Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said investigators on the French-governed island of Reunion had collected more aircraft debris, including a plane window and aluminium foil, but there was no confirmation they also belonged to the missing plane.
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Speaking to the Nine Network on Friday, Julie Bishop said this week’s news of debris washing up on Reunion Island off the east coast of Africa pointed to the wreckage being somewhere within the 120,000 square kilometer search area off the west coast of Australia.
“France is being cautious about it, but Malaysia is desperate to put an end to this case and run away from all responsibilities”, she said.
And those differing approaches created confusion and anguish Thursday for the families of those aboard the ill-fated flight.
Patrick Smith, airline pilot and author of the book “Cockpit Confidential”, told Business Insider that it’s possible that the debris could hint at the manner of the crash – but it would still just be speculation at this point.
Flaperons are control surfaces on the wing of an aircraft that help to stabilise the plane during low-speed flying during take-off and landing.
“But we’re looking at one tiny, badly damaged piece from the jetliner”.
“We believe it is important for worldwide civil aviation, generally, for us to determine what happened for this flight, as well as provide the opportunity for families of those on board to have some closure”, she said.
Investigators have not yet conclusively identified this debris as having come from the plane.
“This is indeed a major breakthrough for us in resolving the disappearance of MH370”. “John Goglia, a former board member of the US 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”.
Australia’s credibility as search leader did indeed suffer a battering thanks to a series of false leads that were oversold by its government, which was eager to boast success after the hunt shifted to its search and rescue zone in the Indian Ocean after the plane disappeared.
“I met with the Chinese foreign minister and we discussed the search effort for MH370“, Bishop said.
“There are still so many questions left unanswered”, he said.
The plane wreckage found on the Reunion Island will be transferred to Toulouse where it will be analyzed by the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA), according to local media reports.
“The cut of that piece of wing was very tidy and clear”. “Investigators can sometimes tell if a cabin fire or explosion occurred prior to impact, for instance”.
“We are delighted that the debris ended up in France”, Wattrelos told BFM television in France on Thursday.
He said investigators had “conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370″.
The idea of foul play and sabotage has come up before.
The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
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“Why the hell do you have one confirm and one not?” asked Sara Weeks of Christchurch, New Zealand, whose brother Paul Weeks was aboard the flight. The next month, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said officials were confident that a series of underwater signals search crews had detected were coming from the plane’s coveted black box data recorders.
