International and Australian aircrews involved in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370
International and Australian aircrews involved in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 prepare for an official photograph as they stand on the tarmac at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Pierce Base in Bullsbrook, near Perth, April 29, 2014. The chance of finding floating debris from a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner has become highly unlikely, and a new phase of the search would focus on a far larger area of the Indian Ocean floor, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday. The international search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, has so far failed to turn up any trace of wreckage from the plane. Given the amount of time that has elapsed, Abbott said that efforts would now shift away from the visual searches conducted by planes and ships and towards underwater equipment capable of scouring the ocean floor with sophisticated sensors. Reuters/Richard Polden

A French prosecutor has confirmed on Thursday the wing part found on the Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean belonged to the unfortunate Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The team of French examiners who investigated the flaperon confirmed that a number was found matching the documentation of the MH370 pieces, chief French prosecutor Francois Molins said. A technician from Airbus Defence and Space (ADS-SAU) in Spain, which developed the Boeing 777, identified one matching number out of the three-digit serial number.

“It is therefore possible to confirm with certainty that the flaperon found on Reunion island on July 29, 2015 corresponds to the one from flight MH370,” Molins stated.

In August, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Tun Razak announced that the flaperon belonged to Boeing 777, while the investigators always stressed there was “very high probability” that it was detached from the airplane while the aircraft went into the southern Indian Ocean.

The new findings in the investigation have brought the examiners closer to solving the mystery behind sudden disappearance of the Malaysian aircraft.

Till date, there have been several assumptions regarding the disappearance of the aeroplane flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The real cause of failure is still unknown, but initial reports show probability of mechanical or structural malfunction. Also, shortage of fuel was considered to be the reason behind the disappearance of Boeing 777.

In August, Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said that the investigators from Malaysia would meet and converse with China and Australia to filter the search for Boeing 777 post discovery of the wing part on the Reunion Island. “Definitely, the search will continue in the same area,” he said.

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