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The inboard section of one of MH370’s outboard wing flaps undergoes examination. Source: ATSB
THE AUSTRALIAN Transport Safety Bureau has confirmed a large section of wing flap recovered off the coast of Tanzania belongs to the missing Boeing 777 MH370.
The debris was found on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, on June 20.
Initial examination of photographs of the piece of wreckage indicated that it belonged to a Boeing 777 outboard flap.
This has now been confirmed by direct observation of the item at the ATSB laboratory in Canberra.
Several manufacturers’ part serial numbers and a date stamp were found on the piece of flap. These were consistent with those belonging to MH370.
The manufacturer’s date stamp and serial number which matches the flap component details for MH370. Source: ATSBSource:Supplied
ATSB examiners are continuing to attempt to discern further information from the condition of the flap. This could indicate whether or not the flap was deployed at the time it was separated from the wing.
Officials have so far failed in their efforts to explain why the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people veered so far off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Theories range from a deliberate murder-suicide plot by one of the pilots through to a mechanical catastrophe.
Search crews in the Indian Ocean have been unable to find the main body of wreckage of the plane despite more than a year of hunting a remote underwater stretch of ocean off Australia’s west coast.