Debris ‘Major Lead’ in MH370 Search

Malaysia’s deputy transport minister said Thursday authorities are “almost certain” that plane debris that washed up on the shores of Réunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean belong to a Boeing 777—the same type of aircraft as Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared last year. “It is almost certain that the flaperon is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. Our chief investigator here told me this,” Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said. The possible wing flap was found 4,500 miles from where Australian authorities had predicted its drift pattern. Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said authorities are treating the discovery as “a major lead,” but warned further analysis was needed. No evidence of the plane or the 239 people on board was ever recovered after it disappeared in March 2014, despite a multi-nation effort to scour the Indian Ocean for months.