MH370: Further analysis of flaperon needed

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai on Friday urged experts to further analyse and provide teams investigating the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with more details following the formal identification by France of the airplane part found on Reunion island.

He said the flaperon -- a wing component -- could be analysed to gather more information such as the whereabouts of other pieces of wreckage, The Malaysian Star reported.

“Such information will assist the Search Strategy Working Group which is conducting the search, to move forward,” the minister said.

On Thursday, French investigators confirmed that the flaperon belonged to the ill-fated aircraft which vanished mysteriously enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Investigators learned that a series of numbers found inside the plane flaperon matches records held by a Spanish company that manufactured portions of the component, linking the debris to MH370, the office of Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.

"Consequently, it is possible today to affirm with certainty that the flaperon discovered at the Reunion Island on July 29, 2015, is that of MH370," the office added.