Yahoo – AFP,
29 July 2015
 |
Police
carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal
area
of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)
|
A
mysterious piece of plane debris washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of
La Reunion on Wednesday, prompting speculation it could be part of the missing
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The
two-metre (six-foot) long piece of wreckage, which seemed to be part of a wing,
was found by people cleaning up a beach.
"It
was covered in shells, so one would say it had been in the water a long
time," said one witness.
French air
transport officials have opened a probe into where the wreckage came from and
Australian investigators are also reportedly working with manufacturer Boeing to
identify if it is from MH370.
"We've
received some pictures of the item and we are having them assessed by the
manufacturers as to what they may be," a spokesman for the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau told the AAP news agency.
Xavier
Tytelman, an expert in aviation security, said it could not be ruled out that
the wreckage belonged to MH370, which vanished without trace in March last
year.
No part of
the wreckage has ever been found in one of aviation's great mysteries and
Malaysian authorities in January declared that all on board were presumed dead.
 |
A policeman
and a gendarme stand next to a piece of debris from an unidentified
aircraft
found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the
French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick
Pitou) |
The plane
vanished at night over the South China Sea after turning away from its
north-bound route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Tytelman
noted that local media photos showed "incredible similarities between a
#B777 flaperon and the debris found," referring to a Boeing 777 -- the
type of plane that disappeared.
He also
noted a reference on the wreckage: BB670.
"This
code is not a plane's registration number, nor serial number. However... it's
clear that this reference would allow a quick identification. In a few days, we
will have a definitive answer," Tytelman said.
Boeing said
in a statement it remained "committed to supporting the MH370
investigation and the search for the airplane".
"We
continue to share our technical expertise and analysis. Our goal, along with
the entire global aviation industry, continues to be not only to find the
airplane, but also to determine what happened –- and why," said the US
aviation giant.
Wild
theories
An
Australian-led operation has scoured more than 50,000 square kilometres (19,000
square miles) of the seafloor, about 60 percent of a search zone in the Indian
Ocean determined via expert analysis of signals from MH370 that were detected
by a satellite.
But the
four search vessels towing 10-kilometre (6-mile) cables fitted with
sophisticated sonar systems that scan the seabed have turned up little except
shipping containers and a previously uncharted shipwreck.
Rough
weather, the pitch-black extreme depths of up to 4,000 metres, and the rugged
nature of the previously unmapped seafloor have made for a slow, frustrating
search.
Angry next
of kin have criticised Malaysia's handling of the plane's disappearance, and
have questioned the choice to focus the search on the southern Indian Ocean.
 |
This
handout photo taken and released on April 9, 2014 by Australian Defence
shows a
Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion flying past Australian Defence
Vessel Ocean Shield on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search for MH370 (AFP Photo/Lsis Bradley Darvill) |
With the
search proving fruitless, speculation on the fate of the plane remains focused
primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror
plot, or rogue pilot action.
However,
nothing has emerged to substantiate any of these scenarios.
The lack of
solid information has sustained a flow of conspiracy theories, with books,
documentaries and a thriving online debate positing a range of possibilities.
These
include suggestions that the plane was commandeered to be used as a
"flying bomb" headed for US military installations on the Diego
Garcia atoll, and was shot down by the Americans. The United States has
dismissed this.
US aviation
expert Jeff Wise has suggested MH370 was commandeered to a Russian facility in
Kazakhstan, possibly an effort by President Vladimir Putin to intimidate the
West during the Ukraine crisis, or to gain access to a certain passenger or
item.
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment