappeared with 102 passengers during a domestic flight, where the authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

Former naval pilot Dr Simon Mitchell told Sky News: "We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made."

Why was there no distress signal?

One explanation is that the plane fell into a communications black spot. Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer explained: "These are very sophisticated (items of) equipment that should have been working under any conditions - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet.

"There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you cannot communicate for some reason. Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots."

Where is the search taking place?

A number of aircraft and ships have been taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Search teams from Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and the US are assisting.

Officials said on Tuesday that the search was being conducted on both sides of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane disappeared - over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam - to 100 nautical miles (115 miles; 185km).

This expansion was a result of a new report from the Malaysian military, which said it tracked the plane in the Strait of Malacca - a long distance from where it last made contact - in the hours following its disappearance.

Why has no wreckage been found?

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find. It took two years to find the main wreckage of Air France Flight 447 in 2009.

In 2007, in the case of the Adam Air flight, it was a week before an Indonesian naval vessel detected metal on the ocean floor. It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders and seven months for the recorder to be recovered.

If the plane had crashed on land, chances are the wreckage would have been found by now. At sea, much of the plane would have sunk, but some debris should remain on the surface. But the longer the search takes the harder it becomes as the wind and tide spread any debris further from the initial crash zone.

Could the flight data recorder provide answers?

As well as wreckage, search teams are looking for the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) - though these do not always work if a plane hits water. However, attached to the plane's "black box" is a device known as a pinger. This can emit radio signals deep underwater for up to 30 days - or 40 days in warm water.

Has a plane ever simply vanished?

Since the start of the jet age in the 1950s, nearly every major aircraft that disappeared was found - eventually - and the rare exceptions did not involve passengers.

In September 1990, a Boeing 727 plunged into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel. The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered.

Another Boeing 727 transporting diesel to diamond mines in Africa took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Gasps In Court As Photo Of Reeva's Body Shown

There have been gasps in court as images of Reeva Steenkamp's body were shown during Oscar Pistorius' murder trial.

Various photographs were being scrolled through on screen by the defence team when several distressing images were briefly shown to the court.

Sky's Alex Crawford, who is in court, said: "As defence lawyer Barry Roux was flicking through various photographs of the scene ... you saw very close-up pictures of Reeva Steenkamp. Close-ups of her skull, body and her various injuries.

"This caused quite a stir in court. It led to gasps from a number of people inside."

Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by Oscar Pistorius

Pistorius began retching and coughing, and was handed a green bucket in which to be sick.

Schoombie van Rensburg - a now-retired police officer who went to the scene after the shooting - is using photographs to outline his route through Pistorius' home when he arrived, and what he saw.

Sky's Alex Crawford, who is in court, said: "He described following a trail of blood and we've been shown a series of photographs starting from the exterior of the Oscar Pistorius house, going inside showing splatters on the floor at the base of the stairs, blood on his cream sofas that are on the ground floor, blood leading up the stairs, and more along the wall.

Pistorius arrives at court on Thursday morning

"We know the athlete says he carried Ms Steenkamp's body down the stairs, he says to get medical help."

Earlier, the court heard how a box of watches belonging to Pistorius went missing during the crime scene examination.

The millionaire Paralympic athlete had a "little box" containing the watches, which has disappeared and never been found.

Barry Roux (R) has been questioning a police forensic officer

The issue was raised by Mr Roux, who is trying to undermine the credibility of the police investigation.

He spent the morning repeatedly challenging police forensic expert Johannes Vermuelen.

On Wednesday, Mr Vermuelen told the court Pistorius was on his stumps when he smashed down a locked toilet door to reach his shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Mr Vermuelen took part in a reconstruction on Wednesday

That contradicted Pistorius' previous claims he put on his prostheses before smashing down the door.

Thursday's evidence started with Mr Roux asking for Mr Vermuelen's phone records from overnight, suggesting he may have consulted people ahead of giving his testimony.

He was then asked about missing splinters from Pistorius' bathroom door, through which he shot Ms Steenkamp.

The home of Oscar Pistorius where the killing took place

He said he asked a colleague about the missing splinters, but repeatedly said he "couldn't remember" who he spoke to.

Mr Vermuelen also admitted he did not examine the door for evidence Pistorius had kicked it with his prosthetic leg. A footprint would show he was wearing his legs at some point.

Sky's Alex Crawford, who is in court, said: "This was such a drubbing of Vermuelen, it was like watching a blood sport."

On top of the premeditated murder allegation, Pistorius faces a charge of illegally possessing ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

He denies all the charges against him and maintains he shot Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder.

The athlete could face 25 years in jail if he is found guilty by Judge Thokozile Masipa. South Africa does not have trials by jury.

More follows...

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Pistorius Crime Scene Reconstructed In Court

Pistorius Trial: Evidence Summary

Updated: 2:18pm UK, Tuesday 11 March 2014

A summary of the evidence heard in the first two days of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Day 7

Friend Darren Fresco told the court Oscar Pistorius "laughed" after firing his gun through the sunroof of a car.

Mr Fresco said he asked Pistorius if he was "******* mad". "He just laughed about what had happened. It felt as if my ear was bleeding," he said, referring to the episode in late 2012.

The court was told the athlete had a "big love for weapons" and Mr Fresco also recalled an occasion when Pistorius asked him to pass him his gun at Tasha's restaurant in Johannesburg on January 13 last year.

He said he warned Pistorius his Glock pistol was "one-up" - meaning it had a bullet in the chamber - and that he thought he saw the runner remove it.

The gun went off under the table, followed by a "deafening hush" - and Pistorius "instantly" passed the weapon back to him and asked him to "take the rap for it" because there was "too much media hype" around him, Mr Fresco said.

Pathologist Gert Saymaan, who conducted a post-mortem examination on Reeva Steenkamp, also finished giving his evidence as a court ban on tweeting during his evidence was lifted by Judge Thokozile Masipa.

The court heard the amount of urine in Ms Steenkamp's bladder at the time of her death amounted to the rough equivalent of a teaspoon - and that the model's last meal was consumed no more than two hours before her death.

Ms Steenkamp was shot after 3am, which means she must have eaten after 1am. Pistorius had said the couple were in the bedroom by 10pm.

Prof Saayman admitted he was not "an expert in this field" but his conclusions were based on scientific probability.

Day 6

Oscar Pistorius threw up in court as details of the post-mortem examination of Reeva Steenkamp were read out.

A live video feed of the trial was cut while a pathologist gave "graphic" evidence of his examination.

Professor Gert Saayman said Ms Steenkamp had bullet wounds to her head, right hip and right arm.

He said the Ranger branded bullets used were designed to "expand and mushroom" and cause substantial damage.

Prof Saayman said the head wound would have been incapacitating but added Ms Steenkamp may not have died straight away.

 Earlier in the day a security guard finished giving his evidence.

Chief security guard Pieter Baba says Pistorius told him all was fine when he called after receiving reports from other residents that they had heard gunshots.

 But Mr Roux insisted to him that it was Pistorius who phoned the security guard, rather than the other way round.

Mr Baba denied this.

Day Five

Prosecution witness Samantha Taylor, ex-girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, broke down in court as she told how the athlete cheated on her with Reeva Steenkamp.

Miss Taylor also told the court how Pistorius once fired a gun out of the sunroof of a car after being stopped by police.

The star's ex-lover described how Pistorius would sometimes "scream at her" and often carried a gun with him.

The court was told how Pistorius once woke Ms Taylor fearing there was an intruder in the house and got up to investigate with his gun.

Security guard Pieter Baba described the moment he saw a distressed Pistorius carrying Reeva down the stairs.

The guard said that Pistorius assured him everything "is fine" after shots were reported. 

More evidence from Ms Taylor suggested that Pistorius once feared he was being followed and waved his gun at the suspect car until it drove off near his home.

Day Four

Prosecution witness Dr Johan Stipp told the court how he went to Oscar Pistorius' residence after hearing shots fired on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed.

He said he saw Ms Steenkamp lying on her back and Pistorius by her side, frantically trying to resuscitate her.

It was clear Ms Steenkamp was mortally wounded, he said, and Pistorius was crying and praying that she'd survive. During his evidence, Pistorius broke down in the dock, sobbing as he held his head in his hands.

Earlier, Pistorius' defence team said it would have been "impossible" for neighbours to hear screams on the night Ms Steenkamp died.

Lawyer Barry Roux said neighbour Charl Peter Johnson's claim that he heard gunshots followed by a woman screaming was incorrect.

"You cannot hear it inside your house," he said. "At any distance, she was in a locked bathroom."

Mr Johnson also claimed to have heard five or six shots on the night of the killing. But Mr Roux pointed out that in his initial notes he wrote that he "did not count the number of shots fired".

Day Three

Mr Johnson's evidence continued, and he was repeatedly challenged by Mr Roux who at one point said: "You are saying all the evidence that your wife gave us yesterday."

Mr Johnson replied that it was not unusual for two people to use the same words when describing an incident.

He mentioned some notes that he'd taken after the shooting, which are on his laptop and iPad. He was asked to end his evidence for the day and come back the next day, so the defence team had the opportunity to view his notes.

Pistorius' friend Kevin Lerena was then called, who described an incident in January last year in which Pistorius allegedly discharged a firearm by mistake while eating with friends in a restaurant.

He said the athlete then asked his friend Darren Fresco to take the blame.

The owner of the restaurant, Jason Loupis, and his wife Maria, later confirmed the incident after taking the stand.

Mrs Loupis said there was a child nearby when Pistorius' gun went off in the restaurant.

Day Two

The evidence of Ms Burger continued.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux said her evidence had been influenced by media coverage of the shooting, but she denied this.

Mr Roux said that evidence later in the trial would show that Ms Steenkamp would not have been able to scream after the final shot hit her in the head.

Ms Burger stood by her initial statement that she heard Ms Steenkamp after the final shot.

Another neighbour then took the stand for a short time, before Ms Burger's husband gave his evidence.

He told how he thought Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp were being held up in their house and said he looked at additional security measures for his own home the next day.

He backed up his wife's evidence, saying he heard screams after the final shot.

Day One

The first witness, university lecturer Michelle Burger, took the stand.

She says she woke on the night of the killing to the sound of gunshots and a woman screaming.

She described hearing "bloodcurdling screams" and four shots.

She is a key witness for the prosecution, as her evidence would appear to contradict Pistorius' claims that he thought he was shooting at an intruder.

The defence argued she is unreliable due to alleged discrepancies between her police statement and court testimony.

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Malaysia Airlines Mystery: Search Stepped Up

What Has Happened To Malaysia Airlines Plane?

Updated: 6:49am UK, Wednesday 12 March 2014

The missing Malaysia Airlines flight may be proving so hard to find because it could have vanished in an aviation "black spot", an expert has told Sky News.

:: For the latest on this story click here

Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer said it was "disturbing" that there had been no distress call from flight MH370's cockpit and that the plane's emergency locator transmitters had not sent any signals.

He said: "These are very sophisticated equipment that should have been working under any condition - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet.

"There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you can not communicate for some reason.

"Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots, so perhaps at that time there was no data transmission between the aircraft and the airline."

Flight MH370 vanished from radar screens early on Saturday about one hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

When it last made contact, the Malaysia Airlines jet was at cruising altitude, 11km (35,000 feet) above sea level, largely considered the safest part of a flight.

While there is still no confirmation that the Boeing 777-200 crashed, aviation experts have put forward possible causes of its disappearance including a terrorist attack, extreme turbulence, human error or even suicide.

The failure of the pilots to send a distress signal has given rise to speculation there was a sudden catastrophe - possibly caused by a mechanical failure or an explosion.

Former Navy pilot Dr Simon Mitchell has told Sky News that despite flying becoming safer over the years, mistakes are still made.

"We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made," he said.

Investigations into Air France flight 447 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing 228 people, eventually concluded that both technical and human error were to blame for the disaster.

Closer to the area where MH370 vanished, Adam Air flight 574 with 102 people on board disappeared in January 2007, also at its cruise phase, during a domestic flight in Indonesia.

Authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.

The lack of wreckage from MH370 also suggests a high-altitude disaster which spread debris across an area too wide to be easily detected.

Aviation experts say the size of the debris field will be one of the first indicators of what happened.

A smaller field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up upon impact with the water.

A large, widespread field would signal the plane probably broke apart at a high elevation, perhaps because of a bomb or a massive airframe failure.

But sudden, accidental structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft.

This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

Authorities have not ruled out terrorism or hijacking, though, with suspicions over two of the passengers found to be travelling on stolen passports.

"There are two categories of people who use these (stolen passports) - criminals and terrorists," Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said.

In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, there was substantial wreckage despite it being a mid-air explosion, and claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster.

But no-one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find.

It took two years to find the main wreckage of the Air France plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing 228 people.

An Indonesian navy ship detected metal on the ocean floor a week after the Adam Air flight disappeared in 2007.

It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders, and seven months for the recorder to be recovered.

The Malaysian jet could have made a U-turn shortly before it vanished, officials say, adding one more level of uncertainty to the effort to find it.

It is thought the plane could be hundreds of miles from where it was last detected, and the search has been widened in the hope of finding the plane.

Just about every major jet to disappear in the modern era has eventually been found. The rare exceptions did not involve passengers.

In September 1990, a Boeing 727 owned by the Peruvian Faucett Airlines ditched into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel on its way to Miami.

The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered.

More mysterious was the disappearance of another Boeing 727 being used to transport diesel fuel to diamond mines in Africa.

The owners had numerous financial problems and the plane took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

One theory, never proven, is that it was stolen so the owner could collect insurance.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Missing Plane: Malaysia 'Holding Back Details'

Missing Plane: 13 Things You Need To Know

Updated: 10:52pm UK, Tuesday 11 March 2014

As the search for Flight MH370 continues, we answer 13 questions about the disappearance and what could have happened.

When did the plane disappear?

Flight MH370 vanished from radars early on Saturday, an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. When it last made contact, the jet was cruising at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea. There are reports that the plane tried to turn around but this would give rise to the question: why didn't the pilot communicate this decision to air traffic control? Meanwhile, at an undisclosed time a relative reportedly managed to call one of the passengers. Investigators have repeatedly tried to call the same number without success.

:: Sky News will be showing a 12-minute special report on the story so far of the missing flight MH370 at 2.30pm.

Who was on board?

The plane's manifest contained 12 crew from Malaysia and 227 passengers from 14 different countries: 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French, three Americans, two each from Iran (both travelling on fake passports), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada, and 1 each from Russia, Taiwan and Netherlands. Among the passengers was a 19-strong group of prominent artists returning from an exhibition in Malaysia. It is also known that five children - aged two to four - were on board. The oldest person on the plane was 79.

What are the main theories?

Mechanical error remains the most likely explanation. Poor conditions and strong turbulence always have to be considered, but weather conditions were good in this instance. Four areas of investigation are focused on the possibility of human involvement: hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems or personal problems with passengers or crew.

Could there have been a mechanical error?

Inquiries into Air France flight 447 that dived into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing 228 people, blamed both technical and human error. However, in the event of engine failure, a plane such as the Boeing 777-200 could glide for 80-90 miles (128-145km), giving the pilot time to issue a distress signal. The descent would also have been traced by radars. The lack of any Mayday makes an explosion a possibility.

Could the plane have broken up in the air?

The apparent lack of wreckage from MH370 does point to a high-altitude disaster. In such an event the debris would be spread far and wide, making it difficult to find. A smaller field would indicate the plane probably fell intact, breaking up on impact with the water. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure due to a window blowing out the crew would dive the plane in order to lose altitude - but this would not cause the plane to disintegrate.

The plane's safety record?

Sudden, accidental, structural failures are considered extremely unlikely in today's passenger aircraft. This is especially so with the Boeing 777-200, which has one of the best safety records of any jet. One of the missing plane's wingtips was clipped in an incident while taxiing in 2012 but it was repaired and certified as safe.

Could it have been a terrorist attack or hijacking?

In the event of a hijacker trying to enter the cockpit, a pilot can send a secret distress code - something that wasn't done on Flight MH370. The profiles of all 239 passengers are being checked against databases worldwide but the terrorism theory was weakened on Tuesday when Malaysian police confirmed it had identified the two passengers who were travelling on fake passports. Both were said to be seeking asylum in Europe. In the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, claims of responsibility came soon after the disaster - but no one has come forward to claim the Malaysia incident as their attack.

Human error?

The 53-year-old pilot was very experienced, having amassed more than 18,000 flying hours since being employed by the airline in 1981. However, in Indonesia in 2007, Adam Air flight 574 disappeared with 102 passengers during a domestic flight, where the authorities found the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment. Former Navy pilot Dr Simon Mitchell told Sky News: "We've expended billions of dollars on developing very sophisticated aids to make the life of the pilot safer and more straightforward, but there are still opportunities whereby mistakes can be made."

Why was there no distress signal?

One explanation is that the plane fell into a communications black spot. Former Boeing 777 instructor and United Airlines captain Ross Aimer explained: "These are very sophisticated (items of) equipment that should have been working under any conditions - in the water, in the jungle, after a fire, after an explosion - and none of them have talked to the outside world yet. There are spots in the world, however, that are called blind spots, where you cannot communicate for some reason. Unfortunately, that area near Vietnam, over the Gulf of Thailand, those are some of the black spots."

Where is the search taking place?

Nine aircraft and 24 ships are currently taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Search teams from Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, New Zealand and the US are assisting. Officials said on Tuesday that the search was being conducted on both sides of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The search area has been expanded from 50 nautical miles from where the plane disappeared - over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam - to 100 nautical miles (115 miles; 185km). This expansion was a result of a new report from the Malaysian military, who say they tracked the plane in the Strait of Malacca - a long distance from where it last made contact - in the hours following its disappearance.

Why has no wreckage been found?

Whatever caused the apparent crash, there would be some debris - but it could take a while to find. It took two years to find the main wreckage of Air France flight 447 in 2009.  In 2007, in the case of the Adam Air flight, it was a week before an Indonesian naval vessel detected metal on the ocean floor. It was a further two weeks before the US Navy picked up signals from the flight data and cockpit recorders and seven months for the recorder to be recovered. If the plane had crashed on land, chances are the wreckage would have been found by now. At sea, much of the plane would have sunk, but some debris should remain on the surface. Worryingly, the longer the search takes the harder it becomes as the wind and tide spread any debris further from the initial crash zone.

Could the 'black box' provide answers?

As well as wreckage, search teams are looking for the aircraft's emergency locator transmitter (ELT) - though these do not always work if a plane hits water. However, attached to the plane's black box is a device known as a pinger. This can emit radio signals deep under water for up to 30 days - or 40 days in warm water.

Has a plane ever simply vanished?

Since the start of the jet age in the 1950s, nearly every major aircraft that disappeared was found - eventually - and the rare exceptions did not involve passengers. In September 1990, a Boeing 727 plunged into the North Atlantic after running out of fuel. The accident was attributed to poor pilot planning and the wreck was never recovered. Another Boeing 727 transporting diesel to diamond mines in Africa took off without clearance and with its transponder turned off. It is believed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Ukraine: Nato Planes To Monitor Russian Military

Crimea Crisis: A Ukrainian Voice From Kiev

Updated: 1:48pm UK, Monday 10 March 2014

We Ukrainians are shocked at the blatant and cynical lies Russian President Vladimir Putin and his propaganda war machine are spouting.

In terms of the legitimacy of our government - it is an interim government, and on May 25 a new president will be elected by the will of Ukrainian citizens. The future president will appoint ministers.

The corrupt, criminal regime could not be tolerated any more.

It was not some fascist coup that removed President Viktor Yanukovych.

It was a pan-Ukrainian uprising carried out by students, farmers, teachers, blue- and white-collar workers, entrepreneurs, pensioners, medics, war veterans and even pupils.

Activists came from all corners of Ukraine, including eastern and southern Ukraine and Crimea.

Our former president was and still is Mr Putin's puppet.

He acted in Russian interests and was preparing Ukraine for a "soft invasion".

He continued the contract for a Russian fleet in Crimea, ravaged our military forces and brought a halt to our military industry.

One of Mr Putin's biggest lies is his claim neo-fascists are running amok, looting and killing everyone.

I have walked through the streets of Kiev many times, including the central districts late in the evening and I am yet to see one of Mr Putin's fictitious balaclava-clad thugs robbing somebody or starting a fire or trying to kill a pro-Russian supporter.

The irony is Kiev has a lion's share of Russian-speaking residents.

The Russian Government is intentionally using the terms "Russian speaker", "ethnic Russian" and "Russian citizen" to confuse the situation.

There are only a handful of Russian citizens in Ukraine - some 17% of Ukrainian citizens (including Crimea) are ethnic Russians and almost half of the country speak Russian. That is the legacy of three-and-a-half centuries of a co-existence of two peoples.

But if half of Ukraine speaks Russian it doesn't mean they want to be under Russian rule. On the contrary, the majority in eastern Ukraine are strongly against annexing to the Russian Federation.

The very principle of "protecting Russian speakers" is a very crooked one.

Maybe Ukraine should invade Moscow because there are up to two million ethnic Ukrainians living there?

Maybe Mexico should annex California since there are lot of Mexican living there, or France should invade Canada due to Quebec tensions?

While the crisis continues, Ukrainians try to go about their daily lives and it is business as usual for most.

People go to work in the morning, pay their taxes, public services function normally, shops and banks are open (near Maidan Square in Kiev as well), bills are paid and so on.

Couples go on walks in the evenings. Cinemas and theatres are visited as usual. Some people may think about stocking food, but supermarkets are full of food, there is absolutely no panic-buying.

Nevertheless, the psychological impact of the crisis on people is evident - and there remains a tension in the air following last month's revolution.

Everybody talks about looming war. There's no panic, but the anxiety is everywhere.

Men contemplate the possibility of being called to active duty, while women cry when they think of their sons, husbands and brothers going to war.

Our morale is high. We are a strong freedom-loving and valorous people. We are determined to defend ourselves.

Recent events have shown cameras are a more powerful weapon in the 21st century than Kalashnikovs.

Russia is using every trick in the book to provoke Ukraine and to justify military aggression.

In southern and eastern regions (and in Crimea itself) there are thousands of Russian and Russian-hired agent-provocateurs - thugs to stir up tension and give the impression that those regions are eager to be under Russian control.

There are also a lot of actors: one day you see them as indigenous Kharkiv citizens protesting against the repression of Russian-speaking people, and the next, you see them in Odessa where they are local women telling of the Ukrainian persecution of Russians.

There are also lots of transported Russian Cossacks in Crimea that are extremely aggressive.

These so-called Cossacks have nothing to do with real Ukrainian Cossacks and are Mr Putin's "Einsatzgruppe".

We saw them in action when they whipped members of Russian protest group Pussy Riot in Sochi.

In addition, Serbian Chetniks have joined these Russian Cossacks to patrol Crimea.

These young boys and men without insignia have been sent by their blood-thirsty government intentionally as cannon fodder to be killed by Ukrainian militaries.

But Ukraine is a very peaceful country and hasn't fallen for this provocation.

These unmarked soldiers have told locals that they were woken up in the middle of the night, had their IDs and mobile phones taken away and transported to Crimea. Even their own parents are not aware of where their sons are.

We Ukrainians do hope the US and Europe will help us militarily if all-out war breaks out.

We will fight till our last breath, but Russia is too powerful. We will not win without the West's help.

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Ukraine: 'Intimidation' Ahead Of Crimea Vote

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent, in Simferopol

Men dressed in police uniforms are said to have snatched and torn passports belonging to pro-Ukrainians amid allegations of voter intimidation in Crimea.

The Mayor of the Crimean capital, Simferopol, has told Sky News gangs of men have reportedly demanded documents from anyone suspected of intending to vote against Crimea becoming part of Russia in a referendum on March 16.

One man, who did not want to be named, said he was approached by policemen who demanded to see his passport.

He told Sky News: "On the way to work, I was stopped by two policemen.

"They asked see my documents. I showed them a copy of my passport and they wanted me to go to the police station. I refused. They don't want us to vote in this referendum.

"In my district, I saw groups of men, some dressed in uniforms, going from house to house checking passports. Some were torn up."

Deputy Mayor Glazkov i'Lya

Anyone wanting to vote in the referendum will have to show their passports as proof of identification and any attempt to sway the outcome will be seen by both sides as hugely controversial.

Hundreds of people called the local administrative offices in Simferopol complaining of harassment, said Deputy Mayor Glazkov i'Lya.

"The situation is that some people approached our citizens.

"They were asked to show their documents, then they just took them and ran away. Some passports were torn. Some people said the men were wearing police uniforms.

"This is provocation. It's not a joke. They think they can stop the referendum then they're wrong. The referendum will go ahead."

The Crimean Tatar leader Refat Chubarov said he would be pushing to boycott Sunday's referendum, claiming the Kremlin will "rig the vote".

"The result has already been decided by Moscow."

Military installations have been taken over by pro-Russian forces

The allegations come on a day of continued tensions in Crimea.

Armed men moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Backchisaray and fired shots into the air, according to a Ukrainian defence minister.

Vladislav Seleznyov said on Facebook that 10 "unidentified armed men" drove into the compound in two minibuses and demanded 10 trucks from Ukrainian personnel.

Thirty-six volunteer soldiers in the region swore an oath of allegiance in front of Crimea's pro-Russian Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, pledging to "defend the people of Crimea".

UDAR party leader Vitaly Klitschko was pelted with eggs and apples by Pro-Russia demonstrators at a rally in Kharkiv.

Pro-Russian forces have taken over military installations across Crimea in under a week, although Moscow has denied the uniformed units are theirs - a claim ridiculed by Ukraine and the West.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Ukraine: Yanukovych Says He Is Still President

Ukraine: 'Intimidation' Ahead Of Crimea Vote

Updated: 9:25am UK, Tuesday 11 March 2014

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent, in Simferopol

Men dressed in police uniforms are said to have snatched and torn passports belonging to pro-Ukrainians amid allegations of voter intimidation in Crimea.

The Mayor of the Crimean capital, Simferopol, has told Sky News gangs of men have reportedly demanded documents from anyone suspected of intending to vote against Crimea becoming part of Russia in a referendum on March 16.

One man, who did not want to be named, said he was approached by policemen who demanded to see his passport.

He told Sky News: "On the way to work, I was stopped by two policemen.

"They asked see my documents. I showed them a copy of my passport and they wanted me to go to the police station. I refused. They don't want us to vote in this referendum.

"In my district, I saw groups of men, some dressed in uniforms, going from house to house checking passports. Some were torn up."

Anyone wanting to vote in the referendum will have to show their passports as proof of identification and any attempt to sway the outcome will be seen by both sides as hugely controversial.

Hundreds of people called the local administrative offices in Simferopol complaining of harassment, said Deputy Mayor Glazkov i'Lya.

"The situation is that some people approached our citizens.

"They were asked to show their documents, then they just took them and ran away. Some passports were torn. Some people said the men were wearing police uniforms.

"This is provocation. It's not a joke. They think they can stop the referendum then they're wrong. The referendum will go ahead."

The Crimean Tatar leader Refat Chubarov said he would be pushing to boycott Sunday's referendum, claiming the Kremlin will "rig the vote".

"The result has already been decided by Moscow."

The allegations come on a day of continued tensions in Crimea.

Armed men moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Backchisaray and fired shots into the air, according to a Ukrainian defence minister.

Vladislav Seleznyov said on Facebook that 10 "unidentified armed men" drove into the compound in two minibuses and demanded 10 trucks from Ukrainian personnel.

Thirty-six volunteer soldiers in the region swore an oath of allegiance in front of Crimea's pro-Russian Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, pledging to "defend the people of Crimea".

UDAR party leader Vitaly Klitschko was pelted with eggs and apples by Pro-Russia demonstrators at a rally in Kharkiv.

Pro-Russian forces have taken over military installations across Crimea in under a week, although Moscow has denied the uniformed units are theirs - a claim ridiculed by Ukraine and the West.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Ukraine: Rival Rallies As Putin Defends Vote

Clashes have broken out between tens of thousands of pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protesters at rival rallies across Ukraine, as Moscow continues to cement its control over Crimea.

In the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, pro-Russians gathered at Lenin Square holding flags and singing Russian songs to support the autonomous republic's upcoming referendum on joining Russia.

According to local media reports, scuffles then broke out, with claims that "whip-wielding Cossacks" had attacked their opponents.

In the eastern city of Luhansk, people who gathered in the main square to mark the 200th birth anniversary of Ukraine's national poet Taras Shevchenko were reportedly attacked by pro-Russia protesters.

Chanting "Russia! Russia!" the demonstrators then broke through a police barricade and took over the local government building, where they raised the Russian flag and demanded a citywide referendum on joining Russia, reports said.

A woman in the city claimed her son had been beaten up by pro-Russian demonstrators as they moved into the square carrying Russian flags.

In the eastern city of Donetsk, a rally in support of an undivided Ukraine was called off as hundreds of pro-Russian demonstrators disrupted the construction of the stage.

Riot police then asked people to leave the square to avoid further trouble.

Pro-Russian activists beat a pro-Ukrainian supporter in Sevastopol

The referendum, to be held on Sunday, will ask Crimeans whether they would like to remain part of Ukraine or join Russia. It has been denounced by the new Ukrainian government, which has vowed not to give up a "single centimetre" of territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the breakaway move by pro-Moscow authorities in Crimea, despite warnings by the West that it is illegal.

According to the Kremlin, he told Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call that "the steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula".

But Chancellor Merkel said the referendum violated both Ukraine's constitution and international law.

However, Mr Putin also said he wanted to find a "diplomatic solution" to the crisis, and agreed the need to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to US President Barack Obama and said all sides needed to act with calm and that "political and diplomatic routes must be used to resolve the crisis", according to China's foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, video footage has emerged which appears to show pro-Russian forces firing on a Ukrainian military aircraft.

And there are signs Russia is flexing its economic as well as its military muscle, with reports it is likely to increase the price Ukraine pays for its gas supplies, having previously agreed to cut it.

Foreign observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have also been turned away from the region after warning shots were fired as they approached.

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Steve Irwin's Dying Moments Revealed On Camera

The cameraman who filmed the death of Steve Irwin has revealed how the Australian "Crocodile Hunter" was stabbed "100 times" by a stingray within seconds.

Irwin, famous for his daring stunts with dangerous animals, was filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland in 2006 when he died.

Justin Lyons was shooting the footage with the 44-year-old TV personality and conservationist when the pair came across an 8ft-wide stingray in chest-high waters.

Irwin and his wife Terri with an alligator in 2002

Speaking for the first time about Irwin's death, Mr Lyons told of how the final shot was to be of the flat marine fish swimming away from Irwin when it all went tragically wrong.

The pair had just left their main boat in an inflatable to find something to film when they spotted the stingray.

"I had the camera on, I thought this is going to be a great shot, and all of sudden it propped on its front and started stabbing wildly, hundreds of strikes in a few seconds," Mr Lyons told Australia's Channel Ten.

Irwin made a name for himself with his fearless animal stunts

"I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away and I didn't know it had caused any damage. It was only when I panned the camera back that I saw Steve standing in a huge pool of blood that I realised something had gone wrong."

Stingrays have several sharp and venomous barbs on their tails that they use to defend themselves when they feel threatened.

Mr Lyons denied reports that a barb had stuck in Irwin's chest and he pulled it out.

"It's a jagged barb and it went through his chest like a hot knife through butter," he said.

"He had a two-inch-wide injury over his heart with blood and fluid coming out of it and we had to get him back to the boat as fast as we can.

"I was saying to him things like 'think of your kids Steve, hang on, hang on, hang on', and he calmly looked up at me and said 'I'm dying' and that was the last thing he said."

Footage of the tragic death was later handed to Irwin's widow Terri and has never been aired.

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Pistorius Throws Up During 'Graphic' Evidence

Pistorius Trial: Evidence Summary

Updated: 1:26pm UK, Friday 07 March 2014

A summary of the evidence heard in the first two days of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Day Five

Prosecution witness Samantha Taylor, ex-girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, broke down in court as she told how the athlete cheated on her with Reeva Steenkamp.

Miss Taylor also told the court how Pistorius once fired a gun out of the sunroof of a car after being stopped by police.

The star's ex-lover described how Pistorius would sometimes "scream at her" and often carried a gun with him.

The court was told how Pistorius once woke Ms Taylor fearing there was an intruder in the house and got up to investigate with his gun.

Security guard Pieter Baba described the moment he saw a distressed Pistorius carrying Reeva down the stairs.

The guard said that Pistorius assured him everything "is fine" after shots were reported. 

More evidence from Ms Taylor suggested that Pistorius once feared he was being followed and waved his gun at the suspect car until it drove off near his home.

Day Four

Prosecution witness Dr Johan Stipp told the court how he went to Oscar Pistorius' residence after hearing shots fired on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed.

He said he saw Ms Steenkamp lying on her back and Pistorius by her side, frantically trying to resuscitate her.

It was clear Ms Steenkamp was mortally wounded, he said, and Pistorius was crying and praying that she'd survive. During his evidence, Pistorius broke down in the dock, sobbing as he held his head in his hands.

Earlier, Pistorius' defence team said it would have been "impossible" for neighbours to hear screams on the night Ms Steenkamp died.

Lawyer Barry Roux said neighbour Charl Peter Johnson's claim that he heard gunshots followed by a woman screaming was incorrect.

"You cannot hear it inside your house," he said. "At any distance, she was in a locked bathroom."

Mr Johnson also claimed to have heard five or six shots on the night of the killing. But Mr Roux pointed out that in his initial notes he wrote that he "did not count the number of shots fired".

Day Three

Mr Johnson's evidence continued, and he was repeatedly challenged by Mr Roux who at one point said: "You are saying all the evidence that your wife gave us yesterday."

Mr Johnson replied that it was not unusual for two people to use the same words when describing an incident.

He mentioned some notes that he'd taken after the shooting, which are on his laptop and iPad. He was asked to end his evidence for the day and come back the next day, so the defence team had the opportunity to view his notes.

Pistorius' friend Kevin Lerena was then called, who described an incident in January last year in which Pistorius allegedly discharged a firearm by mistake while eating with friends in a restaurant.

He said the athlete then asked his friend Darren Fresco to take the blame.

The owner of the restaurant, Jason Loupis, and his wife Maria, later confirmed the incident after taking the stand.

Mrs Loupis said there was a child nearby when Pistorius' gun went off in the restaurant.

Day Two

The evidence of Ms Burger continued.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux said her evidence had been influenced by media coverage of the shooting, but she denied this.

Mr Roux said that evidence later in the trial would show that Ms Steenkamp would not have been able to scream after the final shot hit her in the head.

Ms Burger stood by her initial statement that she heard Ms Steenkamp after the final shot.

Another neighbour then took the stand for a short time, before Ms Burger's husband gave his evidence.

He told how he thought Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp were being held up in their house and said he looked at additional security measures for his own home the next day.

He backed up his wife's evidence, saying he heard screams after the final shot.

Day One

The first witness, university lecturer Michelle Burger, took the stand.

She says she woke on the night of the killing to the sound of gunshots and a woman screaming.

She described hearing "bloodcurdling screams" and four shots.

She is a key witness for the prosecution, as her evidence would appear to contradict Pistorius' claims that he thought he was shooting at an intruder.

The defence argued she is unreliable due to alleged discrepancies between her police statement and court testimony.

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Crimea: Klitschko Condemns 'Aggressive' Russia

Ukrainians In Their Own Words

Updated: 3:20am UK, Sunday 09 March 2014

Three citizens of Ukraine write for Sky News about the sense of dread gripping ordinary people as their country slides towards conflict with its powerful neighbour.

:: Marina's story

"The course of life is the same in the capital of Ukraine. People go to work, visit cafes, cinemas and shopping centres. Public transport operates as normal. No special precautions need to be taken while on the streets.

"But there is a growing feeling that something is going to happen. Politics has become a part of daily life in Ukraine.  People discuss the latest news everywhere - in the streets, on public transport, in cafes, at home and at work. 

"Having lived through these past months, people have hardly had any time to realise what changes had taken place in the country. Hardly any time to mourn over people who perished on streets of Kiev.   

"At present we check news hourly. Everyone shares news, reposts important messages on social platforms, and leaves comments on news sites.

"Ukrainian men of all ages in Kiev and other cities and towns of their own free will are registering at military enlistment offices. The number is more than enough.

"We are facing an information war. The amount of misinformation, misinterpretation of events and barefaced lies from the Russian mass media is staggering and detrimental as the result.

"The news is presented in the most twisted way. It is so unbelievable that it becomes a farce. Ukrainians speak to their family and friends in Russia to try to explain what is really going on in Ukraine.

"Some months ago we thought that our worst enemy on the way to better life and a more prosperous country was the corrupted and vicious president and his environment - but it turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.

"It has been about two weeks since it became known that Russian troops stepped on Crimean soil right after the transitional Ukrainian government was formed.

"It was almost impossible to get rid of the corrupt government, but such a great unity of people, speaking both Russian and Ukrainian from different regions of Ukraine got together and did it.

"It is obvious that Russia has its own interest in Ukraine with Crimea being the pretext. The goal is to destabilise our country, bring chaos and civil unrest and eventually prove to the world that Ukraine is incapable to hold its sovereignty."

:: Nastya's story

"I come from the eastern part of Ukraine, from a city called Sumy, which is 60km from the border with Russia.

"I speak both Russian and Ukrainian, and consider them both my native languages. Never in my life was I humiliated or abused because of speaking Russian. 

"We are used to being bilingual and 99% of the people I personally know support European values, no matter which language they speak.

"The issue of languages and nationalities is just a thing to manipulate us with during the election campaign and sadly now, to draw us into a terrible war which no one needs.

"Both of my grandfathers took part in the Second World War, fighting against German fascists. 

"They are probably turning in their graves because the people they were fighting with shoulder to shoulder against fascists, are now invading our beautiful land and calling us fascists for simply loving our country.

"It's like a bad divorce, when you don't recognise the person you've been living with all you life.

"This situation seems surreal. Germany is trying to convince Russia not to attack Ukraine. It's like a bad dream.

"It's like a bug in the system which prevents it from functioning correctly. It is beyond our understanding and our system of values.

"We are all very scared, too. For our children, our families, our future. We are praying to God to save Ukraine and our people. To make the people who make horrible decisions to come to their senses.

"We are asking the world to help us, because if the evil isn't stopped now, it will be next to impossible to stop it from spreading all over the world."

:: Ivan's story

"Right now the situation in Kiev has certainly cooled off and the main focus is on Crimea.

"During Maidan protests we were advised to avoid Maidan (Independence Square) and the centre of Kiev. Particularly the areas around the centre were very dangerous.

"There were a lot of reports of people just disappearing or being beaten up by 'Berkut' special forces. Former government forces showed their true attitude towards citizens.

"Thugs hired by the former government, people dressed in sports wear that were noticeably well-trained. We call them 'titushki'. Their purpose was to frighten, bully, or simply beat up the peaceful population of the city.

"They walked through police barriers without even a single question asked, while members of the public were not permitted in and did not get any answers as to why that was even allowed.

"As to the pro-Russian mood in the east of the country, people are very proud over there and do not like to be told what to do.

"Through lies and by playing on their feelings (many have families and relatives in Russia) they were duped into believing that Maidan protestors are fascist thugs who will take away their right to speak Russian, which is complete and utter rubbish.

"True, there are people who support partnership with Russia, but what they certainly do not support is Russia's military intervention. They hate the fact that Putin decided that we aren't capable of solving our own problems.

"The majority of people have changed their mindset and want our country to embrace other values, different to the values of a post Soviet bloc country.

"And that makes Putin go mad. He lost his grip on us - his puppet is no longer our president and, believe me, no one in southeast Ukraine or in Crimea is crying crocodile tears over him.

"I can assure you that people from both sides agree that Yanukovich is corrupt, incompetent and, frankly speaking, stupid."

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