Malaysian investigators in SA for MH370 debris

A man stands in front of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mural painting at Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Picture: EPA/ Fazry Ismail

A man stands in front of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mural painting at Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Picture: EPA/ Fazry Ismail

Published Apr 3, 2016

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Durban - The Malaysian government has sent a team to South Africa and Mozambique in a race against time to gather any further plane debris that washes ashore, as crash investigators comb the sea-bed off Australia in search of missing Malaysian flight MH370.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that discussions could lead to a co-ordinated beach-combing exercise along South African shores in what has become the most extensive and costly airline disaster probe the world has ever seen.

Vital clues on how and where the plane went down are locked in strange and sometimes unrecognisable pieces of debris that have so far come ashore on the southern African coastline.

Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared after it deviated from its flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in China on March 8, 2014.

“We have sent our team to Mozambique and South Africa to discuss the complete programme to search for debris on the sea shores of these two countries,” Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told journalists this week.

He was speaking at the Kuala Lumpur headquarters of the Malaysia Chinese Association. The majority of the passengers were Chinese.

Yesterday, the South African Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that the ever increasing number of pieces being found along the east coast of Africa led to Malaysian authorities requesting further help in collecting and handing over aircraft debris.

“The number of possible aircraft debris spotted on South African shorelines has increased in recent weeks.

“This has prompted Malaysia to request assistance from South Africa in combing the country’s coastline for possible aircraft debris. South Africa will provide the necessary assistance, the details of which are yet to be finalised,” spokesman Kabelo Ledwaba said.

On Thursday, a couple walking on the beach on the island of Rodrigues, east of Mauritius, found what appears to be a section of partitioning from the cabin.

Pictures of the piece, alongside stock shots of the interior of a Boeing 777, went viral on Twitter and brought into sharp focus the importance of each and every piece that gets gathered and handed to the investigators.

Liam Lotter found this piece of wreckage in Mozambique. It may be crucial evidence in piecing together what happened to flight MH370.

Sunday Tribune

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