Hijacked and hidden? US counter-terror officials fear plane could have been captured after debris spotted by Chinese is ruled out and new data reveals it was airborne FOUR hours after vanishing

• US investigators now examining the startling possibility that Flight 370 was captured and transported to another location
• This is based on data from the aircraft's Rolls Royce engines which show they were operating a further four hours after it vanished from radar
• Counter-terrorism officials concerned that the pilot or someone else turned off the transponders to evade detection
• Four more hours of flight time would allow the plane to fly 2,200 nautical miles
• That would put Pakistan and the Arabian Sea within reach
• On Wednesday the Chinese government satellite imagery was released which showed the 'suspected crash site' of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
• Blurry images appeared to show three large pieces of debris - the largest of which is 78-feet by 72-feet
• Vietnamese and Malaysian aviation chiefs ruled this out and said no plane debris was found at spot shown by China's satellite images

US investigators think that Malaysian Airlines flight 370 remained airborne for four more hours after vanishing from its last recorded position - raising the startling prospect the plane could have been hijacked.
Officials suspect that the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded from the Boeing 777's Rolls Royce engines and sent back to the ground as part of a routine monitoring program.
US counter-terrorism teams are now pursuing the astonishing possibility that the plane and its 239 passengers were diverted to an undisclosed location 'with the intention of using it later for another purpose'.

Startling theory: US counter-terrorism officials are concerned as to why Malaysian Airlines flight 370 remained airborne for four hours after it vanished from radar based on data transmitted from its engines

Disconcerting: Police patrol with a dog at Beijing International Airport days after the Beijing-bound Malaysian jetliner went missing, March 13, 2014. One of the world's most perplexing aviation mysteries continued to rumble on through Thursday as reports claimed US investigators were examining if the plane was hijacked by terrorists