Malaysia: 2 More Pieces 'Almost Certainly' from Flight 370
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Two new pieces of debris found in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius are “almost certainly” from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysia’s transport minister said Thursday.
The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.
Five pieces of debris from the aircraft have now been found in different locations around the Indian Ocean.
Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said a piece of engine cowling with a partial Rolls-Royce logo and a piece of interior panel from an aircraft cabin — the first interior part found — were probably from the plane, The USA Today reported.
Liow said an international team of experts in Australia who examined the new pieces concluded that they were both consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.
"As such, the team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370," Liow said in a statement.
"This complements the results from the previous examination in March during which the team confirmed that the Mozambique debris were almost certainly from MH370," he added.
Investigators confirmed that two pieces of debris found about 135 miles apart on the coast of Mozambique, southeast Africa, were almost certainly from the plane. A wing part found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean last year was also confirmed to be from the missing aircraft.
The plane is suspected to have crashed about 1,000 miles west of Australia. An extensive search has failed to find its fuselage or black boxes.
