Latest Reunion Island debris 'unlikely' from MH370

Canberra, Mar 16: Australian officials leading the search into missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Wednesday expressed doubt that the debris found recently on the Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is part of the missing plane.

The Australian government's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said the debris, a 40cm x 40cm fragment of hard material, was unlikely to be from MH370 or any other plane, Xinhua reported.

"Officials from Malaysia are continuing discussions with the French authorities about debris found on La Reunion. Current advice is that it is unlikely to be from an aircraft," the JACC statement said. The Reunion Island is an overseas French territory.

The most recent piece of debris was discovered almost two weeks ago on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean by the same man who last year found a wing fragment, a flaperon that was proven to be MH370 wreckage.

Johny Begue found the square-shaped grey item with a blue border in nearly the same spot. But he said that unlike the flaperon there were no barnacles attached to the latest item.

The Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared with 239 people aboard on March 8, 2014.

In slightly more positive news for the families of those missing, the JACC statement said two other items found recently in Mozambique on the Africa's east coast were being brought to Australia for testing by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

"A South African citizen reported finding debris, suspected to be from an aircraft, in Mozambique," the JACC statement said on Wednesday.

"Arrangements are being made for the debris to be transported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau laboratories in Canberra, along with the debris that was found in Mozambique by an American citizen last week."

"Both items will be examined by investigators from Australia and Malaysia, as well as specialists from Boeing, to confirm if they come from an aircraft and establish their origin."

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is leading search operations for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia.

More than 90,000 square km of the seafloor in the southern Indian Ocean have been searched so far. The entire search area is roughly 120,000 square km in size.

IANS