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          Malaysia PM: Plane Part on Reunion Island Belonged to MH370

   by William Gallo

   Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed that a piece of an
   airplane wing found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean last week
   belonged to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared without a
   trace 17 months ago.

   "Five hundred-15 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy
   heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have
   conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island
   is indeed from MH370," Najib grimly said in a televised address.

   Malaysia Airlines put out a statement of condolence to the families and
   friends of all 239 passengers and crew on the flight. "It is indeed a
   major breakthrough for us in resolving this disappearance of MH370. We
   expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which
   would be able to help resolve this mystery."

   But experts in Paris, where the part was taken for analysis, are not
   yet ready to say for sure that what was found on the French territory
   is part of the vanished plane. A French prosecutor said there is
   "strong supposition" it is from MH370, but that their findings still
   have to be confirmed.

   Relatives of the passengers, who have been holding to even the tiniest
   sliver of hope for a happy outcome, say one piece of a wing will not
   bring them closure. In Beijing, a group of Chinese relatives of MH370
   victims gathered outside Malaysia Airlines office to protest.

   "One piece of debris does not mean anything, this is a political
   conspiracy, we only need the truth, they need to say the truth, please
   tell us the truth," said Zhang Meiling, whose daughter and son-in-law
   were on the airliner.

   China's foreign ministry on Thursday called on Malaysia to continue
   investigating what happened to the missing plane, that was carrying
   mostly Chinese passengers on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

   The debris, a wing part known as a flaperon, was found on Reunion
   Island, thousands of kilometers away from where the Boeing 777 vanished
   from radar in March 2014.

   Investigators believe the plane crashed somewhere off the southwest
   coast of Australia, but a search has so far turned up nothing.
   Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday insisted the search
   would continue.

   "We owe it to the hundreds of millions of people who use our skies. We
   owe it to the 24 million Australians who use our skies, we owe it to
   them to try to ensure their travel is as safe as it possibly can be to
   try to get to the bottom of this terrible mystery and that's why the
   search must go on," Abbott said.

   The prime minister said the location of the debris "does seem to
   indicate that the plane did come down, more or less where we thought."
   He said it suggests "for the first time that we might be a little bit
   closer to solving this baffling mystery."

   Theories about what happened to flight MH370 include bad weather, a
   hijacking, or that the pilot deliberately crashed the jet. But even
   with the discovery of the debris, the mystery is not close to being
   solved, according to some analysts.

   "The bottom line is that other than finally having a piece of the
   airplane, the world today doesn't know anything more than it did 10
   days ago," says the aviation website Leeham News and Comment.

   The outlet said it could be some time before analysis can be done on
   the stress and tear damage of the flaperon, which could indicate how
   the plane hit the water. Scientists will also try to determine the type
   of barnacles that have clung to the debris, it said.

   "It will be a while before authorities analyze the barnacles and
   flaperon. It will be a much longer time before we find the plane-if it
   ever is found-and longer still to recover any of the wreckage and
   all-important black boxes," the outlet warned.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/malaysia-pm-plane-part-on-reunion-isl
   and-belonged-to-mh370/2903701.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/malaysia-pm-plane-part-on-reunion-island-belonged-to-mh370/2903701.html