SYDNEY -- Investigators leading the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, missing for more than a year, are trying to determine whether debris that washed up on Reunion island off Madagascar belongs to the missing aircraft.
French officials have forwarded photographs of what looks like part of an aircraft wing, Joe Hattley, a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said by telephone early today.
Based on photos, the wreckage appears to have come from a Boeing 777, the same model as the missing aircraft, although it isn't yet clear if it's from the plane, a person familiar with the investigation said.
"It may be able to tell us something, depending on the type of damage," Hattley said. "It's possible that something that went into the ocean off the Western Australian coast has now drifted to the Western Indian Ocean. It's been 16 months."
No trace of the plane has been found since it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 people on board, resulting in the world's longest search for a commercial jet. Ships using deep-sea sonar have scanned tens of thousands of square miles of the Indian Ocean seabed.
Malaysia Airlines said it was working with relevant authorities to confirm the matter. The part is in the custody of police on Reunion, an overseas province of France, according to the Australian safety bureau.
"At the moment, it would be too premature for the airline to speculate the origin of the flaperon," Malaysia Airlines said by email, referring to a type of control surface for aircraft wings.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at the United Nations in New York that his country was sending a team to Reunion to verify the wreckage.
Boeing said in a statement it remains committed to supporting the investigation and the search for the aircraft. The company continues to share its technical expertise and analysis, it said.
A Section on 07/30/2015