Aviation experts in southern France started examining an airplane wing part on Wednesday that washed ashore on Reunion Island to determine if it is from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing more than a year ago, dpa reported. The director of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, was at the aeronautical centre of the French Defence Ministry in Balma, along with experts from France and Australia to examine the 2-metre wing flap. If the investigators find it to be from MH370, it would be the first confirmed trace of the Boeing 777 airliner since it disappeared on its way to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian Transportation Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at the weekend that the flaperon "has been officially identified as part of a Boeing 777 aircraft." Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said earlier Wednesday that the investigators may be able to make a formal statement about the origin of the part "later this week." Truss said scientists working with the Australian organization in charge of the search have confirmed material from the current search area could have been carried to Reunion Island by currents and wind. "For this reason, thorough and methodical search efforts will continue to be focused on the defined underwater search area, covering 120,000 square kilometres, in the southern Indian Ocean," Truss said. Two survey ships are conducting the search in the Indian Ocean and have covered 60,000 of the 120,000 square kilometres search zone so far. -- SPA 19:42 LOCAL TIME 16:42 GMT تغريد
