Malaysia: newly-found debris belongs to Boeing 777

Investigators are verifying the newly-found plane debris (Source: AFP/VNA)

A piece of wreckage recently found in the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean was identified as part of the a Boeing 777, the same type of plane as Malaysia Airlines’s missing MH370 flight, a Malaysian official said on August 2.

In a statement, Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said the debris was verified by French authorities together with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board, and the Malaysian team comprising the Department of Civil Aviation, Malaysia Airlines, and the safety investigation team from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The wing surface, known as a flaperon was sent to a special laboratory in the southern French city of Toulouse to determine whether it belongs to the MH370 aircraft, he said, revealing that MH370 is the only global aviation case of a missing Boeing 777 plane.

Malaysia is also seeking assistance from several aviation authorities in territories within the vicinity of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to discover any other debris drifting to land, Liow said, adding that the discovery of more debris would allow experts to conduct more substantive analyses and have more clues to the missing aircraft.

Malaysian Airlines’ Flight MH370 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite multi-national searching activities, no sign of the aircraft or its wreckage has been found. In January 2015, the Malaysian Government announced all people onboard were deemed to have died.-VNA