Terrorism is now being ruled out as the likely cause of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The international police agency, Interpol, has shed more light on two passengers who boarded with stolen passports.

Ronald Noble, the Secretary General of the organisation, told a news conference: “The more information we get the more we are inclined to conclude that it was not a terrorist incident.

“And if you read what the head of police from Malaysia said recently about the 19-year-old whose photograph is here, wanting to travel to Frankfurt, Germany, in order to be with his mother, it’s part of a human smuggling issue and not a terrorism issue.”

Interpol says two Iranian passport holders swapped their papers in Kuala Lumpur and used stolen Italian and Austrian documents.

The men, aged 18 and 29, had started their trip in Doha.