Spotlight: Mozambique debris very likely from Boeing 777, relation to MH370 not confirmed

A piece of an airplane found on the coast of Mozambique is very likely to belong to a Boeing 777, the same model as missing flight MH370, a Malaysian official said.

"Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said via his Twitter account.

However, the minister said whether it belongs to MH370 is yet to be confirmed, calling on everyone to "avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time."

He also said the Civil Aviation of Malaysia is working with Australian counterparts to retrieve the debris.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese nationals.

Mozambican aviation authorities on Wednesday night confirmed the finding of the piece of airplane, but considered it "premature" to relate it with MH370.

"Up to now, there is no evidence showing that it is explicitly or implicitly a part of MH370," said Joao de Abreu, director of the National Civil Aviation Institute of Mozambique.

De Abreu told media that the piece, which measures 57 by 90 centimeters, is a composite material used in aircraft structures, adding that it will be submitted to experts for analysis.

He said that Australian authorities responsible for the investigation into the disappearance of MH370 have been in contact with his institute.

The piece was found over the weekend by local fishermen accompanying an American tourist along the coast of Vilanculos, Inhambane province, about 700 km north of the capital of Maputo. It was delivered Wednesday afternoon to the institute in Maputo, said De Abreu.

A spokesperson from the government's Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) told Xinhua Thursday the piece of debris would be making its way to Australia so that investigators can take a closer look.

"The governments of Australia, Malaysia and Mozambique are working together to arrange for the debris to be brought to Australia for examination and analysis by investigators and specialists from around the world," the spokesperson said.

Photos of the debris appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, or a horizontal stabilizer, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The part of a horizontal stabilizer appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said.

Despite there not being a "specific date of arrival" for the piece of debris, the spokesperson told Xinhua that representatives from Malaysia as well as Boeing would also by flying to Australia to assist with the investigation.

"The team, including investigators from Malaysia and experts from the manufacturer, will examine the characteristics of the debris to confirm that it comes from the correct type of aircraft," he said.

"Until the debris has been examined, we cannot provide any statements on its nature," the spokesperson added.

"The location at which it was reported found, however, is consistent with the drift modelling undertaken by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization."

The alleged stabilizer does have markings on it that show it has come from an aircraft, with the words "NO STEP" - often seen on aircraft - visible on the scrap piece.

However, aviation specialists from the Independent Group (IG) doubt the piece is from a Boeing 777.

"The found item is an aluminum honeycomb panel and, as such, is not a construction that is consistent with composite components employed on a Boeing 777," said IG member, Don Thompson, on the social media website Reddit.

"Neither did it look like it had been in the ocean for two years, (or look like it had been) lying on a sandbar where allegedly found as there was no sign of sand filling the honeycomb structure."

Ongoing multinational search efforts led by Australia in the Southern Indian Ocean, where the flight had presumably ended its journey, have yielded no results so far.

Australia is expected to wrap up its search effort by mid-2016, once its 120,000-square-km target area has been analyzed.

Last year an aircraft flaperon found on the island of La Reunion, which lies at the same corner of the Indian Ocean as Mozambique, was confirmed to belong to the missing airplane, according to Malaysian and French authorities. Endi