A plane debris has been found off Mozambique, and according to the transport minister of Malaysia Liow Tiong Lai, there's a "high possibility" that the object could be part of a Boeing 777. However, it's still unclear whether it's from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 as the investigation continues.
Australian authorities are working together with Malaysian officials to sort the matter. The piece is reportedly set to be transported to the Maputo capital. U.S. and Malaysian investigators are going to analyze it.
"The debris will be taken to Australia for further examination," Lai tells Reuters.
Based on a photo of the fragment in question, U.S., Malaysian and Australian experts believe that it could be a horizontal stabilizer, noting how it reads "NO STEP," NBC News reports. The object in question was located on the east African coast somewhere between Mozambique and Madagascar.
Lai said on Twitter that the specifics are "yet to be confirmed and verified," advising readers and followers of his account on the social media platform to not jump to conclusions.
I urged everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to #mh370 at this time. (3/3)
— Liow Tiong Lai (@liowtionglai) March 2, 2016
A search for the Flight MH370 is still ongoing, and Australian investigators are leading it. The exploration spans 60,000 square kilometers (roughly 23,166 square miles), and it has been expanded by another 60,000 square kilometers.
"We are still confident that we will find the aircraft between now and the completion of searching the search area of 120,000 square kilometers. The more we search, the more likely the aircraft is to be in the area we are still looking at," Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau or ATSB, says.
Flight MH370 went missing during a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing two years ago on March 8, 2014. The plane is said to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, where it had 239 occupants that consist of passengers and the crew on board when it disappeared. The reason for the tragedy is yet to be uncovered.
Last year, a flaperon washed up on Reunion Island, which is located 600 miles east of Madagascar. As of right now, this is the only piece that has been confirmed to be from the Boeing 777 of Flight MH370.
