Reunion Island debris are from Boeing 777, says Malaysian official

The debris discovered on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is part of a Boeing 777, local media quoted Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister, Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, as saying on Fridaey.

The media quoted Aziz as saying that the flaperon washed ashore on a beach was part of a Boeing 777 aircraft.

However, Aziz said it did not mean the debris was from the missing flight MH370.

“Yes, MAS (Malaysia Airlines) told me that the part number of that flaperon is a Boeing 777, but it does not mean that it belongs to MH370.

“It confirms that the flaperon belongs to a (Boeing) 777,’’ he said.

Officials from Malaysia’s transport ministry said the piece of plane debris has led investigators a step closer to solving the mystery of MH370s.

Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Lai, said that Malaysia had sent a team to Reunion Island to determine whether the debris part came from the missing MH370 flight.

All 239 passengers on board of the MH370 are presumed dead after it went missing not long after takeoff on March 8, 2014.

The physical search for the jet is halfway through and covers more than 120,000 square kilometers of sea bed.

(Xinhua/NAN)