Australia’s crash investigators have confirmed that the two small pieces of debris found in Mozambique three weeks ago are highly likely to have come from MH370 which disappeared over two years ago.
The confirmation means that it is certain that the 777 did not make a controlled landing on the sea as some conspiracy theories suggest but was out of control and met a catastrophic end.
A third – even smaller piece – with a Rolls Royce logo discovered in South Africa last weekend is yet to be examined but is almost certainly from the doomed Boeing 777 which was powered by engines from the UK manufacturer.
On Thursday the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester told media that “the analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370.”
The location of the debris is totally consistent with drift modelling performed by The University of WA almost 22 months ago.
It also confirms the search teams are looking in the right area.
“I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Geoscience Australia, Boeing and Australian National University which assisted the Malaysian Investigation Team with their examination of the debris,” said Mr Chester.
There is another 25,000 square kilometres of the underwater search area still to be covered.
In a twists – due to further analysis and more intelligence – the final part of the search is the area most likely to be the final resting place say officials.
Also the search teams are now deploying an autonomous vehicle which is looking in areas such as valleys and canyons where the towed side scan sonar cannot reach.
This is launched from a ship and programmed to travel through mountainous terrain scanning for MH370 debris.
