Malaysia says aircraft debris under examination indeed from MH370

Malaysia says aircraft debris under examination indeed from MH370

PanARMENIAN.Net - A piece of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island beach last week was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, Malaysia said on Thursday, Aug 6, confirming the discovery of the first trace of the plane since it vanished last year, Reuters reports.

"Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Prime Minister Najib Razak said in an early morning televised address.

The announcement, by providing the first direct evidence that the plane crashed in the ocean, closes a chapter in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history but still gives families of the 239 victims little clue as to why.

The airline described the find as "a major breakthrough".

"We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery," it said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The fragment of wing known as a flaperon was flown to mainland France after being found last week covered in barnacles on a beach on France's Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

Despite the Malaysian confirmation, prosecutors in France stopped short of declaring they were certain, saying only that there was a "very strong presumption".

Paris Prosecutor Serge Mackowiak said this was based on technical data supplied by both the manufacturer and airline but gave no indication that experts had discovered a serial number or unique markings that would put the link beyond doubt.

Boeing representatives confirmed that the flaperon came from a 777 jet, he said, and Malaysia Airlines provided documentation of the actual aircraft used on flight MH370.

"On this basis, it was possible for a connection to be made between the object examined by the experts and the flaperon of the Boeing 777 of MH370," Mackowiak told reporters in Paris.

He said more analysis would be carried out on Thursday, and a fragment of luggage also found in Reunion would be examined by French police as soon as possible.

Officials from Malaysia, the United States, Australia, China, Britain, Singapore, and manufacturer Boeing are on hand for the examination at an aeronautical test facility in the French city of Tou

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