Two pieces of debris found in Mozambique are “highly likely” to be wreckage from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 officials have said.
Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 on board. There were no survivors. It is believed that the missing plane crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean about 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) east of Mozambique. Authorities had predicted that any debris from the plane that isn’t on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.
Australian officials made the announcement Thursday following the completion of the examination of the two pieces.
“The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370,” said Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester.
The pieces of debris were found separately by a U.S. lawyer and a South African teen in March and sent to Malaysia for examination.
A Malaysian investigation team found that both pieces of debris were consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, Chester said.
Before now, one other piece of the plane had been discovered on the western Indian Ocean island of Reunion in July 2015, has been confirmed to have come from the missing plane.
The findings were echoed by Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai.
“The dimensions, materials and construction of both parts conform to the specifications of a Boeing 777 aircraft,” a statement from the minister said.
It also notes that the paint and stenciling on both parts match those used by Malaysia Airlines.
“As such, both parts are consistent with panels from a MAS Boeing 777 aircraft, and almost certainly are from MH370.”
The families who lost people on the plane, responded with mixed reactions to the news that more parts of the plane, which was scheduled to fly from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, have likely been recovered.
“Personally, I think all this information is useful for us in finding the plane,” said Steve Wang, a Chinese woman whose mother was on board.
However, Jiang Hui said the plane debris sheds little light on what happened to her mother.
“Finding the plane debris isn’t equal to finding our loved ones,” she said
Leave a Reply