Sunday, August 02, 2015

MH370: Plane part arrives at France laboratory

Paris: A piece of Boeing 777 wreckage washed up on an Indian Ocean island and suspected to belong to missing flight MH370 arrived Saturday at a French laboratory for analysis.

If confirmed as being from the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight, the discovery would mark the first breakthrough in a case that has baffled aviation experts for 16 months.

The convoy containing the two-metre (six-and-a-half-foot) wing part was escorted by police overland from Paris to the defence ministry laboratory near the southwestern city of Toulouse, encased in a wooden crate.

The part, identified as a flaperon, was flown overnight to the mainland from the French island of La Reunion, where it was found on a beach in the town of Saint Andre earlier this week.

From Paris’ Orly airport, it was driven south by road, arriving at the laboratory at about 5.30pm (1530 GMT).

MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Malaysian and French experts will begin their analysis of the part on Wednesday, as well as fragments of a suitcase discovered nearby, according to an informed source.
02/08/15 The Star
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline