Malaysia to seek help from territories near Reunion Island over MH370

LIOW: I urge all parties to allow this crucial investigation process to take its course.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is trying to get the help of aviation authorities in territories near Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean for experts to undertake substantive analysis should more aircraft debris be recovered that could shed light on the Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing more than a year ago.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said this was being done by the Department of Civil Aviation because the substantive analysis was important should there be more debris coming onto land that could provide clues as to the disappearance of Flight MH370.

"I urge all parties to allow this crucial investigation process to take its course. I reiterate that this is for the sake of the next-of-kin of the loved ones who were on MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and have suffered much over this time," he said in a statement here today. 

Liow said accredited representatives from Malaysia, the United States, China and France as well as the Boeing company would take part in the verification on Wednesday of a Boeing 777 flaperon found on Reunion Island that was taken to Toulouse, France. 

"We know the flaperon has been officially identified as being part of a Boeing 777 aircraft.

"This has been verified by French authorities together with aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Malaysian team comprising the DCA, MAS and Malaysian International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370," Liow said. 

The Boeing-777 flaperon was flown to Paris on Aug 1 and has been transported by road to Toulouse. 

Liow said an announcement would be made once the verification process had been completed.

Flight MH370 vanished from the radar at about midnight on March 8 last year while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.

An intensive search over several months by a multinational search team in the southern Indian Ocean found no trace of the aircraft.

- Source: Bernama