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Thursday, May 26, 2016

More possible MH370 debris wash up in Mauritius

THREE more possible pieces of wreckage from MH370 have been found in Mauritius and Mozambique.

The first, an 80cm by 40cm piece of suspected fuselage, was found by a French tourist on the north east coast of the mainland at Îlot Bernache more than two weeks ago.

The man reportedly gave it to the captain of a boat he had hired to take him to the spot, known in English as Goose Island, for safekeeping.

However, the skipper forgot all about the piece until Tuesday, when he finally handed it over to the National Coast Guard, according to local media.

Photographs of the fragment have been circulating on social media since yesterday and several MH370 sleuths have pointed out its similarity to the cabin piece found at Rodrigues Island, east of Mauritius, on March 30 by a couple holidaying from nearby Reunion.

Others have said it looks like part of a rudder.

The second piece was believed to have been found near a tidal pool at Gris-Gris beach at the southern end of the mainland on Tuesday afternoon by a patrolling coast guard.

That fragment has been described as bearing similarities to the wing part found by South African teen Liam Lotter in Mozambique in December.

Mauritian authorities have measured and photographed both pieces and sent the information to Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation.

The Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester this afternoon announced that the two fragments plus a third piece found washed up in Mozambique were “of interest in connection to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370”.

“The Malaysian Government is yet to take custody of the items, however as with previous items, Malaysian officials are arranging collection and it is expected the items will be brought to Australia for examination,” Mr Chester said.

“These items of debris are of interest and will be examined by experts.”

If confirmed to have come from the missing Boeing 777, the fragments will be the sixth, seventh and eighth pieces to have been recovered. The other five have all been located in the region at Reunion, Mozambique, South Africa (Mossel Bay) and Rodrigues Island.

Up to three specialised vessels have been combing a section of the southern Indian Ocean known as the seventh arc, where investigators believe the plane is most likely to have entered the water, for more than two years without success.

MH370 vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board on March 8 2014.

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