MH370: Debris found in Maldives to be brought to Malaysia - Liow

Malaysia will bring back the pieces of debris found in Maldives, believed to be parts from the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 aircraft, for further verification.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia is now working closely with the Maldivian authorities to see if the debris found could be wreckage from the missing plane.

"We will bring the parts back to Malaysia for further analysis and verification process. Our team is now in Maldives and working closely with the local authorities to determine if the debris belongs to Boeing 777," he told reporters after launching Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd's Nissan 4S Centre in Shah Alam on Wednesday.

Liow said that the debris is now undergoing few processes before they can be released and transported back to Malaysia.

According to Maldives news portal Haveeru, few days after a flaperon was found on Reunion Island, France on July 29, employees of Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in North Male Atoll, Maldives claimed that some objects suspected to debris from a plane had washed up on the beach about a month ago.

Later, metal fragments suspected to be from the MH370 aircraft were also found on two other islands in Baa Atoll and Noonu Atoll.

Meanwhile, Liow said Malaysia had also sent another team to Reunion Island to work with the local authorities and search for more debris.

"The search area in Reunion Island has been widen by the French authorities and with this expansion we hope to collect more debris from the search area," he said.

Liow also hoped that a technical meeting will be held before the Tripartite Ministerial Meeting with China and Australia.

The flight was carrying 239 passengers and crew on board before it 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.

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

On another matter, Liow said it was still early to speculate whether some of the debris recovered from the crash site of MAS flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine may be fragments of a Russian-made missile system.

He asked all parties to wait patiently as a detailed final report would be released by October this year to ascertain the cause of the incident.

Yesterday, investigators probing the shooting down of MAS flight MH17 said Tuesday they had identified pieces that 'possibly' come from a Russian-made BUK missile from eastern Ukraine, where the plane crashed.

According to a report by AFP, international and Dutch investigators are probing "several parts, possibly originating from a BUK surface-air-missile system," said a joint statement from prosecutors and the Dutch Safety Board (OVV).

The MAS' Boeing 777 plane was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it was gunned down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people aboard including 43 Malaysians.