On Wednesday, U.S. officials told CNN that a Boeing 777 fragment was found off the coast of Mozambique and believe it could have come from the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that went missing on March 8, 2014. The aircraft had over 230 people on board, all of whom are also missing. The plane, which was enroute to Beijing, lost contact just a half hour after departing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. A couple of weeks after the flight went missing, satellites imageries of debris confirmed the plane indeed went down in the south Indian Ocean, the Malaysian prime minister announced on March 24.
This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
Over the last two years, investigators have surveyed almost 46,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean. According to CBS News, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau conducted much of the search on behalf of Malaysia. Both Australia and Malaysia divided the cost of the expansive search. Captain Simon Hardy, who participated in the search, ensured Australian media that the plane would be found, intact, in four to eight weeks. Two years have passed since then and authorities are still undecided as to whether the plane's pilot made a controlled landing or not. This fact would determine whether or not there is debris to be found. The fraction of stabilizer skin, which reads "NO STEP," found in Africa is one of just two pieces of the aircraft to be discovered thus far. In July, French investigators discovered similar rubble on Reunion Island, a region of France located in the Indian Ocean, and after much research, affirmed in September that it also came from the Malaysia airplane.
NBC News reported Wednesday that investigators from Australia, Malaysia, and the United States have seen pictures of the most recently discovered debris and believe there's a good chance it came from missing Flight MH370. Boeing's top engineers, who have also seen the photographs, have, instead, withheld comment until the conclusion is more certain. Even a year ago, on the anniversary of the plane's disappearance, pressure amounted from China, who had over 100 passengers on board, to intensify the search. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang expressed the immediacy of the situation as well as the effort to provide closure for friends and families of the passengers.
We have a responsibility to demand and urge the Malaysian side to step up search efforts, start an investigation as soon as possible and provide relevant information to China correctly and in a timely manner.
Since forensic investigation of the Reunion Island piece took over a month to complete, it's unlikely that an official statement will be announced immediately.
