‘Likely’ MH370 debris being sent to France
31 July 2015 6:46 AM IST
Wreckage washed up on a remote Indian Ocean island is “very likely from a Boeing 777”, the same model as MH370 that mysteriously vanished over a year ago with 239 people including five Indians on board, and will be sent to France to determine whether it is from the same plane.
“Initial reports suggest that the debris is very likely to be from a Boeing 777, but we need to verify whether it is from flight MH370,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Malaysia’s Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi earlier said it was “almost certain” that the wreckage was from a Boeing 777 aircraft.
The statements come a day after members of a local clean- up association found a 2.7-metres long and 0.9-metre wide flaperon, a wing component, on the French island of La Reunion off the east coast of Africa.
Part of a bag with closed zip was found near the debris on Thursday, fuelling speculation it may be from the ill-fated Boeing 777-200 of Malaysia Airlines that went off radars on March 8, 2014, one hour into the flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
Australia, that is leading the search for the plane in a remote patch of the Indian Ocean far off the country’s west coast, is treating this as a “major lead”.
“It’s the first real evidence that there is a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found,” said Warren Truss, Australia’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, who also described the sighting of the debris as a “very important development”.
The latest discovery of the debris could rest all speculation in one of the most baffling mysteries in aviation history and finally determine the fate of the people on board.
In January, Malaysia declared the disappearance of the plane as an “accident” and all people on board as presumed dead.
The wreckage would be shipped to Toulouse by French authorities where it will be examined by the BEA, France’s civil aviation authority, Najib said.“A Malaysian team is on the way to Toulouse now. It includes senior representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Civil Aviation, the MH370 investigation team, and Malaysia Airlines.
Wreckage belongs to Boeing 777, <g data-gr-id="73">say</g> investigators
Air safety investigators have a “high degree of confidence” that aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, a US official has said.
Air safety investigators - one of them a Boeing investigator - have identified the component as a “flaperon” from the trailing edge of a 777 wing, the US official said on Wednesday.
A French official close to an investigation of the debris confirmed on Wednesday that French law enforcement is on site to examine a piece of airplane wing found on the French island of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. A French television network was airing video from its Reunion affiliate of the debris. US investigators are examining a photo of the debris. The last primary radar contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 placed its position over the Andaman Sea about 230 miles northwest of the Malaysian city of Penang.
The French island of Reunion is about 3,500 miles (5,600 kilometres) southwest of Penang, according to a Google map. The US and French officials spoke on condition that they not be named because they aren’t authorised to speak publicly. At the United Nations, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that he has sent a team to verify the identity of the plane wreckage.
“Whatever wreckage found needs to be further verified before we can ever confirm that it is belonged to MH370,” he said. The discovery is unlikely to alter the seabed search, said Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan.
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