TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After 16 agonizing months without answers, loved ones of those on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will likely have to wait at least another day for confirmation that it crashed into the sea, as investigators work to identify the source of a barnacle-encrusted wing part that washed up on a remote Indian Ocean island.
Though several officials have expressed confidence that the debris found on the French island of Reunion is from a Boeing 777, French authorities are planning to send the piece to southern France for analysis before confirming it came from the missing Malaysian aircraft. The part could arrive Saturday morning, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.
Officials, keenly aware that families of those on board Flight 370 are desperately awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones, hope to have at least some answers within the next day or two.
"The most important part of this whole exercise at the moment is to give some kind of closure to the families," said Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss, whose country is leading the search for the plane in a desolate stretch of ocean off Australia's west coast.
Still, given the myriad false leads that have peppered the search, some would prefer certainty to speed.
AP