And those differing approaches created confusion and anguish Thursday for the families of those aboard the ill-fated flight. “Our records show that it’s the same as MH370”.
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The hunt for potential parts linked to missing flight MH370, comes as Malaysian authorities confirmed that a wing section found on the French Indian Ocean island was part of the Boeing 777 that mysteriously vanished 17 months ago.
Writing on the Chinese social media site Weibo, families of Flight 370 passengers and crew said the Malaysian announcement did not resolve their questions about the airliner. Chinese relatives of passengers aboard MH370 marched to Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing on Friday, some demanding to be taken to Reunion.
China’s foreign ministry said Malaysia must keep investigating the crash and “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests” of relatives.
“We also found other debris such as window panes, aluminium foil and seat cushions”, he said, adding the items had been sent to France for testing. “I can not confirm that it’s from MH370”. It made an abrupt U-turn an hour into the flight, lost contact with air traffic controllers, and disappeared.
“We want the authorities to expand the search area closer to Africa where the debris was found to look for the main body and the passengers”, he told AFP.
Distraught relatives of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 passengers scuffled with police, wailed and crawled along the sidewalk Friday during an angry protest outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing.
However, Malaysia’s request to extend the original search area in the southern Indian Ocean is likely to meet with resistance in Australia, which has largely funded the search effort and is opposed to expanding expensive underwater searches without strong evidence.
Searches around Reunion Island will be conducted by French authorities in a bid to find debris from doomed flight MH370, it has emerged. “Of course there is still some i’s not dotted and t’s not crossed”.
The BBC’s corespondent in Paris, Hugh Schofield, said that “Mackowiak’s wording does not suggest he has doubts, but that he is exercising legal caution”.
A woman in New Zealand whose brother was on the plane asks, “Why not wait and get everybody on the same page so the families don’t need to go through this turmoil?” “Only that, for us, will be full closure”, said Malaysian Jacquita Gonzales, wife of MH370 chief steward Patrick Gomes. The plane has been missing since March 8, 2014.
John Goglia, a former board member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told Reuters much could be learned from examining the metal and how the brackets that held the flaperon in place had broken.
However, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which helped in the search for the missing Boeing 777, says there was no indication of any more airline debris being located.
That search, which began in October, has covered nearly half that area without finding any clues.
This was highlighted in New York Times in a scathing article today titled: “Malaysia’s declarations on Flight 370 and plane debris further dent its credibility”.
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“Let’s hope we can turn something up”, he said.
