Mozambique debris to be sent to Australia for MH370 analysis
Kuala Lumpur, March 3, AZERTAC
A hunk of suspected aircraft wreckage found off the east African coast will be sent to Australia where experts will examine whether it is a new piece in the puzzle of missing flight MH370, officials said Thursday, according to AFP.
The fragment was reportedly found near Mozambique and could provide clues in the huge and costly Australia-led investigation into what happened to the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared nearly two years ago.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said late Wednesday that initial information indicated a "high possibility" it came from a Boeing 777, the same model as MH370.
MH370 mysteriously vanished on March 8, 2014 on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said the debris was approximately one metre (three feet) long.
"The debris is to be transferred to Australia where it will be examined by officials from Australia and Malaysia, as well as international specialists," he said in a statement.
Chester said the location of the find was consistent with where ocean currents could have deposited MH370 wreckage.
The MH370 saga has been marked by a history of false leads since it went missing, and Liow cautioned against "undue speculation" until experts can study the object.
Last July, a wing fragment was found washed ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, which experts later determined came from MH370, the only confirmed evidence of the plane's fate so far.
Analysts believe MH370 veered far off course to somewhere in the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it went down.
The news of the unconfirmed finding comes just days ahead of the disaster's two-year anniversary.
Australian officials told AFP it was not yet clear when the debris would arrive there. They said Boeing experts would be among those examining it.
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