Officials from Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation will examine a piece of aircraft wreckage that has washed ashore on La Reunion Island for any potential links to the disappearance of flight MH370.
Photographs circulated on the internet show that the wreckage bears resemblance to a flaperon section of a Boeing 777-200ER, but authorities involved in the search for the missing aircraft are still waiting for experts to examine the item to determine its origin.
Malaysia Airlines cautions that it is “too premature for the airline to speculate on the origin of the flaperon.”
The Australian government, which has led the search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean off Western Australia, issued a statement saying that it is aware of the wreckage, and is assisting the Malaysian investigators, along with Boeing, and US and French authorities.
“In the event that the wreckage is identified as being from MH 370 on La Reunion Island, it would be consistent with other analysis and modelling that the resting place of the aircraft is in the southern Indian Ocean,” it adds.
Boeing released a brief statement on the event, but directed all inquiries to the investigators in charge.
Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing while flying over the Gulf of Thailand. Subsequent analysis of satellite ‘handshake’ data determined that the aircraft changed direction, and likely ended its flight over the southern Indian Ocean.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
