Anger as MH370 report offers no new clues to aviation's greatest mystery

Yahoo – AFP, M. Jegathesan, 30 July 2018

Sarah Nor, the mother of a passenger on MH370, weeps as she arrives for
the final investigation report

Investigators said Monday they still do not know why Malaysia's Flight MH370 vanished four years ago in aviation's greatest mystery, sparking anger and disappointment among relatives of those on board.

In a long-awaited report the official investigation team pointed to failings by air traffic controllers, said the course of the Malaysia Airlines plane was changed manually, and refused to rule out that someone other than the pilots had diverted the jet.

But after years of fruitless searching for the Boeing 777 that disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people aboard, the report offered nothing concrete to grieving relatives of passengers and crew hoping for some sort of closure.

"The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370," concluded the largely technical 400-page report, noting that investigators were hindered in their probe as neither the plane's wreckage nor its black boxes had been found.

Investigators said the plane was airworthy and the pilots were in a fit state to fly, and dismissed the theory that the plane had been taken over remotely to foil a hijacking.

Relatives who were briefed at the transport ministry in the administrative capital Putrajaya before the report's public release expressed anger that there was nothing new in the document, with some storming out of the briefing as frustration boiled over.

"It is so disappointing," said Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband was a steward on MH370, which had been flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying mostly mainland Chinese passengers when it vanished.

"I am frustrated. There is nothing new in the report."

She said the meeting between relatives and officials descended into a "shouting match" as anger mounted.

G. Subramaniam, who lost a son on the flight, added that "unsatisfactory responses left many angry".

Largest hunt in history

The disappearance of MH370 triggered the largest hunt in aviation history. But no sign of it was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led hunt was suspended in January last year.

Copies of the MH370 safety investigations report are seen on the floor 

during a media briefing

US exploration firm Ocean Infinity resumed the search in a different location at the start of this year on a "no find, no fee" basis, using high-tech drones to scour the seabed. But that search was also called off after failing to find anything.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

Malaysia's new government, which took power in May, has said the hunt could be resumed but only if new evidence comes to light.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke insisted Monday that "the aspiration to locate MH370 has not been abandoned and we remain ever-hopeful that we will be able to find the answers we seek when the credible evidence becomes available".

One area that came in for criticism in the report by the 19-member team, which included foreign investigators, was air traffic control.

It said both Malaysian air traffic control and their Vietnamese counterparts failed to act properly when the Boeing jet passed from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace and disappeared from radars.

Air traffic controllers did not initiate emergency procedures in a timely fashion, delaying the start of the search and rescue operation, it said.

However it played down concerns about the pilot and first officer, saying neither appeared to have suffered difficulties in their personal lives that could have affected their ability to fly.

"We did not find any change to their behaviour, everything was normal," Kok Soo Chon, head of the investigation team, told a press conference.

The report also said the plane was airworthy and did not have major technical issues, with Kok saying it had been diverted from its intended flight path manually.

Intervention by a third party could not be ruled out, the report said, but also added there was no evidence to suggest the plane was flown by anyone other than the pilots.

Graphic on the debris so far discovered from Malaysia Airlines MH370 that went missing in 2014 with 239 people on board pic.twitter.com/7Y0IgMl6c8

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 30, 2018

MH370 search to end next week: Malaysian minister

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick Lee, May 23, 2018

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people onboard
while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - The search for flight MH370 will end next week, Malaysia's transport minister said Wednesday, more than four years after the plane disappeared and triggered one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No sign of the jet was found in a 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) sea search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January last year.

After pressure from family members, the former Malaysian government struck a deal with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on the condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were found.

The firm stood to make up to $70 million if successful but did not find any sign of the jet despite scouring the seabed with some of the world's most hi-tech search equipment.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke, part of the new government that came to power following May 9 elections, said the hunt was officially meant to finish in April but had been extended, and would come an end next week.

"The search will continue until May 29," he told reporters.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had said earlier that the contract with Ocean Infinity was being reviewed, as his administration seeks to cut costs after accusing the allegedly corrupt former regime of leaving the public finances in bad shape.

Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother Anne Daisy was on the plane, said the news was not a surprise but said the government should leave the "no find, no fee" offer on the table in case a company wants to take on the search in future.

Relatives of passengers of MH370 urged the Malaysian government to undertake 

a "comprehensive review" of all matters related to the plane's disappearance 

(AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

"We can't tell (the government) what to do but for me and the families... finding the plane is important for many reasons," she told AFP.

'Comprehensive review'

In a letter to the new administration released before the end of the search was announced, Voice370 -- a group representing families of those on the plane whose members include Nathan -- urged the government to undertake a "comprehensive review" of all matters related to the plane's disappearance.

It also called for "an investigation into any possible falsification and/or elimination of records related to MH370".

The new hunt was in an area of about 25,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, north of the former search area.

The ship conducting the hunt, Seabed Constructor, was a Norwegian research vessel carrying 65 crew, including two members of the Malaysian navy as the government's representatives.

It used eight autonomous drones, equipped with sonars and cameras, that scoured the waters for wreckage and can operate in depths up to 6,000 metres (20,000 feet).

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

The jet's disappearance stands as one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time and has spawned a host of theories, with some blaming a hijacking or even a terror plot.

Mahathir himself revived one of the many conspiracy theories in March when he suggested the plane could have been taken over remotely to foil a hijacking.

Earlier this week, Australian investigators defended their findings that the plane was out of control when it plunged into the ocean, after a theory that a rogue pilot deliberately ditched the jet was revived in a book by a Canadian air crash investigator.

Tech advances will lead to MH370 discovery - Malaysia Airlines

Yahoo – AFP, August 1, 2017

So far, three fragments of MH370 have been found on western Indian Ocean
shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon

The resting place of missing flight MH370 will eventually be found but it will require advances in science and technology, including artificial intelligence, Malaysia Airlines' chief said Tuesday.

No trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board, was found during a lengthy deep sea hunt in the southern Indian Ocean off western Australia, with the search called off in January.

"There will be advances in science that will help locate the wreckage eventually," the Malaysian carrier's chief executive Peter Bellew told The Australian newspaper, adding the discovery "might unlock closure for some people".

Bellew, in Sydney for an aviation summit, said the advances could come through "the availability of artificial intelligence that's coming on stream", high-capacity computing power and university research.

He did not give further details about what specific research could lead to a breakthrough, but added that private efforts to locate the plane could also play a part.

So far, three fragments of MH370 have been found on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

"(There are people) who are spending a lot of their own resources at the moment and co-ordinating with authorities... I do think somebody will make a breakthrough somewhere around this, or a combination of people," Bellew said.

"It will create a situation where there will be some chance of pinpointing the location of where the aircraft may well be."

Australia's national science body CSIRO said in April that MH370 was "most likely" lying north of the former search zone -- a 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) area largely defined through satellite "pings" and the flight's estimated fuel load.

But Transport Minister Darren Chester has said the underwater probe would not resume unless new evidence about the specific location of the aircraft emerges.

Australia last month released to the public detailed maps showing the topography of the sea floor where the search took place, with a second set of data to be released in mid-2018.

Tech advances will lead to discovery of missing flight MH370, says Malaysia Airlines https://t.co/4FHt8pQTLq pic.twitter.com/CaE7sjfZ6T

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 1, 2017

Mauritius wing debris from missing MH370: Australia

Yahoo – AFP, October 7, 2016

A trailing edge section of Boeing 777 left, outboard flap, originating from the
Malaysian Airlines aircraft registered 9M-MRO (MH370), the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau said (AFP Photo)

Sydney (AFP) - A piece of wing debris found in Mauritius is from MH370, Australian authorities said Friday as they cautioned the discovery shed no new light on the missing passenger jet's specific location.

The composite debris, recovered from the island nation in May, is the latest fragment found along western Indian Ocean shorelines linked to Malaysia Airlines MH370.

The Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Despite an extensive underwater search in the southern Indian Ocean far off Western Australia's coast where investigators believe the plane crashed, no trace of the aircraft has been found there.

The wing part "was a trailing edge section of Boeing 777 left, outboard flap, originating from the Malaysian Airlines aircraft registered 9M-MRO (MH370)", the government agency leading the search, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), said in a report.

"A part number was identified on a section of the debris," the ATSB said, adding that another "unique work order number" assigned by the flap manufacturer corresponded to MH370.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said investigators "remain hopeful" MH370 would be found.

"The finding of this debris... continues to affirm the focus of search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean," Chester said in a statement.

A large piece of debris found in Tanzania that has been confirmed as a

 part of a wing flap from missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet MH370 

(AFP Photo)

"It does not, however, provide information that can be used to determine a specific location of the aircraft."

The ATSB report came two weeks after the agency said officials had yet to link debris recovered from Madagascar by US amateur investigator Blaine Gibson to MH370 or a Boeing 777.

Officials also said the debris found in Madagascar was not exposed to fire, quashing earlier speculation.

The failure to locate any debris in the search zone has fuelled speculation the plane may have crashed outside the area.

Several pieces of debris linked to the flight have been discovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines -- in Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius.

The Mauritius part is the third fragment to be confirmed as coming from MH370. Malaysia said in mid-September that debris found in June off Tanzania came from the doomed airliner.

The first piece found -- a two-metre (six-foot) wing part known as a flaperon that washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion in July 2015 -- was confirmed by French authorities as from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometres of the search area has been scoured so far, Australia said this week, adding that the hunt was set to be completed in December.

Plane parts 'almost certainly' from missing MH370

Australia has concluded that debris found along the coast of Mozambique is likely from missing flight MH370. The discovery could provide a much-needed clue as to what happened to the Malaysia Airlines plane.

Deutsche Welle, 24 March 2016

Australia said on Thursday that the plane debris almost certainly belonged to MH370, which vanished without a trace two years ago along with its 239 passengers.

The first fragment was found earlier this month by an American explorer in Mozambique. After Seattle lawyer Blaine Gibson's discovery was publicized, a South African teenager who had also found a piece of the plane went public as well.

"The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370," said Darren Chester, Australia's minister for infrastructure and transport.

Confirmation of theory

Chester said the discoveries confirmed earlier theories that parts of the plane likely drifted toward Africa after supposedly crashing in the Indian Ocean.

The first major breakthrough in the investigation came when a wing from a Boeing 777 - the model of the MH370 plane - washed ashore on an island in the Indian Ocean.

Investigators are still hoping to locate the plane's black boxes, or flight recorders, which are likely somewhere at the bottom of the ocean.

blc/jr (AP, Reuters)

World nations reach landmark deal on using satellites to track flights

Yahoo – AFP, 12 Nov 2015

Crewman aboard an RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft looks at his radar screens

 while searching for the missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 over the Indian 

Ocean on March 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/Richard Wainwright)

Geneva (AFP) - World nations struck a landmark deal Wednesday on using satellites to track flights, which could prove key to preventing a repeat of the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 in March 2014.

Countries reached an accord at a conference hosted by the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that aimed to improve on the current civilian flight-tracking system which relies on ground-based radars.

"In reaching this agreement... ITU has responded in record time to the expectations of the global community on the major issue concerning global flight tracking," the organisation's secretary general, Houlin Zhao, said in a statement.

The ITU statement made clear the deal was driven by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which was lost en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard.

That tragedy "spurred worldwide discussions on global flight tracking and the need for coordinated action," the organisation said.

Representatives of more than 160 nations attended the talks, known as the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC).

It was tasked with determining the technical requirements for a tracking system capable of providing complete surveillance of global airspace.

The ITU said a frequency band previously used to transmit signals from aircraft to terrestrial stations would be enabled to send transmissions from aircraft to satellites.

This change will enable "real-time tracking of aircraft anywhere in the world,” said Francois Rancy, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

The new system is expected to be fully implemented in 2017, but Rancy noted that most planes already have the necessary equipment, so compliance will not pose major logistical hurdles.

US Ambassador Decker Anstrom praised the deal, saying it would "enable better tracking and location of aircraft that otherwise could disappear from terrestrial tracking systems.”

A photo taken on October 7, 2015 shows the headquarters of the International

 Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN specialized agency for information and

communication technologies in Geneva (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization has previously voiced support for a proposal that would make it obligatory for airlines to track their aircraft using a system that gives its location at 15-minute intervals.

The ground-based radars currently in use can track a plane but coverage is sketchy and fades when aircraft are out at sea or they are flying below a certain altitude, shortcomings that intensified the need to develop a better system.

Finding consensus on other agenda items at the WRC could prove tougher however, including discussions on using existing satellites to provide coordinates to civilian unmaned aircraft systems, or drones.

Countries are also discussing whether to shift the way radio spectrum is used by different radio transmission technologies and applications.

The United States among others wants to see a reallocation of a significant amount of spectrum for mobile technologies and emerging 5G mobile networks.

But this is a touchy subject, as most of the high-quality spectrum is today used by broadcasters, and striking a deal by the end of the conference on November 27 is not guaranteed.

World nations reach landmark deal on using satellites to track flights https://t.co/RE9NYeBDxH pic.twitter.com/srF4mQt5rC

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 11, 2015

French prosecutor confirms debris found on Reunion from MH370

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-09-04

The flapiron found on the island of Reunion. (File photo/Xinhua)

A piece of plane debris which washed ashorethe island of Reunion at the end of July was confirmed to be a part Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which was reported missing in March 2014, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins announced Thursday.

"We can confirm with certainty that the flaperon discovered in Reunion on July 29 corresponds to flight MH370," Molins said.

A technician from Airbus Defense and Space (ADS-SAU) in Spain, which had manufactured the part for Boeing, had identified one of three numbers found on the flaperon as being the serial number of the missing plane, he added, putting an end to one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.

On Aug. 6, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak confirmed that the flaperon belongs to the Boeing 777, 515 days after it disappeared, while authorities in France cited "very strong expectations" that it belonged to the craft.

The flight, a Boeing 777-200, had disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese.

Possible MH370 debris found in Maldives as Reunion search continues

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-08-09

A beach on Reunion, where more debris that could come from flight
MH370 has been found, Aug. 7. (Photo/Xinhua)

French authorities announced on Friday that the hunt for more Malaysia Airlines MH370 debris will continue for at least a week off the island of Reunion after a wing section was spotted near the island.

Meanwhile, an official from the Maldives Police Service (MPS) told Xinhua that a police team along with aviation experts has started probing a piece of suspected plane debris found on the beach of a private resort in Maldives. According to local media reports, the piece, probably a plane part five to seven inches long, was discovered in May.

Dominique Sorain, administrator of Reunion, a French overseas department, told reporters Friday that a military transport plane was patrolling the seas off the coast and a ship had departed to search. He said there will also be forces combing the eastern part of the island where a flaperon confirmed by Malaysia as part of the missing plane was discovered last week.

"The plan will be developed in the coming days, but we will require a minimum of a week to conclude the search," Sorain said. He said the scrutinized area will span from the island up to a search zone under the control of Mauritius authorities. "We have urged all ships, both fishing and commercial, to immediately contact Reunion's Regional Operation Center for Surveillance and Rescue," he added.

The administrator said that new possible parts of a plane, some of them the size of a finger, have been submitted to authorities by local residents.

With regards to the families of passengers who wish to come to Reunion, Sorain said if necessary he will contact the consular authorities of the countries conmcerned. "We have not received any official request," he said.

Graham Braithwaite, aviation security expert at Britain's Cranfield University, told Xinhua that the search for the plane's black box is still the core objective as the data within it is key to solving the mystery of what happened. As such a long time has passed, precisely locating the black box is already too hard but the discovery of the debris at least indicates that the search is moving in the correct direction, Braithwaite said.

Prior to the Reunion discoveries, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to locate the plane, which went missing on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A total of 239 people were on board, most of them Chinese nationals.

Australia, the country that is now leading the international search efforts, vowed it would continue the search efforts and maintain "a crucial role," according to Deputy Prime Minister Warrent Truss.

Braithwaite suggested that Australia expand its current search area and called for a concerted effort that involves assistance from Malaysia, Britain, China and the International Maritime Satellite Organization.

Related Article:

Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet'

Chinese FM calls for continued MH370 search

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-08-07

Wang Yi attends an ASEAN ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, Aug. 5. (File photo/Xinhua)

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Thursday that search efforts for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 should be continued to find the truth behind the one of the biggest mysteries in the aviation history.

Wang made the call following Malaysia's announcement that the piece of wreckage that washed up on Reunion island last week was from the missing jet.

China agrees with Malaysia that efforts should be made to find out the truth of what happened to the plane, and China wishes to see follow-up works to be carried out and related issues to be properly handled, Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing foreign ministers' meetings of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and their dialogue partners.

Malaysia should consider the feelings of the families of passengers on the tragic flight and better explain latest developments to them, he said.

The debris was discovered on Reunion island on July 29 and was officially identified as part of a plane wing known as a flaperon from a Boeing 777.

Prior to the latest discovery, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to find the plane, which went missing on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board, most of them Chinese.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak vowed Thursday that the government of Malaysia is committed to doing everything within its means to find out the truth of what happened.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement earlier Thursday that China asked Malaysia to continue investigating the cause of the MH370 accident.

The Chinese government expresses grief and sorrow for those on board, and extends profound sympathy and condolences to their families, it said.

Related Articles:

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts (8 March 2014)


Archangel Michael: Spring Means the Time of Rebirth and Awakening – The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 22, 2014

....SB: That’s very good, Lord. Thank you. I’m going to move quickly to Flight 370, and then hopefully a short talk on global citizenry.

Ashira said that Flight 370 had exploded, but he didn’t say what the cause of the explosion was. Others have said that a secret naval weapon was used to cause it to disintegrate. And recently a prominent channel said the plane was suffering from hydraulic failure, was in an uncontrolled state, at risk of imminent destruction; whisked out of the air in mid-flight, was taken aboard an enormous spaceship from Sirius claimed to be part of the Federation fleet under the Ashtar Command whose full report is available from a certain website.

Now, Ashira said they took a few people up who still wanted to remain in form, but the rest — they passed on. What is the truth, Lord?

AAM: This is not an action — let us put it this way — this is not an action that your star brothers and sisters have been deeply involved in. This is an action of what we would refer to, or Gabrielle would refer to, as of violence, of sabotage, of subterfuge. And it has continued.

So there are lies upon lies upon lies. And what is occurring … this is a terrible situation. And it is painful to so many. But what it is also doing for humanity, it is bringing up what we would call shared compassion and grief. Because if you were to look at the grief and the confusion and the compassion component of what is being felt and emanating from the hearts of the collective, individuals all over the planet, it is out of alignment with the situation even including those who have been on the plane and who have suffered and the families that are left suffering the loss of their loved ones.

So it has amplified and shown the global community, in a time when there has been much strife and conflict on the ground, the other side of the scale, where you are seeing the global community coming together in compassion and sending healing for many. It is also bringing together the global community in saying, “We require, we demand truth.” Because there have been such significant untruths, every step of the way. And now what is occurring, among what you think are responsible agencies of many countries, is that they are looking for scapegoats. They are looking for situations to hang this on.

The truth will come out, but the function of this act of violence has been hijacked in many ways not by your star brothers and sisters but by the Company of Heaven to teach several very important, critical, timely lessons. The ship has not been taken on board a mothership elsewhere. That is false hope.

SB: Where is the ship, Lord? Is it blown to smithereens, or is it at the bottom of the ocean?

AAM: For all intents and purposes, it is not intact. We cannot give you the totality because that would be breaking our agreement.

SB: And then of course you couldn’t tell us what nation did it, either?

AAM: It is not so much a nation as individuals acting independently.

SB: All right. I’m not sure whether I should go further in trying to get more details, or…. whether….

AAM: Please do not.....

Wreckage 'conclusively confirmed' as from MH370: Malaysia PM

Yahoo – AFP, Dan Martin with Eric Randolph in Paris, 5 August 2015

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found on the French

Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

Debris found on an Indian Ocean island a week ago is from flight MH370, Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday, confirming for the first time that the plane which mysteriously disappeared 17 months ago met a tragic end.

"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.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak 

delivers a statement on the missing 

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Kuala

 Lumpur early on August 6, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

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, sparking a colossal but ultimately fruitless multinational hunt for the aircraft.

Last week's discovery of a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part called a flaperon on the French island of La Reunion has provided the first glimmer of hope for relatives desperate for answers.

It was examined 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.

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.

But 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, in what remains one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation.

"Now I want to know where the main body of the plane is so that we can take out the passengers and get the black box so we can know what happened. Only that, for us, will be full closure," said Jacquita Gonzales, wife of MH370 chief steward Patrick Gomes.

'A huge step'

Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based aviation consultant, said proof the flaperon came from MH370 was a "huge step".

"People want all the answers, but look, let's be real. We must be glad that we found something at all. Now we know roughly where it might have crashed," he said.

"This answers a lot of questions actually. It eliminates other theories, conspiracy theories. If the black box is found later on, it is likely we could get more answers."

The Malaysian premier gave no indication that the analysis of the debris yielded any clues into the cause of the disappearance.

Many relatives accuse his government and the airline of a bungled response to the disaster, possible cover-up, and insensitive treatment of families, charges that are vehemently denied.

"I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to do everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened," Najib said.

"MH370's disappearance marked us as a nation. We mourn with you, as a nation."

A policeman and a gendarme stand next to a piece of debris from an aircraft on the 

Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

Starting grieving process

It is hoped that more detailed examination in the coming days can yield information on the final moments of the plane by showing how it 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.

"If it has cold-water barnacles on it that might tell them it went down further south than they think. Or if it's got only tropical barnacles, that might tell them it went down further north," said Shane Ahyong, a crustacean specialist from the Australian Museum.

For the victims' loved ones, any tangible piece of information is likely to help them in seeking closure, according to psychologist Carole Damiani, who specialises in helping the families of people who died in disasters.

"The grieving process is about untying oneself from someone, accepting that they will not be found and they have gone forever," she said.

Mysterious plane wreckage sparks MH370 speculation

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.

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