Possible debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found off Mozambique on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel — the body of water between Mozambique in eastern Africa and Madagascar. (Photo provided to China News Service)
The two pieces of debris found in Mozambique were consistent with parts on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, hence almost certainly were from the missing flight MH370, Malaysian officials said Thursday.
The MH370 investigation team found that "the dimensions, materials and construction of both parts conform to the specifications of a Boeing 777 aircraft," the same model as flight MH370, said Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai.
"The paint and stenciling on both parts match those used by Malaysia Airlines (MAS)," Liow said in a statement.
"As such, both parts are consistent with panels form a MAS Boeing 777 aircraft, and almost certainly are from MH370," he said, echoing an earlier announcement by his Australian counterpart Darren Chester.
The examination and analysis by the international team, as well as the experts from Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia and Boeing, was completed in Canberra on Wednesday.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals. A joint search in southern Indian Ocean, where the flight presumably had ended its journey, has yet to found its wreckage.