JACC confirms flaperon is from MH370
Bernama
August 12, 2015 23:56 MYT
August 12, 2015 23:56 MYT
Finally, the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) has confirmed that an aircraft wing part known as flaperon found in the French Reunion Island is from the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
"Subsequent examination has indicated that in all probability, the wreckage, a wing part known as a flaperon, was from MH370," said JACC in a statement on Wednesday.
On July 29, a piece of the aeroplane wing was discovered on the Reunion Island coast and was sent to France for further analysis.
On Aug 6, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed that part of the flaperon found on Reunion Island was part of the aircraft.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, last year after its departure from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers on board, among them 154 Chinese nationals.
On the search operation development, JACC said Fugro Discovery, the search and recovery vessel for MH370, had arrived in the Indian Ocean and commenced operations earlier Wednesday.
"Fugro Equator arrived in Fremantle, Australia this morning for routine re-supply and will depart for the search area Thursday," it said.
Meanwhile, The Maldivian minister attached to the president’s office, Mohamed Shareef was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) said three Malaysian aviation experts had began examining debris found in the island on Wednesday to determine if it could be wreckage from MH370.
Mohamed Shareef said the three, led by Malaysian Civil Aviation Department director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman had met up with local authorities and inspected the debris after arriving on the honeymoon islands on Tuesday night.
Shareef told the news agency in a phone conversation that the experts would return to Malaysia later Wednesday before reporting to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.