Malaysia said Thursday plane wreckage found on a remote Indian Ocean island was from ill-fated flight MH370 and more debris had washed ashore, raising hopes that one of aviation’s great mysteries could be solved.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a two-metre-long wing part that was discovered on French Reunion Island last week was definitely from the plane, the first proof that it met a tragic end in the Indian Ocean 17 months ago.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370,” Najib said in an early-morning briefing after tests in France.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777′s disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The disappearance created one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation, sparking a colossal hunt in the Indian Ocean based on satellite data which hinted at MH370′s possible path.
French prosecutors involved in determining if the wing part was from MH370 used more cautious language than Najib, saying only there was a “very high probability” it came from the plane.
But Malaysia Airlines hailed the news as a “major breakthrough” that it said would hopefully help to find the plane somewhere in the depths of the Indian Ocean.
Australian authorities, who have led a multinational search for the plane, also expressed renewed confidence that the frustrating search for the body of the plane in the Indian Ocean would succeed.
“It suggests that for the first time we might be a little bit closer to solving this baffling mystery,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
On Thursday afternoon, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong then revealed more debris suspected to be from a plane — including window panes and seat cushions — had been found on Reunion island. However, he said, they had not yet been verified as coming from MH370.
Anguished family members have awaited news with a mix of anticipation and dread, and some welcomed the first concrete proof of the plane’s fate.
Sara Weeks, the sister of MH370 passenger Paul Weeks of New Zealand, said the confirmation ended “a week of turmoil”.
“We’ve had 17 months of nothing… so actually finding something is the first step towards pinpointing where it is,” she told the Fairfax New Zealand media group.
