Further analysis of flaperon could yield vital information on MH370: Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia today asked experts to further analyse and provide more details to teams probing the missing flight MH370, a day after France said a wing part found on a remote Indian Ocean island was part of the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished over a year ago with 239 people aboard.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said experts should further analyse and provide the MH370 search team with more details following the formal identification by France of the flaperon found on Reunion Island on July 29.

He said the flaperon could be analysed to gather more information such as the whereabouts of other pieces of wreckage.

"Such information will assist the Search Strategy Working Group which is conducting the search, to move forward," he told reporters.

A flaperon is a part of the wing used to manage the lift and control the roll of an aircraft.

Liow expressed his thanks to French authorities who had confirmed the findings of the Malaysian team in Toulouse about a month ago.

"It has also been a trying time for the family members and the loved ones of the MH370 victims and the nation is with you," he said, assuring that the government, together with China and Australia, is committed to continuing with the search mission.

Yesterday, French prosecutors confirmed that the flaperon found on Reunion island in July was from flight MH370, a month after tests on the wing part began.

"It is possible today to say with certainty that the flaperon discovered on Reunion island on July 29 came from flight MH370," Paris prosecutors said in a statement, confirming Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's comments last month.

The Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8 last year while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people, including five Indians, on board.

The disappearance turned into one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation, leading to a massive multi-nation search led by Australia in the southern Indian Ocean. However, no breakthrough has been achieved so far.

Then at the end of July, a man on Reunion island -- a French overseas territory -- found the two-meter-long wing part, which was flown to France for tests by aviation experts, including from Boeing.