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Suspected MH370 Debris Found By Hotel Guests In Mauritius And Could Be First From Interior

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 01:40 PST, Apr 3, 2016

Another piece of debris suspected to belong to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has washed ashore on another island in the Indian Ocean.

The suspected MH370 debris turned up on the shores of Mauritius. That isn’t far from Reunion, where another piece of the plane was found last year.

According to Reuters, the Malaysian government is working with Mauritius to obtain the suspected debris and examine for confirmation that it’s from MH370. Australia, which is leading the search for the missing aircraft, will spearhead this investigation.

Few details about the suspected debris were provided to the media. The Transport Minister said it was an “item of interest,” but “until (it) has been examined by experts, it is not possible to ascertain its origin.”

The suspected MH370 fragment was found last week by a hotel guest at the Mourouk Ebony Hotel. The hotel is located on Rodrigues Island, which is about 350 miles east of the main island, BBC reported.

Hotel owner William Auguste confirmed that guests spotted the piece, and he caught a glimpse of it, as well.

“For sure it looked like part of an aeroplane — it looks like it’s from the inside part of it. There was wallpaper inside of the plane, you can see this design and part of it is still there.”

That detail could be critical. The possibility that Auguste spotted some sort of “design” on the suspected MH370 debris could mean that it’s the first piece from the interior found so far.

The wreckage was taken to police.

The discovery of another suspected piece of wreckage from MH370 comes not long after a piece of washed ashore in Mozambique. Officials confirmed that it was part of the missing plane only two weeks ago.

Australian officials last month confirmed that the two pieces of debris were “almost certainly from MH370.” United Press International reported at the time that they were examined by Geoscience Australia and Australian Transport Safety Bureau facilities in Canberra by international experts from the investigation team.

They found that the size, materials, and construction of both pieces were consistent with the specifications of a Boeing 777. Paint and stenciling matched up with those used by Malaysia Airlines.

The piece found on Reunion Island was a wing flap.

The locations that suspected MH370 wreckage has been spotted is consistent with where investigators believe the missing plane went down. They’ve predicted that the parts of the plane not on the ocean floor would be carried by ocean currents to the east coast of Africa.

According to the Associated Press, Australia is leading the search, which is focused on the Indian Ocean 3,700 miles east of Mozambique and 2,500 miles east of Mauritius. The search will end in July. If the aircraft is found, Australia, Malaysia, and China will collaborate on recovery, including securing evidence.

Last month, the families of the flight’s vanished passengers recognized the two-year anniversary of the disappearance, as the Inquisitr previously reported.

MH370 left Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing shortly after midnight. About 26 minutes later, an automated data transmission was sent out — MH370’s last — and then the system was shut off. At 1:19 a.m., someone offered this final, mysterious message: “Goodnight, Malaysian three seven zero.” Then MH370’s transponder, which communicates location information, was switched off. These two actions tell investigators that someone was still alive in the cockpit of MH370 at the time.

Four minutes after the transponder was shut off, radar data showed the plane leaving its planned route, flying back over Malaysia, then flying north along the Malacca Strait. Satellite data showed that MH370 kept flying another six hours until MH370 finally disappeared over the Indian Ocean.

[Image via Kirill Umrikhin/Shutterstock]

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