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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Debris Found ‘Likely’ From Missing Plane

By Effie Orfanides
Published on: 07:51 PST, Mar 24, 2016

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished from the skies in March 2014. The mystery behind the plane’s disappearance might be one step closer to being solved now that debris found in Mozambique has been analyzed. According to the New York Times, authorities say that it is “highly likely” that the pieces of debris belonged to the Boeing 777.

“The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370,” said Australian infrastructure and transport minister, Darren Chester.

The Commissioner of Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau agreed with Chester, saying that authorities are “very certain” that the debris is from the missing plane.

“He said drift modeling by Australian scientists had indicated that ocean currents were likely to carry debris from the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed, to the coasts of Mozambique and Réunion Island. In July, beachcombers found a wing part known as a flaperon on Réunion, a French island east of Madagascar; it was later confirmed to be from Flight 370.”

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was traveling from Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 8, 2014, when it disappeared from radar. Despite intense search and rescue efforts, the Boeing 777 could not be found. Although there has been debris located on various shores, the plane’s fuselage has yet to turn up. Despite the lingering hopes of the families of those aboard Flight 370, all 239 passengers are presumed dead.

According to CNN, one other piece of debris was found off the coast of the western Indian Ocean island of Reunion in July 2015. It was the first reported piece of debris that was consistent with that of a Boeing 777.

“The dimensions, materials and construction of both parts conform to the specifications of a Boeing 777 aircraft. As such, both parts are consistent with panels from a MAS Boeing 777 aircraft, and almost certainly are from MH370,” read a statement from Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai.

Families of passengers on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have reacted to the news of the confirmed debris. Some are looking at the findings as proof that the plane did go down and that it is somewhere in the ocean. Others, however, won’t be able to get closure until the fuselage and the bodies (if any are recovered intact) of their loved ones are found. Many would like to have funeral services and be able to close that chapter of their lives.

“Personally, I think all this information is useful for us in finding the plane,” said Steve Wang, whose mother was on the plane.

“Finding the plane debris isn’t equal to finding our loved ones. If they can find debris in as far away as Africa, the authorities should reassess their search area and their hypothesis,” said Jiang Hui, whose mother was also on board.

Thousands of people have been involved in search efforts trying to locate the plane or evidence of it over the past two years. The oceans in the area have been combed through a few times, but the fuselage could really be anywhere at this point. The drifting debris is a sign that the plane did crash into the ocean, however, which is what has been suspected from the very beginning. Unless, of course, you believe in any of those Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 conspiracy theories.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, there have been a number of different theories passed around the internet since this tragedy occured.

[Image via Aero Icarus | Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and Resized | CC BY-SA 2.0]

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