Malaysian Prime Minister: Debris is from MH370

Malaysia's Prime Minister left no room for doubt.

The piece of a plane wing that washed up on an island in the Indian Ocean, he announced, was indeed part of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

"It is my hope that this confirmation, however tragic and painful," Prime Minister Najib Razak said, "will at least bring certainty to the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board MH370."

But a top French prosecutor was slightly less definite when he stepped up to a podium in his country an hour later.

There are "very strong presumptions" that the part belongs to the missing Boeing 777, Paris Deputy Prosecutor Serge Mackowiak said, adding that more testing will be done to prove it conclusively.

France, which already had opened a criminal investigation into the plane's disappearance, has been drawn deeper into the matter after the plane part's discovery last month on Reunion island, a remote part of its overseas territory. Investigators at a specialized laboratory in Toulouse are examining it.

Even with tests ongoing, analysts said the Malaysian government's highly anticipated announcement marks a key step in the investigation into what happened to the plane.

But several passengers' family members said they weren't sure what to believeafter hearing both officials speak.

"I was left somewhat confused and, frankly, a little angry and dismayed," said K.S. Narendran, whose wife was one of the passengers.

Authorities announced their conclusions, Narendran said, without detailing their findings.

"I didn't hear facts. I didn't hear the basics. I heard nothing," he said, "and so it leaves me wondering whether there is a foregone conclusion and everyone is racing for the finish."

 

Investigators analyze debris

 

When the debris -- a part of a wing known as a flaperon -- washed up July 29 on Reunion island, its discovery was considered possibly the first physical evidence that might help shed light on a mystery that has vexed even the most seasoned aviation experts: How could a commercial airplane just vanish?

MH370 debris discovered on Reunion Island

On Wednesday, investigators met at a specialized laboratory near Toulouse to begin examining the part. Their work took hours, and Najib made the announcement very early Thursday, Kuala Lumpur time, 515 days since the flight bound for Beijing from the Malaysian capital disappeared with 239 people aboard.

Najib said the found flaperon matches a Boeing 777, and the characteristics of the flaperon match the technical specifications provided by Malaysia Airlines for that part of the missing aircraft.

Shortly before he spoke, Malaysia Airlines sent a message to victims' families saying a "major announcement" that the flaperon was from the missing plane was imminent.

"This has been confirmed jointly by the French Authorities, Bureau d' Enquetes et d' Analyses pour la Securites de I'Aviation Civile (BEA), the Malaysian Investigation Team, Technical Representative from PRC and Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB)," the airline's statement said.

The French prosecutor, who's involved in a criminal probe that country launched because four French nationals were aboard the flight, cited the same evidence, but phrased his assessment differently and said there would be more tests.

It sounded "less certain," said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"Really, we didn't get too much more than what Boeing already told us from looking at the pictures," she said. "So I was actually a little disappointed, thinking what the families must think on hearing that."

In a "tug of war among nations," she said, the passengers' families seem to be stuck in the middle.

Remembering the passengers of MH370 

Relatives of those on board have said real closure won't come until their family members' remains have been recovered and the truth about what happened to the plane is established.

Progress on those fronts is unlikely to be made unless the Australian-led underwater hunt locates the aircraft's wreckage and flight recorders somewhere in the huge southern Indian Ocean search area, which covers and area bigger than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

News Courtesy: www.cnn.com