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Possible MH370 debris found in Mozambique

Saturday, 12 March 2016 11:28 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 March 2016 11:26 AM ]

Joao de Abreu, the president of Mozambique’s Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), holds a piece of suspected aircraft wreckage found off the east African coast of Mozambique at the country’s Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) in Maputo, March 3, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A new piece of debris believed to be from the missing Malaysian Flight MH370 has been discovered in the African country of Mozambique, aviation authorities from South Africa say.

Authorities said on Saturday that South African teenager Liam Lotter had found and taken home a one-meter-long piece of metal on a beach while on holiday in Mozambique last December.

His family had contacted authorities after reports of the discovery of a suspected piece of the Malaysia Airlines plane wreckage in Mozambique circulated earlier this month.

“The South African Civil Aviation Authority has arranged for the collection of the part, which will then be sent to Australia as this is the country appointed by Malaysia to identify any parts found,” the authority’s spokesman Kabelo Ledwaba said in a statement.

The piece is expected to be examined by investigators from Australia and Malaysia, as well as Boeing specialists.

The latest development comes days after the second anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance.

On Tuesday, family members of the victims gathered outside a court in the Chinese capital, Beijing, to file lawsuits as a deadline to take legal action against the airline neared.

Flight MH370 went missing with 239 passengers and crew on March 8, 2014, shortly after take-off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A massive international search in the South Indian Ocean, the China Sea, and the Gulf of Thailand ended without results.

Investigators eventually concluded that the aircraft had likely flown thousands of kilometers in an unknown direction before crashing.

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