Debris found in Mauritius in May confirmed to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

INVESTIGATORS into the disappearance of flight MH370 have confirmed that a wing piece found in Mauritius was definitely part of the Malaysia Airlines plane.

The piece of debris found in Mauritius that has now ben conclusively identified as belonging to flight MH370. Picture: AFP / ATSB

A PIECE of an aircraft wing found on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has been identified as belonging to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysian and Australian officials said on Friday.

The piece of wing flap was found in May and subsequently analysed by experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane in a remote stretch of ocean off Australia’s west coast.

Investigators used a part number found on the debris to link it to the missing Boeing 777, the agency said in a statement.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also confirmed the identification.

Several pieces of wreckage from the plane have washed ashore on coastlines around the Indian Ocean since the aircraft vanished with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

So far, none of the debris has helped narrow down the precise location of the main underwater wreckage. Investigators need to find that in order to locate the flight data recorders that could help explain why the plane veered so far off-course.

Transport Minister Darren Chester.

Search crews are expected to finish their sweep of the 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) search zone in the Indian Ocean by December.

Oceanographers have been analysing wing flaps found in Tanzania and on the French island of La Reunion to see if they might be able to identify a potential new search area through drift modelling. But any new search would require more funding; Malaysia, Australia and China said in July that the $160 million hunt will be suspended once the current stretch of ocean is exhausted unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.

Transport Minister Darren Chester said this was the third piece of debris conclusively linked to MH370 and it confirmed the focus of the search in the southern Indian Ocean.

But it provided no information that could be used to determine the aircraft’s location, he said.

At a meeting in July, ministers from Australia, Malaysia and China agreed to suspend the search if the aircraft was not found in the current search area and if no new, credible information emerged indicating its location.

“The search for MH370 is continuing and we remain hopeful the aircraft will be located,” he said in a statement.