PHOTO: AFP
PETALING JAYA - The flaperon found on a beach on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has been positively identified as a part from a Boeing 777, which makes it very likely to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
There have been several incidents involving the Boeing 777 aircraft since it first entered service in 1994. Of all those cases, only five concluded in the planes being deemed as total losses, also know as a "hull loss".
Of the five, there is only one documented case involving a plane lost over an ocean in the southern hemisphere - MH370, which vanished in mysterious circumstances in March 2014.
The riddle may at last have been solved.
Officials are optimistic the latest debris may help resolve the mystery surrounding the jetliner.
"The only 777 aircraft that we're aware of in the Indian Ocean that could have led to this part floating is MH370," said Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the underwater search for the plane.
Anger and disbelief from MH370 China relatives over debris
-
Open gallery
Relatives of passengers who were onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are stopped by policemen as they try to enter the Malaysia Airlines office in Beijing.
-
Open gallery
Chinese relatives of passengers aboard missing flight MH370 expressed anger and disbelief on Thursday, Aug 6.
-
Open gallery
Malaysia's prime minister said wreckage found on a French Indian Ocean island was from the plane.
-
Open gallery
Most of the passengers aboard the flight were Chinese, and around a dozen gathered outside the Beijing offices of Malaysia Airlines, with emotions running high.
-
Open gallery
"I don't believe this latest information about the plane, they have been lying to us from the beginning," said Zhang Yongli, whose daughter was on board.
-
Open gallery
"I know my daughter is out there, but they won't tell us the truth," he added.
-
Open gallery
Bao Lanfang, whose grandson was also on the plane, told reporters, "Everyone has been lying to us", before collapsing on the floor and crying.
-
Open gallery
The flight, with 239 people on board, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March last year.
-
Open gallery
No evidence had been found until the debris, part of a wing known as a flaperon, washed up on the French territory of Reunion.
-
Open gallery
French officials used more cautious language, saying only that there was a "very high probability" the wreckage came from MH370.
-
Open gallery
Many Chinese relatives of MH370 passengers have consistently expressed beliefs that their loved ones are alive, perhaps being held at an unknown location.
-
Open gallery
Their belief comes despite the mounting evidence of a fatal crash.
-
Open gallery
Several gathering on Thursday held signs with a picture of an aeroplane, reading: "It will surely return safely".
-
Open gallery
On a social media group other relatives expressed similar sentiments, saying: "Don't believe them! They must have switched the debris! We do believe all our relatives will come back safe and sound!"
-
Open gallery
Elsewhere Chinese people took to social media sites to express scepticism about Malaysia, whose reputation has taken a knock in China for its handling of the incident.
-
Open gallery
Malaysia wanted to avoid the large amount of payment for the relatives so it announced that it found the debris in Reunion. We don't believe Malaysia," one comment on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo read.
-
Open gallery
More debris has been found washed up on Reunion Island, Sky News reported on August 2.
-
Open gallery
According to Sky News' David Bowden, the object was discovered in a different location to the flaperon which prompted speculation that it was from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
-
Open gallery
It was earlier reported that the debris resembled a plane door, but the news channel has now said that it can't be confirmed.
-
Open gallery
Experts confirmed that the flaperon was consistent with that of Boeing 777 although it is not known if it is from the missing jet.
-
Open gallery
The Transport Ministry said that MH370 investigators would only be able to inspect the flaperon after Monday because Malaysian authorities had to attend a meeting with the French Government before they could actually see the debris.
-
Open gallery
A view shows the Direction generale de l'armement (DGA) offices, where the France's BEA crash investigation agency will verify the plane debris found on Reunion Island, in Balma near Toulouse, France, July 30, 2015.
-
Open gallery
Police officers escort an airport vehicle transporting what is believed to be debris from a Boeing 777 plane that washed up on an Indian Ocean island at Saint-Marie's airport on the French Indian Ocean island of "Reunion" on July 31, 2015.
-
Open gallery
French gendarmes work on a oversized crate, believed to contain plane wreckage, in the cargo area of the airport in Saint-Denis on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, in this still image taken from video shot on July 31, 2015.
-
Open gallery
A French gendarme (top partially hidden) works on a oversized crate in the cargo area of the airport in Saint-Denis on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, July 31, 2015.
-
Open gallery
An aerial view taken on July 31, 2015 in Saint-Andre, on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, shows people walking on the shore where a plane debris and a piece from a luggage were found on July 29.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Johnny Begue, a member of a local shore cleaning association, poses on July 30, 2015 in Saint-Andre, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, with the remains of a suitcase found the day before on the same site.
-
Open gallery
He and his fellow association members found a two-metre (six-foot) long piece of plane wreckage that could be from the missing flight MH370.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
France's air crash investigation agency is studying a piece of plane debris found on Reunion Island off the east coast of Africa but it was too early to say if it came from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
-
Open gallery
A source familiar with the matter said the debris was most likely from a Boeing 777, but that it was not yet established if it was from MH370.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Malaysia's deputy transport minister said it was "almost certain" that the debris that washed up on Reunion island belongs to a Boeing 777 aircraft.
-
Open gallery
No trace has been found of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in March last year carrying 239 passengers and crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
-
Open gallery
The disappearance has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
-
Open gallery
"It is almost certain that the flaperon is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. Our chief investigator here told me this,"Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
If confirmed to be part of MH370, the wreckage would be the first bit of physical evidence recovered from that plane.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the flaperon had been officially identified as part of a Boeing 777 by the French authorities together with Boeing, the US National Transportation Board and the Malaysian investigation team.
To add to the evidence that the missing plane is close to being found, more debris has been found washed ashore on the island.
A Sky News report quoting sources said what looked like a plane door had been found on the island while a garbage collector, whose job is to keep the beach clean, had reported picking up what looked like blue plane seats and other metal parts before burning them all.
The residents of Reunion Island have little access to information from around the world and most had not even heard of Malaysia or the missing plane until the current rush of excitement hit them with the debris find on the beaches.
A metal object with what was said to be "Chinese and Malaysian writing" was also found on the beach yesterday but was later written off as "just a domestic ladder".
Director-General of Civil Aviation Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the debris had nothing to do with the missing plane.
MH370 still missing after 6 months
-
Open gallery
Families of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 arrive in Kuala Lumpur to demand answers from the Malaysian government about the whereabouts of the aircraft.
-
Open gallery
Wang Run Xiang, 58, the mother of a passenger aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, holds a picture of her grandson whose father was aboard the plane.
-
Open gallery
A year on from the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, an extraordinary amount of key data remains unknown.
-
Open gallery
The disappearance has fuelled conspiracy theories and heated online debate about one of aviation's biggest mysteries.
-
Open gallery
An information vacuum has nourished a cottage industry of experts and amateurs in a bid to find out just what happened to the plane and its 239 passengers and crew.
-
Open gallery
Chinese relatives of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 pray at the Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur, March 1, 2015.
-
Open gallery
March 8 will mark the 1 year anniversary since the Boeing 777 disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.
-
Open gallery
Theories range from wild guesses, such as alien abduction, or that MH370 and its doomed fleetmate MH17 were the same plane.
-
Open gallery
Sober, science-based arguments suggest that the plane is in the southern Indian Ocean, but not necessarily in the current search area.
-
Open gallery
What they all agree on is that some key pieces of the puzzle are missing.
-
Open gallery
"It's amazing how much information we don't have after looking at this case for all this time," said Jeff Wise, an aviation expert who recently published Kindle book 'The Plane That Wasn't There'.
-
Open gallery
Malaysia's air force said its radar tracked the plane as it turned back from the Gulf of Thailand, re-crossed the Malay Peninsula and flew out of range off the northwest coast.
-
Open gallery
Official investigators used analysis from British firm Inmarsat of "pings" to its satellite from MH370 to plot two vast arcs - one to the north and one to the south - across which it may have flown.
-
Open gallery
Combining those faint pings with data from the plane, they concluded it had turned south and flown for hours before crashing into the southern Indian Ocean.
-
Open gallery
That conclusion has been challenged by aviation bloggers and freelance investigators, who have questioned key radar plots and assumptions about the speed and fuel burn of the jet.
-
Open gallery
Relatives of Chinese passengers from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 discuss their plan of action at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 17, 2015.
-
Open gallery
Tim Clark, head of Emirates Airlines, said last November he believed information was being withheld, but the Malaysian government has always denied withholding information.
-
Open gallery
He was a Uygur painter who taught at a local college. His works often dealt with the life of Uygur people.
-
Open gallery
From Shanghai. He worked as an art designer at a local newspaper in Xinjiang. His traditional Chinese paintings were mainly about birds and flowers.
-
Open gallery
Hu Xiaoning (left) was Hu Siguan's (centre) father. The family had just vacationed in Malaysia. Zhang Na (right), Siguan's mother explained the meaning of her daughter's name in her blog - Si: intelligent and Guan: elegant.
-
Open gallery
From Dalian. He was an employee of Huawei group and had been working on a project in Malaysia. His son was about 4 months old.
-
Open gallery
As an amateur, traditional Chinese painting artist, she specialised in painting flowers and had held an exhibition in Habahe,Xinjiang.
-
Open gallery
Born in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. He had written about how he luckily escaped death four times and always carried a stamp that said, "God blesses me".
-
Open gallery
Before he boarded the flight to Beijing, Firman (centre) called home to comfort his worried parents in Indonesia, who were concerned about recent reports of terrorism in south Yunnan.
-
Open gallery
He left for a mining job in Mongolia earlier in March 2014. Paul couldn't wear his wedding ring in the mine site, so he left it and his watch at home with instructions to pass them on to his two sons, "should anything happen" to him.
-
Open gallery
Catherine's last comment on Facebook was "Off to China". She was believed to have been heading on a long-planned trip to China together with Robert, Rodney and Mary.
-
Open gallery
He had just gotten his A-level grades and certificate from the United Kingdom. He enjoyed cycling and planned to go to a university in the United States.
-
Open gallery
He was Pouria's Iranian companion. Investigators have found no links to connect the two to any terror groups and believe that they were asylum seekers.
-
Open gallery
A family member of a passenger onthe missing flight MH370 cries during a protest demanding the Malaysian government to keep searching the missing flight, in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing on January 29.
-
Open gallery
Daughter Michelle Gomes (L) and wife Jacquita Gonzales of MH370 in-flight supervisor Patrick Francis Gomes comfort each other at their home in Kuala Lumpur.
-
Open gallery
Malaysia has declared the disappearance of Flight MH370 an accident, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims' relatives while the search for the plane goes on.
-
Open gallery
A parent whose son was onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, holds a poster featuring his son.
-
Open gallery
A man at the MH370 protest in Beijing.
-
Open gallery
A woman, who identified herself as Kelly and claiming to be a Chinese national and a wife of an MH370 passenger demanded that the authorities bring back her husband.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Jacquita Gonzalez, wife of in-flight supervisor Patrick Francis Gomez who was aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, speaks to the media at a news conference in Putrajaya.
-
Open gallery
-
Open gallery
Intan Maizura Othman, wife of missing MH370 flight attendant Mohd Hazrin Hasnan, carries their son Mohamed at news conference in Putrajaya.
-
Open gallery
Rafael, 3, is the grandson of Patrick Gomes who was in-flight supervisor aboard missing airliner MH370
-
Open gallery
Zhiliang, whose fiancee who was onboard MH370, shows an image on his mobile phone
-
Open gallery
Zhiliang is silhouetted at an empty house which he had planned to decorate with her for their marriage
-
Open gallery
Cheng, whose husband Ju was onboard MH370, shows his momentos at a park near her house where she and her husband used to visit.
-
Open gallery
Cheng shows a picture of she and her husband and an old card with a message given by her husband
-
Open gallery
Cheng said her life has been totally changed since the incident. Their two little sons, who don't know about this incident, keep asking her when their dad is coming back.
-
Open gallery
Cheng shows an electronic razor which her missing husband used
-
Open gallery
Li, whose son Wen Yongsheng was onboard MH370, shows medicine for herself and her husband
-
Open gallery
Liu Kun, whose younger brother Liu Qiang was onboard MH370, shows a picture of his brother
-
Open gallery
Zhang, whose husband Wang Houbin was onboard MH370, shows her husband's car key and key holder
-
Open gallery
Feng Xuehong, whose son Wang Houbin was onboard MH370, cries as she shows a picture of her son on her mobile phone
-
Open gallery
In her last conversation with her son Wang Houbin before the incident, he said, "Give me a hug, mom. Take care of yourself and I'll come back to see you soon."
-
Open gallery
Liu, whose husband Lu was onboard MH370, shows her husband's picture on his laptop
-
Open gallery
They got married on March 1, a week before the incident and could not go on a honeymoon due to her husband's busy schedule which was also the reason he had boarded the vanished plane.
-
Open gallery
Liu, whose husband Lu was onboard MH370, shows a room which they prepared for their future babies
-
Open gallery
Liu, whose husband Li Zhijin was onboard MH370, tries her husband's ring on her finger.
-
Open gallery
Liu said she argued with her husband in their last phone call before the incident.
-
Open gallery
Liu could not have realised that this would be their last conversation and now that is her greatest regret.
-
Open gallery
A tea cup of Li Zhijin, who was onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014 is covered with dust on his desk at his house in Beijing
-
Open gallery
Dai Shuqin' bag, which was a gift from her missing younger sister a long time ago, is hung on a wall
-
Open gallery
Hu, whose son Zhao's whole family was onboard MH370, shows her missing granddaughter's dolls
-
Open gallery
Hu said she had thought of committing suicide. She could not go back home for a while after the incident because she was afraid of entering the empty house.
-
Open gallery
Zhang Yongli, whose daughter Zhang Qi was onboard MH370, shows a note featuring a poem which Zhang wrote for his daughter
-
Open gallery
Zhang said this incident is disrupting the lives of he and his wife now. His wife sometimes roams several kilometers far from home because she cannot stand staying in their home from which her daughter is now absent.
-
Open gallery
Zhang Yongli, whose daughter Zhang Qi was onboard MH370, shows a badge which he received from an NGO group supporting the family members of missing passengers
-
Open gallery
Zhang Xiaomi, a cat raised by Li Zhen and her husband, who was onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014
"I'm the one leading the investigation in France for the analysis of the (wing flap) piece. I read all over media it (the new debris) was part of a door. But I checked with the Civil Aviation Authority, and people on the ground in Reunion, and it was just a domestic ladder."
Investigators are now scouring over every inch of the beach to look for more debris.
On Wednesday, the flaperon covered with barnacles was found on the French-ruled island, sparking speculation that it was from the Malaysia Airlines plane.
The flaperon is now in Toulouse for examination by French, American, Malaysian and Boeing investigators tomorrow.
The Government is also talking to aviation authorities from areas near Reunion Island, Liow said.
"This is to allow the experts to conduct more substantive analysis should there be more debris coming ashore," he said in a statement.
The Government sent a four-man team to the island, which is working with local authorities there now.
MH370 disappeared over the Indian Ocean on March 8 last year with 239 people on board.
Retracing flight MH370
-
Open gallery
Reuters photographer Edgar Su took the journey aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH318, which has replaced the flight number of missing passenger jet MH370
-
Open gallery
Passengers line up for a security screening before boarding. Su boarded the flight in Kuala Lumpur and documented the journey to Beijing.
-
Open gallery
A passenger in line for security screening.
-
Open gallery
Passengers during the security screening.
-
Open gallery
Malaysia Airlines flight MH318 on the tarmac. The missing jet’s flight number, MH370, has been retired as a mark of respect to the passengers and crew.
-
Open gallery
Passengers board flight MH318.
-
Open gallery
Passengers make their way to the jet.
-
Open gallery
Passengers take their seats aboard MH318.
-
Open gallery
A welcome message shortly after take off.
-
Open gallery
Passengers rest during the flight.
-
Open gallery
A cabin crew member serves snacks.
-
Open gallery
The cabin crew prepare to serve breakfast.
-
Open gallery
The plane's flight path as it cruises over the South China Sea towards Beijing.
-
Open gallery
Passengers rest during the flight.
-
Open gallery
MH318's flight path
-
Open gallery
A passenger uses her tablet as others sleep en-route to Beijing.