Flight MH370 investigators to test new debris found off Mozambique

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Flight MH370 investigators to test new debris found off Mozambique



PARIS: -- Debris found off the east African coast has been tentatively identified as being from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people on board.

The debris, said to be 90 centimetres long and 57 centimetres wide, was discovered off the coast of Mozambique.

The plane had been en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 when it went missing.

Radar data showed it turned sharply and flew back across the Malay peninsula until contact was lost off the coast of Thailand.

Malaysia and Australia are working together to recover the wreckage. It’s thought the new piece will be sent to Australia to be examined.

“Our role obviously as the lead agency in Australia is to continue the search area in the Southern Ocean but when there’s a piece of metal found of interest to us, it will be properly assessed,” said Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester. “The search is continuing. We’ve searched about 85-thousand square kilometers of the 120-thousand square kilometer search area.”

Of those on board, the majority (152) were Chinese, and there were also dozens of Malaysians.

Its government says the debris will be “under Malaysian custody”.

“Immediately we can start discussing on the details of recovering the debris. So we would like to get hold of the debris as soon as possible – that’s why we are working with Australia in a fast manner,” said the Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai.

So far only one part of the Boeing 777 has been found and identified.

A fragment of the plane’s wing was discovered last July on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

What caused the plane to crash remains unknown.

Theories include a hijacking, a deliberate act by a pilot, or a technical problem.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-03-04

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Second piece of debris may indicate search for MH370 is on track



KUALA LUMPUR: -- The discovery of debris resembling that of a Boeing 777 in Mozambique on Tuesday could reaffirm the belief that search operations are on the right track, within the vast area of the Southern Indian Ocean where MH370 may have crashed two years ago, New Straits Times reported.

Though yet to be confirmed, MH370 remains the only Boeing 777 reported missing, thus indications are that the debris resembling a rear horizontal stabiliser of an aircraft that washed up on the coast off the Mozambique Channel on Tuesday is likely to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai remained coy as he relayed updates on the discovery.

Liow said he had been notified of the piece of debris found in Mozambique two days ago and a team comprising representatives of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Malaysia Airlines and the MH370 investigations team had been sent to Maputo on Wednesday.

He said the team would inspect the debris and discuss with Mozambican authorities the recovery process which will see the item flown to Australia for further inspection.

However, Liow said, Malaysia will assume custody of the item when it is confirmed to be from MH370.

He added that an interim report on MH370 would be released in parliament on March 8, to mark the second anniversary of the tragedy in which the aircraft with 227 people on board vanished off the radar en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/153552


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-04

[JLCrab]

Article in today's NY Times esp. at 'OPEN GRAPHIC mid-page':

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-mh370-debris-mozambique.html