Aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is from MH370: Najib

This was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in a media conference early Thursday.

"Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370.

"We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

"This is a remote, inhospitable and dangerous area, and on behalf of Malaysia, I would like to thank the many nations, organisations and individuals who have participated in the search," he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here.

On July 29, the small, remote French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean made headlines when a piece of aircraft debris was found by beachcombers.

Subsequent checks by French authorities revealed that the debris, part of a wing component known as a flaperon, was indeed part of a Boeing 777 jet.

Speculation was rife that the debris could be from MH370 as there were no other hull loss incidences involving Boeing 777s over water ever recorded.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 jet, went missing on March 8, 2014 during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Beijing, China.

It disappeared from radar an hour after departure.

The flight was carrying 239 passengers and crew on board.

On Jan 29, 2015, the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation had declared flight MH370 as an accident and that all those on board were presumed dead.

The announcement was made so that compensation could be disbursed to the victims’ next-of-kin.