TEMPO.CO, Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed that parts of a plane wing found in a remote island in the Indian Ocean was from Malaysian Airlines MH370, which was missing 17 months ago.
“Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370,” Prime Minister Najib Razak told journalists in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday, August 06, 2015.
French prosecutor involved in the investigation into the MH370 case said that there is a “very high probability” that the wreckage was from MH370. To gain more accurate results, the team has planned to conduct more tests.
It is unclear yet why the airplane carrying 239 passengers and crew went off-course from its route on March 8 last year. The missing airplane has been one of the greatest mysteries in the history of flight.
“We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” Najib added.
Malaysia Airlines praised the news as a huge breakthrough.
“We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery,” Malaysia Airlines said in a press release.
Australian authorities leading the search for the missing airplane also expressed optimism that main parts of the plane would be found.
“We’re confident that we’re looking in the right area and we’ll find the aircraft there,” Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told ABC radio.
Of the 239 passengers, seven of them were Indonesians. The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, through the directorate for legal aid and protection of Indonesian nationals, has contacted Malaysia Airlines for further coordination.
CHANNEL NEWS ASIA | NATALIA SANTI
