Two pieces of debris found in Mozambique are “almost certainly from MH370,” Australia and Malaysia said yesterday, after technical analysis provided fresh clues to the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.
Until the latest discoveries, only a wing part recovered from a beach on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, which lies east of Mozambique, had been confirmed as coming from the plane that disappeared two years ago.
“The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370,” Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said, adding that investigators had found the pieces were consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.
Photo: EPA
“That such debris has been found on the east coast of Africa is consistent with drift modeling performed by [national science body] CSIRO and further affirms our search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean,” he said.
The two pieces are a flat, gray fragment with the words “No Step” printed along one side, found on a sandbank, and a 1m-long piece of metal picked up by a holidaymaker.
Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said that investigators had advised that the “dimensions, materials and construction” of both parts conformed to Boeing 777 specifications, while the “paint and stencilling on both parts match those used by Malaysia Airlines (MAS).”
“As such, both parts are consistent with panels from a MAS Boeing 777 aircraft, and almost certainly are from MH370,” he said in a statement, adding that the examinations conducted in Australia’s capital, Canberra, took place on Monday to Wednesday.
Australia is leading the search for MH370 in the remote Indian Ocean, where the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight is believed to have diverted when it disappeared on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew.
Another piece of debris yet to be identified as coming from the missing jet was picked up near Mossel Bay, a small town in Western Cape Province, South African authorities said on Tuesday. They did not reveal when it was found.
Malaysia is working with South African officials to arrange for the examination of the fragment, which Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre on Wednesday said was “suspected to be the cowling from an engine.”
Mossel Bay lies more than 2,000km from Vilankulo, the Mozambican resort where one of the pieces being examined in Australia was found.
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