Debris find is match for missing flight theories
Print Edition
DEBRIS washed ashore in Mozambique that may be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 turned up in a spot that matches investigators’ theories about where wreckage from the plane would have ended up, Australian officials said yesterday.
Photographs of the debris discovered over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said a US official. Flight MH370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.
The plane is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean far off Australia’s west coast and about 6,000 kilometers to the east of Mozambique. But authorities have long predicted that any debris from the plane that isn’t on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.
Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester reiterated that opinion yesterday, saying the location of the debris in Mozambique matches investigators’ drift modeling and would therefore confirm that search crews are looking in the right part of the Indian Ocean for the main underwater wreckage. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also said the location of the debris lined up with investigators’ predictions.
People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the US official said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is running the search for the plane in remote waters off Australia’s west coast, said the part would likely be taken to Australia for examination.
Malaysian representatives from the nation’s Civil Aviation department and Malaysia Airlines were heading to Mozambique to discuss the find, Liow said.
“From the pictures shown, it’s high probability that the plane debris is from Boeing 777,” Liow told reporters.
Meanwhile, authorities in Mozambique are combing the area where it was found to search for other potential debris.
Australian officials have seen photographs of the part and have been in communication with Blaine Gibson, the American who found it, said Dan O’Malley, a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
“We’re aware of these reports that debris has been found in Mozambique,” O’Malley said. “We’re working with officials in Mozambique and Malaysia to investigate.”
Australia will work with Malaysian investigators to examine the object once it arrives in Australia, he said. The ATSB hasn’t made any determinations yet about the potential origins of the debris. “We have to wait until we have the actual debris examined,” O’Malley said. “We’re not going to draw conclusions from the photos.”
There’s some skepticism that the part could be from the missing aircraft because it appears to be remarkably clean and free of sea life — unlike the barnacle-encrusted wing part washed ashore on the French island of Reunion last year.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
