Malaysian authorities have given US investigators biometric details on two passengers who used stolen passports to travel on a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared on Saturday.
马来西亚当局已将两名乘客的生物信息提供给美国调查人员，这两人上周六使用被盗护照登上途中失联的马来西亚航空公司(Malaysia Airlines)航班。
It is hoped the move could accelerate identification of the two men who are now at the centre of the international mystery over what happened to flight MH370, which disappeared over the South China Sea with 239 passengers and crew aboard.
各方希望，此举能够加快识别置身于一个国际谜团中心的这两人的身份，这个谜团是：在南中国海上空失联的载有239名乘客和机组人员的MH370航班究竟发生了什么？
Hishamuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defence minister and acting transport minister, said closed circuit TV pictures of the two were also handed to US officials in Kuala Lumpur.
马来西亚国防部长和代理交通部长希沙姆丁•侯赛因(Hishamuddin Hussein)表示，这两人的闭路电视画面也被交给吉隆坡的美国官员。
The Thai travel agent who booked the tickets for the men told the Financial Times yesterday that she had been asked to arrange the travel by an Iranian contact.
为这两人订票的泰国旅行代理昨日告诉英国《金融时报》，请她安排旅程的是一名伊朗联系人。
The two men were travelling on flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Italian and Austrian passports that were later confirmed to have been lost or stolen. They were then scheduled to fly together to Amsterdam, before catching separate flights to Copenhagen and Frankfurt.
这两名男子分别使用意大利和奥地利护照登上从吉隆坡飞往北京的MH370航班，后来证实这两本护照已遗失或被盗。然后两人将一起飞往阿姆斯特丹，最后分别飞往哥本哈根和法兰克福。
While their use of stolen passports has raised fears of terrorist involvement, travel documents are stolen frequently in the region and used for illegal immigration or criminal activities such as drug smuggling.
虽然他们使用被盗护照引发了有关恐怖活动的担忧，但旅行证件在亚洲经常被盗，并用于非法移民或犯罪活动（如走私毒品）。
Benjaporn Krutnait, owner of the agency Grand Horizon Travel in Pattaya, Thailand, said the Iranian, a long-term business contact whom she knew only as “Mr Ali”, first asked her to book cheap tickets to Europe for the two men on March 1. Ms Benjaporn initially booked one of them on a Qatar Airways flight and the other on Etihad.
泰国芭堤雅Grand Horizon Travel旅行社老板Benjaporn Krutnait表示，那名伊朗人是长期的业务关系，她只知道他叫“阿里先生”。阿里最初请她为那两人预定3月1日前往欧洲的廉价机票。Benjaporn女士起初为其中一人预定了卡塔尔航空公司(Qatar Airways)的一个航班，另一人预定了阿提哈德航空(Etihad Airways)的一个航班。
But the tickets expired when Ms Benjaporn did not hear back from Mr Ali. When he contacted her again on Thursday, she rebooked the men on the Malaysia Airlines flight through Beijing because it was the cheapest available.
但Benjaporn女士没有及时收到阿里的回音，这些机票过期了。当阿里在上周四再次联系她时，她为两人重新预定了经北京中转的马航航班，因为当时那是最便宜的。
Mr Ali could not immediately be reached for comment on a Tehran mobile number provided by Ms Benjaporn. There is no evidence that Mr Ali knew the two men were travelling on stolen passports.
记者无法通过Benjaporn女士提供的德黑兰手机号码立即联系上阿里请其置评。没有任何证据表明阿里知道那两人使用被盗护照旅行。