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| Réunion Debris Is Almost Surely From Flight 370, Officials Say | Réunion Debris Is Almost Surely From Flight 370, Officials Say |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| PARIS — Investigators and the families of those who were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 now have what they have sought for more than a year — the first tangible trace of the vanished airplane. | |
| There are “very strong presumptions” that the airplane part that washed ashore last week on the French island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean came from the ill-fated Boeing 777, an official said on Wednesday at a Paris news conference after experts had inspected the object. | |
| A few minutes before the news conference, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia went further, declaring that the object definitely came from the missing plane, which mysteriously disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people aboard. | |
| A person involved in the investigation said, however, that experts from Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board who have seen the object — a piece of what is known as a flaperon — were not yet fully satisfied, and called for further analysis. | |
| Their doubts were based on a modification to the flaperon part that did not appear to exactly match what they would expect from airline maintenance records, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and requested anonymity. | Their doubts were based on a modification to the flaperon part that did not appear to exactly match what they would expect from airline maintenance records, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and requested anonymity. |
| French and Malaysian officials did not share the Americans’ hesitation, though, not least because no other Boeing 777 is unaccounted for. | French and Malaysian officials did not share the Americans’ hesitation, though, not least because no other Boeing 777 is unaccounted for. |
| “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 have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Réunion Island is indeed from MH370,” Mr. Najib said in a televised statement broadcast in the early hours of Thursday in Malaysia. | |
| At the news conference in Paris, Serge Mackowiak, the deputy Paris prosecutor, discussed what officials and experts from France, Malaysia, Australia and the United States had learned from examining the flaperon part in an aviation laboratory in Toulouse, France. | At the news conference in Paris, Serge Mackowiak, the deputy Paris prosecutor, discussed what officials and experts from France, Malaysia, Australia and the United States had learned from examining the flaperon part in an aviation laboratory in Toulouse, France. |
| He said that representatives from Boeing confirmed that it came from a Boeing 777, based on its size, color, joint structure and other technical characteristics. He also said that “technical documentation” provided by Malaysia Airlines enabled experts to establish “common technical characteristics” between the debris and Flight 370’s flaperons. | |
| Boeing said in a statement that its technicians were assisting in the analysis of the part, but declined to comment on the results of the examination. | Boeing said in a statement that its technicians were assisting in the analysis of the part, but declined to comment on the results of the examination. |
| The person involved in the investigation said that no serial or other unique identifying number was found, making the job of conclusively identifying the object more complicated. The person also said that so far, no burn marks or other evidence of physical damage had been found that might provide any clues about the circumstances in which the plane went down. | The person involved in the investigation said that no serial or other unique identifying number was found, making the job of conclusively identifying the object more complicated. The person also said that so far, no burn marks or other evidence of physical damage had been found that might provide any clues about the circumstances in which the plane went down. |
| In any case, experts have cautioned that the discovery of the object was unlikely to tell investigators enough to determine exactly what happened to the plane. | In any case, experts have cautioned that the discovery of the object was unlikely to tell investigators enough to determine exactly what happened to the plane. |
| On the night of March 8, 2014, when Flight 370 was bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, it veered off its planned course less than an hour after takeoff and stopped communicating with ground controllers. Radar data and satellite signals show that it turned to fly west across the Malay Peninsula and then south over the Indian Ocean, where it is presumed to have run out of fuel and crashed in very deep water, killing everyone aboard. | |
| Months of extensive air and sea search efforts failed to find any trace of the aircraft in the sea. The authorities in Malaysia and Australia, which is leading the search, reacted cautiously after the discovery on Réunions. | |
| After a year of searches and false leads, relatives of the passengers greeted the news with caution. State news media in China, where more than half the passengers were from, warned that even if the debris proved to have come from Flight 370, the body of the plane was still missing. | |
| But confidence grew as it became increasingly clear that the object was a part of a Boeing 777 flaperon, a movable section of the wing that helps stabilize the plane while flying at low speeds and during takeoff and landing. | But confidence grew as it became increasingly clear that the object was a part of a Boeing 777 flaperon, a movable section of the wing that helps stabilize the plane while flying at low speeds and during takeoff and landing. |
| Réunion was thrust into the international spotlight after the discovery, prompting many on the island to scour its beaches for more clues. No other debris has been confirmed as coming from the flight, though one other object — apparently remnants of a piece of luggage — was sent to France for examination. Mr. Mackowiak, the deputy prosecutor, said on Wednesday that it had not yet been analyzed. | |
| Experts have warned that the complex movements of ocean currents and sea winds over so long a time would make it extremely difficult to trace the debris back to locate other wreckage. | |
| Officials said the flaperon part found on Réunion, made from composite materials with a lightweight honeycomb interior, could float for months, unlike many other parts of the plane, which are most likely at the bottom of the ocean. | |
| Australia is leading the underwater search for the plane, while the Malaysian authorities are conducting the broader investigation into the plane’s disappearance. French prosecutors have begun an investigation of their own because there were four French citizens on the flight, and the flaperon part is being examined in France because it washed up on French territory. | Australia is leading the underwater search for the plane, while the Malaysian authorities are conducting the broader investigation into the plane’s disappearance. French prosecutors have begun an investigation of their own because there were four French citizens on the flight, and the flaperon part is being examined in France because it washed up on French territory. |
| Warren Truss, the deputy prime minister of Australia, said in Sydney on Wednesday that the discovery did not change calculations of where to look for the plane. His country’s national science agency has confirmed that material from the current search area could have been carried by ocean currents to Réunion, thousands of miles west of the remote stretch of deep ocean where the plane is believed to have gone down, Mr. Truss said. | Warren Truss, the deputy prime minister of Australia, said in Sydney on Wednesday that the discovery did not change calculations of where to look for the plane. His country’s national science agency has confirmed that material from the current search area could have been carried by ocean currents to Réunion, thousands of miles west of the remote stretch of deep ocean where the plane is believed to have gone down, Mr. Truss said. |
| Material could also have reached “other locations, as part of a progressive dispersal of floating debris through the action of ocean currents and wind,” Mr. Truss said in the statement, which was issued hours before the announcement about the examination of the wing part. | Material could also have reached “other locations, as part of a progressive dispersal of floating debris through the action of ocean currents and wind,” Mr. Truss said in the statement, which was issued hours before the announcement about the examination of the wing part. |
| “For this reason, thorough and methodical search efforts will continue to be focused on the defined underwater search area, covering 120,000 square kilometers, in the southern Indian Ocean,” Mr. Truss said. That area, equivalent to about 46,000 square miles, was expanded in April by authorities from Australia, Malaysia and China. | “For this reason, thorough and methodical search efforts will continue to be focused on the defined underwater search area, covering 120,000 square kilometers, in the southern Indian Ocean,” Mr. Truss said. That area, equivalent to about 46,000 square miles, was expanded in April by authorities from Australia, Malaysia and China. |
| By Wednesday afternoon, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that about half the search area — 23,000 square miles — had been combed so far, and that there would be a short break in the effort while the two search vessels that are currently at work return to port for supplies. | By Wednesday afternoon, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that about half the search area — 23,000 square miles — had been combed so far, and that there would be a short break in the effort while the two search vessels that are currently at work return to port for supplies. |
| Though they have not yet found any part of the plane, the search vessels have found other objects, including a ship’s anchor and bell, giving the crews confidence that their methods are capable of spotting aircraft wreckage on the seafloor. | Though they have not yet found any part of the plane, the search vessels have found other objects, including a ship’s anchor and bell, giving the crews confidence that their methods are capable of spotting aircraft wreckage on the seafloor. |