A piece of wreckage that washed up on an island in the Indian Ocean is from a Boeing 777, the same type of aircraft as MH370, which vanished last year, Malaysian authorities said Sunday.
French, U.S. and Malaysian authorities identified the flaperon as from that particular type of Boeing, the latter’s transportation ministry said.
Experts will determine whether the debris, which was found on the French territory of Reunion Island last week, is linked to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
MH370 disappeared after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for Beijing on March 8 last year. It had 239 people on board.
Work to conclusively identify the piece of wreckage will begin Wednesday, French prosecutors said. The debris was transferred to Toulouse, France, on Saturday for analysis.
In addition to local officials, experts from Boeing, Malaysia, China and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will join the investigation in France.
Key questions
If confirmed to be part of MH370, the wreckage would be the first bit of physical evidence recovered from that plane. It could help resolve key questions on the fate of the aircraft, which vanished last year with 239 people on board.
To experts, it looks a lot like a flaperon, part of an aircraft’s wing that helps control its speed and banking angle.
Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the underwater search for the plane, said he is “increasingly confident but not yet certain” that the debris is from MH370.
More debris
Teams in Reunion are scouring the stretch of coast where the debris was found.
New debris washed ashore Thursday and appeared to resemble remnants of a suitcase, local police officials said.
The French General Directorate of Armament, which is analyzing the debris, has sophisticated equipment and expertise to quickly identify the plane the debris belongs to and what happened to it, a source told CNN.
That analysis will begin Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Malaysia, which is responsible for the overall investigation into MH370’s disappearance, is sending teams of aviation officials to Toulouse, where investigators will analyze it.
Authorities have so far been unable to establish why Flight 370 flew sharply off its route from Kuala Lumpur and disappeared.
A preliminary assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies suggested someone in the cockpit deliberately caused the aircraft’s movements before the Malaysian airliner disappeared.