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Mystery passengers on missing jet used stolen passports

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A relative of Norliakmar Hamid and Razahan Zamani, passengers on the missing plane, cries at her house in Kuala Lumpur on March 8.Getty Images
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives at the holding area for family and friends of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang March 8.Reuters
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Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, Malaysia Airlines' regional senior vice president of China, speaks at a conference regarding the missing Malaysian Airlines flight at the Metropark Lido Hotel on March 8, in Beijing, China. Getty Images
Family members look at a wedding album of Norliakmar Hamid and Razahan Zamani, passengers on the missing plane. Getty Images
A Vietnamese Air Force officer takes photos from a search and rescue aircraft in the search area for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane.Reuters
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Sarah Nor, 55, the mother of 34-year-old Norliakmar Hamid, a passenger on the missing plane, talks on a mobile phone at her house in Kuala Lumpur on March 8.Getty Images
Malaysian Airlines senior officials Dr Hugh Dunleavy, left, speaks with a member of the airline's crisis management team, Ignatius Ong, right, while facing the Chinese media on March 8. Getty Images
Ships are seen anchored at a local naval base at Phu Quoc island, in the waters of southern Vietnam, where a Malaysian Airlines jet was presumed lost on March 8.Getty Images
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The Pentagon announced on March 8 that a P-3C Orion aircraft will depart from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to the southern coast of Vietnam to aid in the search efforts of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.Getty Images
A weeping relative of a Malaysia Airlines flight passengers arrives at a hotel where other relatives are believed to be staying in BeijingEPA
Family members arrive at a hotel which is prepared for relatives or friends of passengers aboard a missing airplane, in Beijing, China.AP
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A woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing Malaysian airliner at the international airport in Beijing, China.AP
Chrisman Siregar, right, shows a portrait of his son Firman who was one of the passengers on board. AP
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MILAN  — Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirmed Saturday that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand.

Neither European was on the plane, which disappeared Saturday less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, officials said. The Italian was traveling in Thailand and the Austrian was located in his native country.

The father of the Italian man told The Associated Press that his son’s passport had been stolen about a year and a half ago while traveling in Thailand.

“He deposited it with rental car agency, and when he returned the car it was gone,” Walter Maraldi said by telephone from his home in the northern Emilia-Romagna region.

The Italian man had a new passport issued in Thailand to continue his trip, his father said. The Italian Interior Ministry issued a statement that the man also reported it stolen on Aug. 1, 2013, after his return to Italy, and that the stolen document had been entered into the Interpol database.

Walter Maraldi said authorities could not tell him whether the stolen passport or a counterfeit copy was used by a passenger to board the aircraft.

The father said his son Luigi Maraldi, 37, called his parents from Thailand to tell them he was fine after hearing news reports that an Italian with his name was on board the missing airplane.

Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matches an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Thailand. Weiss would not confirm the Austrian traveler’s identity.

“We have no information on who might have stolen the passport,” Weiss said.