Debris found in Mauritius from MH370

 The composite debris, recovered from the island in May, is the latest fragment found along western Indian Ocean shorelines linked to Malaysia Airlines MH370.

 

The Boeing 777 disappeared en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 - with 239 passengers and crew on-board.

 

Despite an extensive underwater search in the southern Indian Ocean far off Western Australia's coast (where investigators believe the plane crashed), no trace of the aircraft has been found there.

The wing part "was a trailing edge section of Boeing 777 left, outboard flap, originating from the Malaysian Airlines aircraft registered 9M-MRO (MH370)", the government agency leading the search, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), said in a report.

 

"A part number was identified on a section of the debris," the ATSB said, adding that another "unique work order number" assigned by the flap manufacturer corresponded to MH370.

 

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said investigators "remain hopeful" MH370 will be found.

 

"The finding of this debris... continues to affirm the focus of search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean," Chester said.

 

"It does not, however, provide information that can be used to determine a specific location of the aircraft."

 

The ATSB report came two weeks after the agency said officials had yet to link debris recovered from Madagascar by US amateur investigator Blaine Gibson, to MH370 or a Boeing 777.

 

Officials also said the debris found in Madagascar were not exposed to fire, squashing earlier speculation.

 

The failure to locate any debris in the search zone has fuelled speculation the plane may have crashed outside the area.

Several pieces of debris linked to the flight have been discovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines in Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius.   

South African Liam Lotter found a piece of debris while walking on a beach in Mozambique in December 2015.

 

Last month, together with debris hunters Blaine Gibson and Neels Kruger, the trio found 12 pieces of debris in South Africa - which have since been handed-over to authorities.

　

Lotter and Gibson spoke to ECR Newswatch about their search mission. In case you missed it, watch the video below.

 

The part or the plane found in Mauritius is the third fragment to be confirmed as coming from MH370.

 

Malaysia said in mid-September that debris found in June off Tanzania came from the doomed airliner.

 

The first piece that was found - a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon - washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion in July 2015. French authorities confirmed it belonged to MH370.

 

More than 110000 square kilometres of the search area has been scoured so far, Australia said this week, adding that the hunt was set to be completed in December.