Austrian Foreign Ministry confirms man on plane passenger list had passport stolen

The Austrian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday that the 61-year-old Austrian man who was listed on the missing Malaysian Airlines plane was not on board of the MH 370 flight, but his passport was reported stolen in Thailand.

Austian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss told Xinhua in telephone that after receiving a message from the Malyasian side that an Austrian citizen is on the list of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, the authoritis checked it and found that it is about a stolen passport.

The 61-year-old Austrian, who lost his passport in Thailand in 2012, was currently not on board but lives in Austria and in good health, Weiss confirmed, adding that obviously there are no Austrian citizens on borad.

The flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers onboard, including 154 Chinese, when it lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control early Saturday morning.

Early on the day, Italy's Foreign Ministry confirmed that an Italian citizen on the passengers' list of the same missing jet is not onboard, and his passport was also stolen in Thailand.

Multinational rescue teams intensified efforts to search for the missing plane.

Vietnamese Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu said rescuers were expected to arrive in waters near the southern Phu Quoc Island where two "suspicious" oil slicks were spotted.

Malaysian Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said no sign of any plane wreckage had been found.