MH370: Could debris be on WA's south-west coast?

Malaysia has asked for help from around the rim of the Southern Indian Ocean, including WA's south-west coast, to find possible debris from MH370 but urged caution after several false leads.

Yesterday the Charitha Pattiaratchi, Professor of Coastal Oceanography at the University of Western Australia reiterated that the current modelling indicated that debris from MH370 could have washed up on the south-west coast of WA.

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"Computer modelling predicts that debris from MH370 have the possibility of washing ashore along the south-west coast of Australia."

That modelling shows that debris could have also washed up as far as South Australia and Tasmania.

However it is unknown how much possible debris there would be still floating from the loss of MH370.

Searchers are currently looking for MH370 1800km to the west and south of Perth, Western Australia in a 120,000sq km search zone.

In April last year a piece of debris was found on a beach 10km east of Augusta in Western Australia but it was from a light plane.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told the AFP that civil aviation authorities were reaching out to their counterparts in other Indian Ocean territories to be on the lookout for further debris that could provide "more clues to the missing aircraft".

However he said that Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation was contacting authorities urging them to allow experts "to conduct more substantive analysis should there be more debris coming on to land, providing us more clues to the missing aircraft".

"I urge all parties to allow this crucial investigation process to take its course. I reiterate this is for the sake of the next of kin of the loved ones of MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and have suffered much over this time," Mr Liow told AFP. “We will make an announcement once the verification process has been completed."

On Sunday the UK SkyNews reported that a very small aircraft door or panel had been discovered but it turned out to be part of a ladder.
Separately Mr Liow confirmed in an official statement that the flaperon found last week on Reunion Island had been "officially identified" as from a Boeing 777.

That verification came from the joint investigative team of Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board, Malaysian and French authorities set up to establish the origins of the flaperon.

A key identification tag that would link the flaperon immediately to a particular aircraft is missing so a more forensic investigation is required.
Confirmation of what aircraft it belongs to is expected Thursday.