Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 Search Update 2017: Potential New Debris Found in South Africa
A possible new wreckage from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 was found on the southeast coast of South Africa.
Some images presumed to be a part of the aforementioned aircraft were posted on a South African aviation forum called Aviation Communication (Avcom) under the topic name "Aircraft parts wash up on local beach — Transkei." Online community member Steve Onions uploaded the photos and explained how he got a hold of the debris.
"This morning, a local person found some items that washed up on a beach on the Transkei coast near East London that looked like they could be from an aircraft. They sent the cell phone pics taken of these parts to one of our local aviators and the pics have been sent to our local [air traffic control] who will circulate them and notify the relevant authorities," Onions wrote.
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A Malaysian Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) member, Aslam Basha Khan, is already in contact with the forum people to advise them on how to correctly handle the wreckage. However, in a report from Free Malaysia Today, he reveals that they "will not be sending anyone to South Africa as yet, as it is still too premature in the course of this discovery."
As of now, the search and retrieval operations for the aforementioned plane is officially suspended with no more field operations. This is after no significant findings emerged from sweeping the 120,000-square-kilometer with the "highest probability search area" where the MH370 is deemed to have crashed.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau's (ATSB) analysis of debris and satellite imagery is however still ongoing until the end of the month. The search for the missing plane was suspended recently, but Darren Chester, Australia's transport minister, reiterated during a briefing last month that in case new credible evidence emerges, they are all ready to get back on the search program.
The Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has been missing since March 2014 after it took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport going to the Beijing Capital International Airport in China.
There are numerous theories on what exactly happened to the aircraft including a supposed suicide/mass murder orchestrated by the pilot. However, until now, no one knows what caused its disappearance.
