Debris in drift area of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Australia’s transportation chief said the location of debris on a beach in the southeast African nation of Mozambique was consistent with drift-modelling used to search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight, MH370.

“The location of the debris is consistent with drift-modelling commissioned by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and reaffirms the search area for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean,” minister for infrastructure and transport, Darren Chester, said.

Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board, on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in March, 2014.

The debris would be the first to be thoroughly analysed by MH370 crash investigators. Another object, suspected to be part of the plane’s wing, has been held by French authorities since being found on Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, last year.

Chester said that officials will now send the metre-long piece of metal to Australia, where Australian and Malaysian officials will examine it.

The ATSB, and the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, the international agency set up in Australia to co-ordinate the search for the missing plane, were not immediately available for comment.