Australia to investigate debris suspected to be from missing flight MH370

Australian investigators are probing newlydiscovered aircraft debris suspected to be from missing flight Malaysia Airlines MH370, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said on Wednesday.

The debris, found in late June on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania in eastern Africa, is believed to be an outboard wing flap of the Boeing 777 aircraft that went missing on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China.

A total of 227 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the missing plane.

The ATSB said it was working with investigators from Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation to determine whether the debris was from the plane.

In the more than two years since it disappeared from radar, Australian investigators have determined that four pieces of debris, found in various spots around the Indian Ocean, belonged to MH370.

French investigators in July 2015 confirmed that a wing fragment found on La Reunion Island was also from the missing plane.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed on a search area in the southern Indian Ocean comprising some 120,000 square kilometers.

More than 110,000 sq km of seafloor have been examined so far.