MALAYSIA-AIRLINES/TRANSPORT MINISTER Malaysian teams search Reunion Island for more plane debris- transport minister

Record ID: 145499

  • Title: MALAYSIA-AIRLINES/TRANSPORT MINISTER Malaysian teams search Reunion Island for more plane debris- transport minister
  • Date: 1st August 2015
  • Summary: SEPANG, SELANGOR STATE, MALAYSIA (AUGUST 1, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF KUALA LUMPUR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KLI) VIP ARRIVAL LOUNGE VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF ARRIVAL LOUNGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER, LIOW TIONG LAI SAYING: "Less speculation on this, we wait for the result of the verification whether it belongs to triple seven or it bel
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malaysia
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE0OOTVFFMJKQE762KAVALJEFU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai on Saturday (August 1) said he would wait for checks on a piece of plane debris found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion that is thought to belong to the vanished Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.
    Discovery of the debris, which may finally confirm the plane crashed into the sea after veering off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew, could help end 16 months of lingering uncertainty for relatives.
    Liow spoke to reporters shortly after his arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
    "Less speculation on this, we wait for the result of the verification whether it belongs to triple seven or it belong to MH370. I think that yet to be verified. Although from the pictures they said that it looks like the flaperon from the triple seven, Boeing triple seven, that's only from the view but it didn't go into the detail until the technical detail verification," Liow said.
    The piece of debris which was flown to France on Friday (July 31) may have stayed afloat because of air pockets in the structure. It was due to arrive in Paris on Saturday when it will be delivered to a military unit near the south-western city of Toulouse specialising in analysis of aviation wreckage.
    The Toulouse laboratory, which employs some 600 staff, is expected to verify the serial number of the wing-flap recovered in Reunion before conducting further tests to try to establish how it came to be separated from the rest of the plane.
    Experts hope the barnacled 2 - 2.5 metres (6.5 - 8 feet) long wing surface known as a flaperon and a fragment of luggage could yield forensic clues to the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished without trace in March 2014.
    Liow also confirmed a search team had been deployed to Reunion Island.
    "So I think. We've sent two teams. One team to France and another team to the Reunion Island to look for more debris and more wreckage at the island," he said.
    Reunion is roughly 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the broad expanse of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where search efforts have focused, but officials and experts said currents could have carried wreckage that way, thousands of kilometres from where the plane is thought to have crashed.
    MH370 is believed to be the only 777 to have crashed south of the equator since the model came into service 20 years ago.
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