Malaysian officials said an airplane wing part found last week
on the remote Indian Ocean island of Ré union came from the same
type of aircraft as Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, raising hope it
will offer clues to solving the mysterious disappearance of the jet
nearly 17 months ago.
French officials, however, declined to confirm Malaysia's
assertion before an analysis of the part officially begins
Wednesday, underscoring the confusion that has emerged in the
sprawling, multinational investigation. Local officials in Ré union
were also sifting through reports of new debris found on the
island, a French territory off the east coast of Madagascar, as
scavengers came to the beach looking for other parts that could
have washed up on the beach.
Malaysia Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai identified the plane
piece that washed ashore Wednesday as part of a Boeing 777, the
same model as Flight 370. Mr. Liow said French authorities, Boeing,
and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board agreed that the
piece was from a 777. Mr. Liow didn't say whether the part belongs
to the missing flight.
If the piece is identified as a Boeing 777 part, it would almost
certainly come from Flight 370. Only two other Boeing 777s have
ever crashed, and neither was anywhere near the Indian Ocean.
But a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, which is
leading the investigation into the wing part, said French
authorities have yet to come to that conclusion. The examination
was set to begin Wednesday at a high-tech military defense lab near
Toulouse with expertise in analyzing airplane debris.
French judicial authorities have convened a meeting in Paris for
Monday to give order to an investigation that has captured the
world's attention, after days of sometimes conflicting
statements.
Jim Hall, a former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation
Safety Board, said the confusion and lack of clear leadership
amounted to "a slippery slope" that threatens to undermine public
confidence in the expertise and independence of the overall
investigative effort.
Mr. Hall said in an interview that the current confusion sets a
bad precedent for future international probes. The investigations
of Flight 370 and last year's downing of another Malaysia Airlines
flight over Ukraine, he added, appear to have "a greater amount of
secrecy and lack of disclosure" than nearly any recent high-profile
air-crash probes.
Monday's meeting is supposed to spell out which authorities are
in charge of each element of the probe, including whether French
civil air accident investigators or military technical experts will
lead the examination of the recovered debris, said a French
official. A delegation of Malaysian officials is also in France to
participate in the investigation. Officials from the U.S.
government or Boeing are expected to have a role in the probe.
In Ré union, police were deluged with reports of metallic
objects found on the island's rocky beaches. The police did collect
at least one of these items: Early Sunday, an official with the
prefecture of Saint Denis, Ré union's main town, said an airplane
door had been found on the island's northern coast. But other local
officials and residents described the debris as a collection of
much smaller metallic objects that may or may not be from an
airplane.
Some residents feared that frequent claims that Ré union beach
refuse might have come from the missing plane could strain the
small island's public services. "They can't chase down every
scrap," said high-school teacher Franç ois Jeanmart, who saw many
treasure seekers along the oceanfront during his Sunday bike ride
along Ré union's northeastern promenade. "It's difficult to
differentiate a plane piece from a washing machine piece."
Jean-Yves Sambimanan, a spokesman for the town where the piece
of broken wing was found Wednesday, said he had nothing to do now
except alert officials in Paris if any more debris does turn
up.
"Everything to do with the investigation is happening in France,
they are guiding things," he said.
Mr. Liow, Malaysia's transport minister, also called on other
nations in the vicinity of Ré union to be on the lookout for more
potential airline debris that may wash up onto their shores.
"This is to allow the experts to conduct more substantive
analysis should there be more debris coming on to land," he said,
"providing us more clues to the missing aircraft."
French officials involved in the probe, however, said they are
concerned their work could be slowed by having to examine a deluge
of items that have washed ashore but have no link to the current
probe.
Australia has been leading the search for the aircraft hundreds
of miles off its western coast. Investigators believe the plane, on
its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, veered
sharply left about an hour into the flight and crossed over
Malaysia. Then, it most likely turned left again and continued
south for thousands of miles before crashing in the eastern half of
the Indian Ocean.
Australian aviation officials have said that ocean currents
could well have pushed the wing part across the Indian Ocean to Ré
union over the past 17 months from the area they are currently
searching.
Locals on Ré union were considering what the deluge of
international attention could mean for the island, a small economy
dependent on sugar cane and tourism, and connected mainly by
expensive flights to nearby Mauritius and distant France. Some said
any press could only be good press.
"Now people know where we are," said Kay Botterman, a
34-year-old career counselor. "Most people just think the ocean is
empty out here."
Jason Chow and Robert Wall contributed to this article.
Write to Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com, Patrick
McGroarty at patrick.mcgroarty@wsj.com and Robert Wall at
robert.wall@wsj.com
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