Two pieces of debris found in Mozambique are 'almost certainly' from missing flight MH370, the federal government has confirmed.
One of the pieces, stamped with '676EB', was found in December but initially dismissed as rubbish and only reported to authorities earlier this month, prompted by media reports of the other piece, which has the words 'NO STEP' on it.
The pieces arrived in Canberra for testing four days ago and on Thursday, Transport Minister Darren Chester said investigators had concluded they were consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.
Mr Chester said investigators remained hopeful the aircraft would be found.
'The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370,' Mr Chester said.
He said finding the objects on the east coast of Africa was consistent with modelling of debris drifting from the search area in the southern Indian Ocean.
Authorities remain certain they area searching in the right area for the plane which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board, including six Australians.
So far only a piece of wing, known as a flaperon, discovered in July on the island of Reunion, has been confirmed as being from the missing jetliner.
25/03/16 AAP/Sky News
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One of the pieces, stamped with '676EB', was found in December but initially dismissed as rubbish and only reported to authorities earlier this month, prompted by media reports of the other piece, which has the words 'NO STEP' on it.
The pieces arrived in Canberra for testing four days ago and on Thursday, Transport Minister Darren Chester said investigators had concluded they were consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.
Mr Chester said investigators remained hopeful the aircraft would be found.
'The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370,' Mr Chester said.
He said finding the objects on the east coast of Africa was consistent with modelling of debris drifting from the search area in the southern Indian Ocean.
Authorities remain certain they area searching in the right area for the plane which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board, including six Australians.
So far only a piece of wing, known as a flaperon, discovered in July on the island of Reunion, has been confirmed as being from the missing jetliner.
25/03/16 AAP/Sky News
