The piece of wing found on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has been formally identified as part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, the Paris prosecutor said yesterday.
The part, known as a flaperon, was found on the shore of the French-governed island on July 29 and Malaysian authorities have said paint colour and maintenance-record matches proved it came from the missing Boeing 777 aircraft.
The French prosecutor, who had until yesterday's statement been more cautious on its provenance, said a technician from Airbus Defense and Space (ADS-SAU) in Spain, which had made the part for Boeing, had formally identified one of three numbers found on the flaperon as being the serial number of the MH370 Boeing 777.
"It is therefore possible to confirm with certainty that the flaperon found on Reunion island on July 29, 2015 corresponds to the one from flight MH370," the prosecutor said in a statement.
The plane disappeared in March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board, most of them Chinese.
- Reuters
Related reports
France completes 1st phase of flaperon examination
Reunion police and army halt MH370 debris search
France to conduct MH370 searches off Reunion
JACC confirms flaperon is from MH370
MH370 sank in almost one piece, claims expert
Malaysian MH370 relatives express ‘great sorrow’