As the search for Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 continued on Monday, carriers British Airways and Kenya Airways called off their air travel to Sierra Leone, citing security issues, it emerged on Monday.

The Malaysian Boeing 777, which had more than 230 passengers on board, disappeared off the radar on Saturday morning from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The decision by British Airways and Kenya Airways – said to be the only reputable airlines flying to that destination – had left at least 100 travellers high and dry, it emerged on Monday.

This came after the United Nations’ aviation authority downgraded Sierra Leone’s Lungi International Airport. The authority had discovered that only operating fire engine at the airport had broken down.

“We are working very hard to fix the faulty gearbox system of the fire engine and to add to the fleet,” Reuters quoted, John Sesay, GM of the Sierra Leone Airports Authority, as saying.

Lungi Airport, whose facilities were recently refurbished, allegedly has many other security problems.

Meanwhile, military radar has revealed that the missing Boeing 777 may have changed direction before disappearing.

Probes into what happened to the Malaysia Airlines are currently checking the common reasons of plane crashes. However, the breakthrough that two of the travellers on the plane were in possession of pilfered passports has raised the disturbing likelihood of terror play.