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MH370: Officials confirm debris belongs to Boeing 777

A Malaysian official has confirmed debris found in the Indian Ocean is from a Boeing 777 that could be missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

"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," deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said.


The wreckage, two-metres in length, was found by a man helping clean beaches on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on Wednesday.

Australian authorities say they're "increasingly confident" it is from the missing flight MH370.

The object will now be shipped by French authorities to the city of Toulouse to be examined by the BEA, France's civil aviation authority, for verification.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said senior officials from Malaysian transport agencies and the airline would also travel to France.

"As soon as we have more information or any verification we will make it public," Najib said, while warning against premature speculation.

"We have had many false alarms before, but for the sake of the families who have lost loved ones, and suffered such heartbreaking uncertainty, I pray that we will find out the truth so that they may have closure and peace."

Najib added that finding debris on La Reunion -- about 4,000 kilometres from the Indian Ocean zone where authorities believe the plane went down -- was plausible.

"The location is consistent with the drift analysis provided to the Malaysian investigation team, which showed a route from the southern Indian Ocean to Africa," he said.

He added: "I promise the families of those lost that whatever happens, we will not give up."

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pauses during a government event in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: AP
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pauses during a government event in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: AP

Authorities are also investigating the discovery of part of a bag, which was also found on the island not far from the plane debris.

"The piece of luggage was here since yesterday but nobody really paid attention," said Johnny Begue, the man who found the long piece of plane wreckage.

The fragment of material includes the closed zip.

"It is really weird, it gives me the shivers," said Begue.

The disappearance of flight MH370 remains one of the biggest mysteries in the history of civil aviation.

The plane went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

An explanation for the event, officially declared an accident by Malaysian authorities in late January, might become possible if the debris turns out to be part of the ill-fated Boeing 777.

What we know about MH370

The doomed flight took off from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 am on Saturday, March 8, 2014 (1641 GMT Friday) with 239 people on board, including 227 passengers, of which 153 were Chinese, headed for Beijing.

An hour after takeoff, flight MH370 changed course and lost all contact with air traffic controllers.

Vietnam said shortly afterwards that the plane disappeared into thin air in its airspace and launched a search after detecting traces of oil in its waters.

A day later, Malaysia said it was following up the possibility that the disappearance was terrorist-linked and the US FBI sent agents.

There was later a series of false leads, including when Beijing announced on March 12 that it had detected large "floating objects" in the sea where it suspected the missing flight might have gone down.


Malaysian authorities said the plane's main communication systems shut down, that the change of flight path was due to a deliberate move by someone on board and that the plane continued to fly for at least seven hours.

Searches at the homes of the pilots in Kuala Lumpur and probes of their backgrounds revealed no leads.

In mid-March the search zone was enlarged, with 26 countries taking part.

On March 30 Australia was charged with coordinating the search operation in the remote Indian Ocean which involved seven countries -- Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States -- with the support of a British submarine.



Despite more than 300 air sorties, searches covering more than 4.5 million square kilometres (1.7 million square miles), the massive mission failed to find any wreckage. Priority was therefore given to submarine exploration.

Raw satellite data showed that the missing flight went down in the southern Indian Ocean, information demanded by passengers' relatives who were frustrated over the failure to find any wreckage.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is in charge of searching an underwater search area that measures more than 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 square miles). Authorities plan to search a total of 120,000 square kilometres.

By mid April 2015, about 60 percent of the initial suspected crash area had been covered.

The most credible explanation for the disappearance, according to officials charged with the probe, is a sudden fall in the oxygen level in the aircraft which rendered the crew and the passengers unconscious.

According to that hypothesis, the plane then continued to fly on automatic pilot until, when fuel ran out, it plunged into the sea.

A study by independent experts published a year after the event offered no explanation for the plane's disappearance.