Mozambique to discuss plane debris with Malaysia

Maputo (Mozambique), March 5: Mozambique authorities said they will discuss the investigation of the plane debris found off the coutry's coast with Malaysia on Saturday.

Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared on March 8, 2014.

Joao de Abreu, the director of Mozambique's National Civil Aviation Institute, said on Friday that his institute would like to hand over the debris to the expert team from Malaysia, Xinhua news agency reported.

As to whether the Mozambican government would launch a search for more possible debris afterwards, Abreu said it would be considered after the identification results.

The debris, with a honeycomb structure inside, was found by Mozambican fishermen accompanying an American tourist on a sandbank near Vilanculos town in Mozambique.

The state news agency AIM on Friday quoted Abreu as saying any claim that the debris came from Flight MH370 was "premature" and "speculative".

During an interview with a local TV, Abreu expressed doubts that the wreckage could possibly come from the missing Malaysian Boeing 777, citing that the object looked too clean to have been in the ocean for the past two years, AIM quoted.

However, he said "no aircraft which has overflown Mozambican airspace has reported losing a panel of this nature."

Currently, the institute has received two contacts who want to investigate the piece, one from Australia, and the other from Malaysia.

"We are open to anyone who wants to collaborate to find out what type of plane this belongs to," said Abreu.

The MH370, with 239 lives on board, most of them Chinese, is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

If confirmed, the object found in Mozambique would be the second piece of debris discovered from the MH370. Last year, a piece of the plane's wing was found on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean.

IANS