Malaysia: "Most debris in Maldives is not from MH370"

Malaysia's transport minister said yesterday (August 14) that most of the debris that washed up on the Maldives islands was not related to the missing flight MH370.

"Most of the debris is not. It is not related to MH370 and it is not aircraft material," Minister Liow Tiong Lai said yesterday. Mr Liow said he did not know if the Malaysian team would bring back any debris for examination, but if it did, it would be handed over to the international investigation team.

Malaysia's transport minister did not elaborate and it is unclear whether all the debris found in the Maldives has been examined.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai. Photo: Twitter

Malaysia said last week that a piece of wing that washed up on Reunion Island had been confirmed to be from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Reports in the Maldives said several pieces of debris found in recent weeks had come to the attention of authorities after being discovered on Reunion Island.

The Malaysian plane may have crashed in the remote southern Indian Ocean, but no trace was found until a barnacle-covered object was discovered two weeks ago on the French island of Reunion. Officials are certain the debris is a flaperon from a Boeing 777, but France has not confirmed it belongs to MH370.

Malaysia is appealing for help from other territories to search for more debris, and France is also deploying a plane, helicopters and boats around Reunion to search the waters.

According to VNE