Are We Closer to Finding Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370?
A piece of debris that washed up on a small French island in the Indian Ocean suggests that the cold trail for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing in 2014, may be heating up again.
The New York Times reports that aviation experts are studying the piece of wreckage, which is believed to belong to a Boeing 777, the same type as MH370, after it washed up on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the African nation of Madagascar.
The debris is thought to be part of a wing that has been in the ocean for quite a while and measures 9 feet long and 3 feet wide. The French authorities are choosing a lab to send the debris to for evaluation and the process is expected to take several weeks.
The piece of wreckage was found by volunteers who were cleaning the beach and is reported to have had crustaceans growing on it. Experts interviewed by the Times speculated that the debris is a part of the wing known as a flaperon, which is used to change the direction of an aircraft in flight.
The same experts said knowing whether the wreckage came from MH370 is impossible from a photo, but that serial numbers on the components that were used to craft the wing would ultimately reveal whether or not it belong to MH370.
Malaysia says that it has already sent investigators from its transportation ministry to Reunion in an effort to help speed along the investigation and help find out more information.
Until the serial numbers and further investigation is completed, it will be impossible to determine if the wreckage is from MH370, as the world's oceans are littered with so much waste and debris the Pacific Ocean has a floating island of trash the size of Texas.
