MH370: Debris found in Mozambique 'almost certainly' from missing plane, investigators say

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed the wreckage is from MH370 after months of investigation

Doug Bolton
Wednesday 20 April 2016 09:42 BST
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One of the pieces of debris confirmed to come from MH370 by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau
One of the pieces of debris confirmed to come from MH370 by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Two pieces of plane debris found on the coast of Mozambique are "almost certainly" from missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, investigators have said.

The two pieces of wreckage, one found on 27 December 2015 and the other found 135 miles away on 27 February this year, were confirmed to have come from the missing plane after a long investigation from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

An ATSB report said: "Part No. 1 was a flap track fairing segment, almost certainly from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, registered 9M-MRO."

One of the pieces of debris found on a beach in Mozambique

Investigators were similarly sure the second part was a "horizontal stabiliser panel segment" from the missing plane.

Two more pieces of debris, including a suspected engine part and piece of cabin, have arrived in Canberra for further testing.

There is only one missing Boeing 777 in the world, so if a piece of wreckage is found which comes from this type of aircraft, investigators can be confident it is a piece of MH370.

However, the ATSB was also able to match serial numbers found on the wreckage with parts known to have belonged to the plane.

The discovery of these remnants, made by a South African holidaymaker and an American blogger, came after a flaperon from the missing plane's wing was found on the shores of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean.

The wreckage appeared to have ended up on the island after floating thousands of miles through the ocean from the plane's suspected crash site.

227 passengers and 12 crew members are presumed to have died following the plane's disappearance on 8 March 2014.

The incident sparked a huge multinational search effort, but nothing was found until the flaperon washed up on Réunion five months later.

Searches and investigations of debris are still ongoing. The plane's transponder, which communicates with ground control, was switched off before it veered off course, but the true reasons for the disappearance are still not known.

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