Five days after the discovery of a Boeing 777 wing fragment on Reunion Island, French and Malaysian aviation experts yesterday were scheduled to meet together with police and magistrates in Paris to coordinate their work in the investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
It comes after a fevered hunt on Sunday for more possible wreckage on Reunion Island turned up no new clues, with authorities saying that metallic debris found by locals did not come from an aircraft.
A Malaysian delegation headed by Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, representatives from Malaysia Airlines and judicial officials were to meet in a chamber of the three French magistrates assigned to the case. Investigators from the research section of the French Air Transport Gendarmerie and representatives of the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) were also to be present to take stock of findings and coordinate on the broader investigation.
The flaperon is being examined in a military laboratory in the southwestern French city of Toulouse that specializes in airplane crash investigations, with results expected from tomorrow afternoon.
The conclusion should determine if it is a piece of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Boeing 777 that disappeared on March 8 last year with 239 people on board, and possibly provide some clues to one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. Malaysian officials have confirmed the wing fragment is part of a Boeing 777, making it likely to be part of the missing plane, as Flight MH370 is the only Boeing 777 to be lost at sea.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is also to dispatch a “technical” team to participate in the investigations in Toulouse.
The flaperon is to be analyzed using physical and chemical methods, including “a scanning electron microscope that can magnify up to 100,000 times” to understand how it was damaged, said Pierre Bascary, former director of the tests at the French General Directorate for Armament.
However, beyond the flight identification, analyses are unlikely to explain the disaster, experts say.
“We should not expect miracles from this analysis,” former BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec said.
Meanwhile, locals on Reunion Island have been combing the shores since the wing part was found on Wednesday last week, handing over bits of what they believe to be wreckage to police.
“There is a sort of ‘treasure hunt’ mentality that is taking hold, and people are calling us for everything,” a local source close to the investigation said.
On Sunday, several pieces of debris sparked excitement, one of which was believed by locals to be from an airplane door.
However, investigators quickly shot down hopes. Azharuddin told reporters from France that the item resembling an airplane door “was actually from a domestic ladder ... not a door.”
Police on the Indian Ocean island on Sunday also collected a mangled piece of metal inscribed with two Chinese characters and attached to what appears to be a leather-covered handle.
Chinese Internet users suggested it might be a kettle.
“People are more vigilant. They are going to think any metallic object they find on the beach is from Flight MH370, but there are objects all along the coast; the ocean continually throws them up,” said Jean-Yves Sambimanan, spokesman for the town of Saint-Andre where the wing debris was found.
He said islanders were also dumbfounded by the lack of an official search of the coastline after cursory helicopter flights the day after the wing part was found.
“If it comes from a plane, it would be a pity if I did not take it” to the police, said Luc Igounet, 62, who found the metal bar that turned out to be from a ladder.
The flight’s mysterious disappearance, which saw it vanish off radars as a key transponder appeared to have been shut off, has baffled aviation experts and grieving families and given rise to many conspiracy theories.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in