A further two pieces of aircraft debris that washed up on South Africa and Mauritius have been confirmed as "almost certainly" from missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, both the Malaysian Transport Ministry and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said on Thursday.

In the latest update of examination of the debris, investigators said the two pieces, found on March 22 and March 30 this year, are the latest thought to be from the missing flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014.

It follows the confirmation last month from Malaysian and Australian authorities that two other pieces of debris (called Part No. 1 and Part No. 2) found in Mozambique were from the missing airliner, after debris washed up on La Reunion Island last year.

One of the latest parts, labeled Part No. 3, was from a Rolls-Royce engine cowling, the same used by Malaysia Airlines on their Boeing 777 jets and the same type which went missing.

Investigators said the stenciling of the Rolls-Royce logo on the South African-found debris was consistent with the Malaysia Airlines variant.

Despite confirming the piece is from a Boeing 777 and "almost certainly" from MH370, investigators were unable to work out whether the stenciling was from the left or right engine.

Part No. 4, found on Rodrigues Island in Mauritius, was a decorative laminate as part of an interior panel from the main cabin, and was determined to have come off the front, right-hand door of the Malaysia Airlines aircraft.

In the latest update of their debris examination, the ATSB said both parts were from the missing jetliner which carried 239 passengers and crew.

"Part No. 3 was a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 engine cowling segment, almost certainly from the aircraft registered 9M-MRO," the report detailed on Thursday.

"Part No. 4 was a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 panel segment from the main cabin, associated with the Door R1 closet, almost certainly from the aircraft registered 9M-MRO."

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China continue to be wholly committed to the search for MH370. More than 105,000 square-km of the 120,000 square -km search area have been completed, he added.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals.

A joint search effort has not yet found the main body of the aircraft in the south Indian Ocean, where it has presumably ended its journey.

Related

• Debris found in Mozambique definitively from MH370
• Possible MH370 debris found in S. Africa examined in Australia

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)