American investigators have concluded that a large object that washed up on Wednesday on the shore of Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, came from a Boeing 777, making it likely that it was debris from Flight 370, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared in March 2014.
Array
US government officials and experts from Boeing have reportedly based their conclusion on photographs and videos, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Array
It is being reported that a large piece of aircraft wreckage washed up on Reunion Island, and appeared to be an aircraft wing.
Array
More From This Section
The Americans were waiting for French aviation experts to examine the object and determine if it contained a serial number matching that of the Malaysia Airlines jet.
Array
The object was about nine feet long and three feet wide, and that it appeared to have been in the water for a very long time.
Array
Flight 370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, veered off its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and stopped communicating with ground controllers shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014.
Array
It flew westward across the Malay Peninsula and then southward over the Indian Ocean, and it is presumed to have crashed there in very deep water, killing everyone aboard. Months of extensive air and sea search efforts have so far failed to find any trace of the aircraft.
Array
There are many theories about its disappearance, including that a rogue pilot caused it to crash.
Array
The French aviation safety bureau, known as BEA, said in a statement on Wednesday that the authorities were in the process of designating a laboratory in France where the object would be taken for examination.