Even French investigators are now convinced: The airplane debris
found on Reunion Island in July belongs to vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight
370, a top French prosecutor said Thursday.
Investigators
learned Thursday 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 said.
The announcement
slices the last thread of public reservation that Molins' office had about
whether the debris was linked to the Boeing 777 that disappeared with 239
people aboard in March 2014.
The Malaysian
Prime Minister said weeks ago that the debris, found in July on the
shores of the French island in the Indian Ocean, clearly was from MH370. French
investigators, however, had said that further testing was needed to say that
with ironclad confidence. Some passengers' relatives agreed, saying they wanted
more proof.
French
investigators now believe they have it. France, which already had launched a
criminal probe into the disappearance because four French nationals were
aboard, sent the debris to a specialized laboratory in Toulouse last month.
Families push for the whole story
Jack Song, brother of passenger Song
Chunling, said the piece of debris does not tell then whole story.
"From my
opinion, it doesn't matter whether it's from 370 or not," he said.
"Because it's just one piece of debris. Not the whole airplane. That
doesn't mean anything. Doesn't tell where the plane is or what happened. We
need the whole plane, and we need the exact place where the aircraft is."
Molins' office
said that experts using an endoscope found three series of numbers inside the
flaperon. It appeared, the office said, that the numbers could correspond to a
Boeing subcontractor, Airbus Defense and Space in Seville, Spain.
On Thursday,
investigators went to Seville and formally linked "one of the three
(series of numbers) collected inside the flaperon to the serial number of the
Boeing 777 of flight MH370," Molins' office said.
"After a
year and a half of ambiguity and disparate theories, I would rather have
certainty than doubt," said Sarah Bajc, partner of passenger Philip Wood.
" At least
now there seems to be evidence that the plane did go in the water. I do wonder
why it took so long. I also still wonder where the hull of the plane and the
bodies are, and what happened."
K.S. Narendran,
whose wife, Chandrika Sharma, was
aboard the flight, said the news won't change anything.
"On a daily
basis, this news doesn't impact my life. I've had to carry on without a family
member and I have gotten used to living without that family member," he
said. "Has my life changed between yesterday and today? No. Has my desire
to know the truth changed? No, I'd still like to know and I will persist."
The mystery of MH370
In the early hours of March 8, 2014,
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport
in Malaysia en route to Beijing, with 239 passengers and crew on board.
At 1:19 a.m., as
the Boeing 777-200ER was flying over the South China Sea, Malaysian air traffic
controllers radioed the crew to contact controllers in Ho Chi Minh City for the
onward flight through Vietnamese airspace.
The crew's
acknowledgment of the request was the last thing ever heard from MH370:
"Good night Malaysian three-seven-zero."
Shortly
afterward, air traffic controllers in Malaysia lost contact with the plane
somewhere over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
The aircraft's
transponder, which identifies the plane and relays details like altitude and
speed to controllers, stopped transmitting. MH370 seemingly disappeared without
a trace.
Malaysian
authorities revealed later that military radar had tracked the plane as it
turned back to the west and flew across the Malaysian Peninsula, up the Strait
of Malacca, before flying out of radar range at 2:14 a.m. and vanishing once
again.
No comments:
Post a Comment