Australia, France to verify MH370 debris

Kuala Lumpur, March 14: Suspected debris from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 discovered in Mozambique and French overseas Reunion Island will be sent to Australia and France for verification, Malaysian officials said on Monday.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai called for patience for experts to carry out the verification process, Xinhua news agency reported.

"It is important to re-emphasise that at this juncture, it has not been confirmed whether any of the recovered debris came from MH370," Liow said.

A piece of debris suspected to be part of the horizontal stabiliser that washed ashore in Mozambique was sent to Malaysia for preliminary analysis.

Another piece of debris was reported to be found in Mozambique by a South African holiday maker and was later sent to Malaysia.

Malaysian authorities have been in contact with South Africa and an expert team will be dispatched to take the custody of the debris, Liow said.

Both pieces will be sent to Australia for further examination and verification by an international investigation team.

On the suspected debris found in the French overseas Reunion Island, where a wing part called flaperon was discovered last year, Liow said, the piece would be transferred to France to be verified by the authorities.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them Chinese.

The flaperon has so far remained the only debris confirmed to be from the plane.

IANS