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Malaysia to contact Thai authorities over suspected plane wreckage

Xinhua, January 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Malaysia will contact the Thai authorities over the suspected "plane wreckage" found off the coast of southern Thailand, which is not confirmed to be from the missing Malaysian Airline MH370, local media reported on Sunday.

"It is still speculation right now," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told local English newspaper The Star, saying that he has instructed the Department of Civil Aviation to contact its Thai counterpart for verification.

The minister called on the public not to spread unverified news in case that it would hurt the victims' family members.

Local villagers living off the coast of Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand were reported on Saturday to have discovered a two-meter wide and three-meter long metal object, which was suspected to be a piece of plane wreckage. It prompted speculation that the debris might belong to MH370, which disappeared on its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

Malaysian state news agency Bernama said that the Thai authorities will bring aviation experts to inspect the suspected wreckage.

The flight of MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese.

The Malaysian government confirmed in August 2015 that an aircraft flaperon found on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion belonged to the missing flight. Endit