There is a good likelihood that the piece of debris recovered in Mozambique is from a Boeing 777, like the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared two years ago this month, according to a U.S. official familiar with the search for MH370.
The debris was found on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel — the ocean strait between Mozambique and Madagascar. The finding, if confirmed, would be the second part of the airplane discovered since it disappeared.
Investigators in Malaysia, Australia and the U.S. have analyzed photographs of the object and believe there is a possibility it originated from a Boeing 777, NBC News reported. There is no record of any such plane having gone missing other than Flight MH370.
Boeing engineers are studying photos of the debris, sources said, but the aviation company has not yet offered comment. Malaysia Airlines said it was “too speculative at this point” to offer comment. Australia’s Joint Agency Cooperation Center reportedly said it was aware of the discovery and preparing to examine the finding.
Piece of wreckage from Boeing 777 — likely from #MH370 — found washed ashore off Mozambique coast: @CNN report pic.twitter.com/0zMQCY9voG
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 2, 2016
The Malaysian airliner went missing March 8, 2014, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead. Despite a massive, multi-national search for the whereabouts of the plane, few traces have turned up.
Last year, the first piece of debris was found washed ashore Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, a French territory. It offered the only trace to date of the airplane. The finding sparked a series of false reports, and only the island debris, which was part of the wing, has been confirmed.
The search for the airliner has scanned some 70,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean floor. Many theories have been proposed as to what may have happened to the plane — including some that cast doubt on the possibility of ever finding it. Martin Dolan, head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the hunt for the plane, said there is “a possibility” the search “will not succeed.”
Agencies/Canadajournal