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MH370 Search: Pictures Show Wing Flap Found on Pemba Island

Investigators searching for MH370 on Wednesday released images of a suspected wing flap found last month on Pemba Island.
Image: Australian and Malaysian investigators examine Tanzania debris thought to belong to MH370
MH370 investigators examine the Pemba Island debris in this handout image from the ATSB.ATSB / EPA

Investigators searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Wednesday released images of a suspected wing flap found last month just off the coast of Tanzania.

The large piece of aircraft debris is believed to be an outboard wing flap, the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau said in an update.

It is being examined by experts at the ATSB’s headquarters in Canberra to determine whether it is from the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people on board after flying off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

It was discovered on Pemba Island, which lies approximately halfway between the coastal cities of Mombasa, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

A wing flaperon found a year ago on La Reunion, an island further south towards Madagascar, has already been positively identified by French officials.

A painstaking search of the floor of the southern Indian Ocean, where the airliner is thought to have crashed, has yielded not a single clue so far.

A 46,000-square mile area of seabed is being trawled by specialist vessels. Fewer than 3,900 square miles remain to be searched and efforts to find the wreckage will be abandoned unless any further clues can be found.

The search was due to have been covered by July or August but stormy winter weather and high seas in the southern hemisphere region have caused delays.

Image: Investigators examine the Pemba Island debris in this handout picture released by the ATSB.
Investigators examine the Pemba Island debris in this handout picture released by the ATSB.ATSB / EPA