Debris ‘almost certainly’ from missing flight
Print Edition
MALAYSIAN authorities confirmed yesterday that the aircraft wreckage washed up on an Indian Ocean island was from a Boeing 777, meaning the part is almost certainly from missing flight MH370.
The debris, part of a plane wing, could provide the first tangible clue toward unlocking the mystery surrounding the doomed Malaysia Airlines plane, which disappeared without trace in March last year with 239 people on board.
“I believe that we are moving closer to solving the mystery of MH370. This could be the convincing evidence that MH370 went down in the Indian Ocean,” said Malaysia’s deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.
However, authorities have warned that one small piece of plane debris is unlikely to completely clear up one of aviation’s greatest puzzles.
Flight MH370 is one of only three Boeing 777s to have been involved in major incidents, along with the downing of the MH17 over Ukraine last year and the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco airport in 2013 that left three dead.
The wing component found on the French island of Reunion bears the part number “657 BB,” according to photos of the debris.
“From the part number, it is confirmed that it is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. This information is from MAS (Malaysia Airlines). They have informed me,” the minister said.
Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the MH370 search, said greater clarity on the origin of the part should be confirmed “within the next 24 hours.”
“We are increasingly confident that this debris is from MH370,” he said.
Flight MH370 was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it mysteriously turned off course and vanished on March 8 last year.
An Australian-led search has spent 16 months combing the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft, but no physical evidence has ever been found.
The fruitless search in January led Malaysian authorities to declare all on board were presumed dead.
For relatives of those aboard, torn between wanting closure and hoping beyond hope that their loved ones were still somehow alive, the discovery was yet another turn on an emotional rollercoaster.
Australian Jeanette Maguire, whose sister Cathy was on board, said the discovery of the wreckage was “a very bittersweet feeling for all of the family, it’s quite emotional.”
“We’re really hoping for answers that we get from this wreckage that it is MH370 so that we have some idea as to where our family and everyone else has gone,” she said.
Speculation on the cause of the plane’s disappearance has focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.
The discovery of the debris on Wednesday sparked fevered speculation that was heightened with the discovery on the same beach of a piece of torn luggage, a detergent bottle with Indonesian markings and a Chinese bottle of mineral water.
Australian officials played down the discovery, saying it “may just be rubbish.”
The wreckage is being sent to France for analysis and is expected to arrive today.
Search authorities, which are leading the hunt for the Boeing 777 in the Indian Ocean about 4,000 kilometers from Reunion, said they are confident the main debris field was in the current search area.
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