MH370: More debris washes ashore La Reunion island

Posted on 3 Aug 2015 by Callum Bentley

More debris is to be examined to see whether or not it is from the wreckage of the missing MH370 Malaysian Airlines flight after a larger, wing component, washed ashore the French island of La Reunion last week.

MH370 stock image
More debris has been found on La reunion island, however officials have not yet confirmed whether or not it is from the stricken MH370.

The news comes following an identification number found on a piece of wreckage on the island in the Indian Ocean confirms it is from a Boeing 777, a Malaysian transport official has said.

“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 wing component, or flaperon, found on French island, La reunion, features the part number 657 BB.

The part is now being flown to Toulouse, France, where aviation experts will aim to identify the flaperon at the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA), Europe’s leading centre for analysing aircraft wreckage, to determine if it is from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Even though the debris was found off the African coast, Australian authorities will not be changing their search area.

“From our point of view, the search area have defined based on very close analysis of satellite data associated with the aircraft,” explained Martin Dolan, chief commissioner, Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

“We haven’t seen anything as a result of the potential identification of this debris that changes our search area. It’s certainly very possible for debris to have floated from our search area to Reunion. We will continue to focus on our priority search area.”