Last time I sneaked into China....
A question about the pax on false passports: would not a reasonably rational official with responsibility in the civil aeronautics and/or the airline sector expect that someone sneaking into the People's Republic of China - using a stolen passport - select some mode of transport other than a T7 flight? I mean if you reverse the sequential order of the facts (a favorite law prof and attorney trick) and tell such an official that "we" (loosely defined, here) "know three individuals appear to have made an attempt to enter the PRC using stolen passports", it would be quite unexpected for the postulated official to exclaim, "oh, I bet they boarded a T7 flight from Kuala Lumpur."
What is the state of airborne maritime surveillance in support of the sea surface search? It's not as robust as, say, having a RCAF P-3 Orion tasked to the search effort - is it?
I don't have an S-3 in my hands, flying it, but whatever old salt sea sense I have left, I'm sensing something seems like foul play. Just an attitude at this point in time.
P.S. Cross-reference post 459 .... an actually chilling scenario. No comment from YT as to whether any known data is seen as consistent with #459 (yt yours truly).