France yesterday launched a hunt for more wreckage from the ill-fated MH370 plane off Reunion Island in a fresh effort to shed light on one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.
The tiny French Indian Ocean territory has been under intense scrutiny since a beach cleaner found a washed-up wing part last week, which Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak later declared was part of the Boeing 777 that mysteriously vanished 17 months ago.
The flaperon is being examined by experts in southern France for possible clues as to why the Malaysia Airlines aircraft inexplicably veered off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and there are hopes that Reunion may yield more washed-up debris.
Photo: EPA
In nearby Mauritius, authorities are also searching for any possible plane parts that may have landed on their shores.
Aline Simon, a French officer, said a military transport plane had taken off from a base in the north of Reunion Island to search for debris off the coast.
The hunt for potential plane parts will also involve foot patrols, helicopters and maritime units, the government said in a statement late on Thursday.
Since the discovery of the 2m-long flaperon last week, people on the island have come forward with countless objects they think may look like plane parts.
Malaysian Minister of Transportation Liow Tiong Lai said on Thursday that more possible MH370 objects — aircraft seat cushions and windows — had been discovered on Reunion Island, but that any MH370 link “had to be verified by the French authorities.”
However, a French judicial source said that French investigators had not received any new items. The Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8 last year, sparking the largest search operation in history, now focused on the southern Indian Ocean based on satellite data hinting at the plane’s path.
Australian authorities, which are leading the search, expressed renewed confidence that they were looking in the right area.
“The finding of this piece of wing gives us hope that we are searching in the right location, given the tides and currents and drift patterns,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Australian television from Malaysia.
French prosecutors involved in the analysis of the flaperon have been more cautious, saying only that there was a “very high probability” it came from the Boeing 777.
However, Liow said that certain characteristics of the wing part, including its paint, matched MH370 maintenance records — backing up Najib’s announcement that it was part of the plane.
Najib’s televised statement was not universally welcomed by relatives of the 239 people on board the jet, with some expressing skepticism and fresh criticism of officials’ handling of the disaster.
“There is no conclusive evidence that this part belongs to the Boeing,” said Ghislain Wattrelos, who lost his wife and two of his children on the flight.
“It’s not 100 percent [sure] like the Malaysian prime minister said,” Wattrelos said.
Chinese relatives of passengers aboard MH370 marched to Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing yesterday, some demanding to be taken to Reunion.
“We want to go to the island and see the truth,” said Lu Zhanzhong, whose son was on the plane.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,