The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia confirmed on Monday that the piece of wreckage had arrived in Canberra as part of the search for the missing Boeing 777.
Officials said it was likely to be a wing flap and was found by locals on Pemba Island, off the coast of Tanzania, on June 23.
“Malaysia and Australia have worked with Tanzanian officials to assume responsibility for the wing flap,’’ they said in a statement. “Technical specialists from the ATSB are working with Malaysian investigators to determine if it is from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, MH370.’’
MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board and its disappearance has become a huge aviation mystery.
The ATSB has so far examined examined four pieces of debris on behalf of Malaysia and determined them to be “almost certainly” from MH370.
This is in addition to the flaperon found on La Reunion Island in July last year and positively identified by French officials as being from the plane.
The search for the missing airliner in the southern Indian Ocean has been hampered by rough weather and has yet to finish sweeping the 120,000 sq. km area experts believe is the most likely resting place of the wreckage.
Transport ministers from Australia, Malaysia and China are due to meet in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to discuss arrangements for ending the sea search once the area has been covered.
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