Malaysian premier: Plane debris to be sent to France

PARIS — A sea-crusted wing part washed up on an island in the western Indian Ocean may be the first trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 since it vanished nearly a year and a half ago, and a tragic but finally solid clue to one of aviation's most perplexing and expensive mysteries.

Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday that the debris found on the French island of Reunion will be sent to the French city of Toulouse for investigation.

"We have had many false alarms before, but for the sake of the families who have lost loved ones, and suffered such heartbreaking uncertainty, I pray that we will find out the truth so that they may have closure and peace," Najib Razak said on his personal blog.

Najib promised to make any new information public quickly.

Air safety investigators — one of them a Boeing investigator — have identified the component as a "flaperon" from the trailing edge of a Boeing 777 wing, a U.S. official said. Flight 370, which disappeared March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, is the only 777 known to be missing.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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