Image Source: Irish Times
In the latest developments in the case of one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries ever, the nation of Malaysia is haplessly asking other Indian Ocean islands near the French-owned Reunion to be on the lookout for more possible debris after a wing part suspected of being from missing flight MH370 came ashore.
The Malaysia Airlines plane, MH 370 that had 239 people aboard, vanished in March 2014. The Boeing-777 was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The wing part that had been discovered on Wednesday has been taken to mainland France for further tests. But other items found at the weekend were not from an aircraft.
A team of police and police photographers was called and the object was taken away. However, Malaysia’s Director General of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told to the Associated Press: “I read all over media [the new debris] was part of a door. But I checked with the Civil Aviation Authority, and people on the ground in Reunion, and it was just a domestic ladder.”
The Agence France-Presse news agency stated that on Sunday that one of its photographers had also seen a mangled piece of metal inscribed with two Chinese characters, attached to a leather-covered handle and measuring 100 sq cm being placed into an iron case and carried away. But some social media commentators suggested it might be a kettle.
A source close to the inquiry told AFP that “no object or debris likely to come from a plane” had been submitted as evidence on Sunday. It has been suggested that one piece taken away for examination is a kettle
An official spokesman in the town of St Andre, where the wing part was found, said that while people were more vigilant, “they are going to think any metallic object they find on the beach is from flight MH370”.
“But there are objects all along the coast, the ocean continually throws them up,” Jean-Yves Sambiman told to the media.
Malaysia’s transport ministry says it now wants to expand the search for more debris around Reunion. Malaysia will ask regions nearby to alert it if they find any debris that could be from MH370. Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai urged the regions to allow experts “to conduct more substantive analysis should there be more debris coming on to land”. But he also urged people to allow the inquiry to run its course “for the sake of the next of kin of the loved ones of MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and who have suffered much over this time”.
An Australian-led search effort for the plane has so far focused on a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean about 4,000km (2,500 miles) to the east of Reunion. So far, no physical trace of the aircraft had been found.
