By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
China and Australia have called for further investigations into a wing part that Malaysia confirmed as belonging to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, as well as continued efforts to find more possible wreckage.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had told a press conference early Thursday that a verification process in France had confirmed that the flaperon found on a French island in the Indian Ocean had been part of the Boeing 777 that vanished March 8 last year.
The two-meter-long piece of wreckage was found July 29 on the island of Reunion east of Madagascar, and sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.
Responding to the confirmation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Malaysia must conduct a detailed investigation into the discovery of the flaperon, and translate the finding into a detailed briefing for the families and next-of-kin of the victims.
“Malaysia must get more detailed information related to the discovery of the flaperon... The briefing was important as to update what was found from the testing that was conducted in Toulouse, France," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
He said that while it is crucial to understand and respect the feelings and pain of the families, the search for other or remaining debris must be continued to seek answers to what happened to the flight.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop underlined that the French-led team of experts was still carrying out further investigations.
“On the assumption that it is indeed part of the plane, it does give us some comfort that we will be able to continue the search effort, and help the families find some answers to what is one of the greatest aviation mysteries of our time,” she told reporters after attending the 16th ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Minister’s Meeting.
She said Australia would continue to search for the black box and other parts that might help solve the mystery for the victims' families until such time as experts advise otherwise.
"I hope that this finding will enable us to find the plane sooner rather than later."
Meanwhile, Paris's deputy prosecutor Serge Mackowiak had used more cautious language by telling reporters in the capital that there was “a very strong supposition” that the flaperon found in Reunion belonged to MH370.
He said that Boeing confirmed that "this piece came from a Boeing 777, and representatives from Malaysian airlines communicated with us to compare the debris from the wing found to a wing from an almost identical Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777."
Australia’s deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, also referred to the high probability of the part being from MF370, with The Australian quoting him as saying they were awaiting details from the investigation team “continuing to finalise its considerations of the wreckage”.
Experts from the country, six of whose nationals had been on the flight, have also stressed the need for further investigation.
Martin Dolan, Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner, told ABC radio that it was “too early to tell” what happened to MH370 and underlined that “close examination [of the flaperon] is what’s necessary to access how much we can learn”.
An ocean expert at Monash University in Melbourne has warned, however, that verifying the origin of the part would not facilitate the search for the rest of the plane.
"The Indian Ocean is a very large ocean; it's unexplored, it's deep," Greg Bamber told Nine Network. "It's more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack, because the haystack is huge and it's moving all the time."
Beijing-bound MH370, which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 last year, was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens.
Search and rescue operations have involved around 65 aircraft and 95 ships, as well as experts from 25 countries.
After a 10-month intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, Malaysia declared Jan. 29 that Flight MH370 was lost in an accident, with all on board killed.
