JACC confirms flaperon is from MH370

KUALA LUMPUR: Finally, the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) has confirmed that the flaperon found on Reunion Island is from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.

"Subsequent examination has indicated that in all probability, the wreckage, a wing part known as a flaperon, was from MH370," said JACC in a statement on Wednesday.

On July 29, a piece of the aeroplane wing was discovered on the Reunion Island coast and was sent to France for further analysis.

On Aug 6, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed that part of the flaperon found on the island was part of the aircraft.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, last year after its departure from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers on board.

On the search operation development, JACC said Fugro Discovery, the search and recovery vessel, had arrived in the Indian Ocean and had commenced operations earlier Wednesday.

"Fugro Equator arrived in Fremantle, Australia this morning for routine re-supply and will depart for the search area Thursday," it said.

Meanwhile, in the Maldives, the Maldivian minister attached to the president’s office, Mohamed Shareef was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying that three Malaysian aviation experts had began examining debris found in the island on Wednesday to determine if it could be wreckage from MH370.

Mohamed Shareef said the three, led by Malaysian Civil Aviation Department director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman had met with local authorities and inspected the debris after arriving on the island on Tuesday night.

Shareef told the news agency in a phone conversation that the experts would return to Malaysia later Wednesday before reporting to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai. – Bernama