KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – A Malaysian official announced on Sunday that the object recently found on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean was not part of the missing Malaysia Airline Flight 370.
Azharudding Abdul Rahman, Malaysian Director General of Civil Aviation, told media outlets that the new debris was just a domestic ladder and not part of a door, as earlier reported.
Reports said the debris was a piece of a Boeing 777 wing flap. It was found on a beach in the town of Saint Andre last Wednesday.
The item was turned over to authorities after it was washed ashore south of Reunion’s capital of St Denis in the the north.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China.
The aircraft disappeared from air traffic controllers’ radar screens at 01:22.
Malaysian military radar continued to track Flight 370 as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malay Peninsula.
Flight 370 left the range of Malaysian military radar at 02:22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang in northwestern Malaysia.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations. – BusinessNewsAsia.com