“Wreckage Conclusively Confirmed as From MH370”

Flight’s technical specifications matches Réunion debris

Debris found on the island of Réunion matches the technical specifications of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Paris deputy prosecutor Serge Mackowiak said on Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Paris, Mackowiak stops short of confirming the debris comes from the missing flight but says there is a very strong presumption that the flaperon does belong to it

Important Clues
Detailed examination in the coming days can yield information on the final moments of the plane by showing how the piece detached itself from the wing, or whether it showed traces of an explosion or fire.
Scientists have also pointed to the barnacles attached to the flaperon, saying these could give an idea of how long the fragment had been in the water, and perhaps where it had been.

Debris found on a remote island a week ago is from flight MH370, Malaysia’s prime minister said , confirming that the plane which mysteriously disappeared 17 months ago met a tragic end in the Indian Ocean. “Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370,” Najib Razak told reporters. French prosecutors used more cautious language, saying only there was a “very high probability” the wreckage came from MH370.
The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The disappearance created one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation, sparking a colossal, multinational hunt for the aircraft and a myriad of conspiracy theories about its fate. Last week’s discovery of a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion provided the first glimmer of hope for relatives desperate for answers.
It was examined on Wednesday at a military lab outside the French city of Toulouse in the presence of Malaysian and Australian experts, Boeing employees and representatives from China — the country that lost the most passengers in the disaster. “We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” Najib told media.

Malaysia Airlines hailed the news as a “major breakthrough”. “We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery,” said the airline in a statement. Australian authorities, who have been leading the massive search for the plane, on Thursday also expressed optimism that the main part of the plane would be found.
“We’re confident that we’re looking in the right area and we’ll find the aircraft there,” Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told media.
Some families said the confirmation was not enough to lay the matter to rest, as they reiterated demands to know why the plane went off course, flying for hours after its communications and tracking systems were shut down.