MH370: Indonesia clears seven nationals on missing plane of link to terrorism

Indonesia has cleared its seven nationals who were on board a missing Malaysian airliner of any link to terrorism.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said: "I wish to state that none of our nationals had any link to terrorism".

Malaysian authorities had sought the assistance of the countries whose nationals were on board the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 to rule out terrorism in the disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

Flight MH370 went missing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board about an hour after leaving the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

The area of the search has been extended to cover a large tract west of Malaysia, including the Indian Ocean, when it was learned that the plane had veered off course after someone deliberately switched off the communication system on board and, according to the Inmarsat satellite, the plane had flown for seven hours after that.

The search is now focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Susilo based his statement on a report submitted by Co-ordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto that there was nothing 'peculiar' about their background.

"This matter has to be communicated clearly and there should be no speculation and incorrect news," Susilo said.

The Indonesian president said he was being updated on the developments in the search for the missing aircraft by his foreign minister Marty Natalegawa.