[Peetwo]

From 'that man' Higgins courtesy the Oz:

New MH370 report today as debris sent for inspection

• Ean Higgins
  
• The Australian
  
• March 8, 2016 12:00AM
  

Reporter


Reunion Island resident Johny Begue shows a piece of debris he believes may be a part of the missing plane.

The Malaysian government today will mark the second anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with a much anticipated further interim report on the mystery.

The move comes as the man who found the one confirmed piece of the Boeing 777, on a beach on the French Indian Ocean ­island of Reunion, says he has found another piece of debris that could be from the aircraft.

The plane disappeared with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Radar and satellite data showed the aircraft reversing course about an hour into the flight and tracking back over ­Malaysia, with its transponder turned off and no further radio contact, before turning south on a long final leg to the southern ­Indian Ocean.

The Malaysian government produced a long interim report that stuck to a description of ­assembled facts — such as radar contacts, satellite tracking data and details of the pilots — without making any assessment of the cause of the disappearance.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is running the search for MH370, has based its strategy on the flight being a “ghost flight”, with pilots unresponsive by the time it fell into the ocean after running out of fuel.

Critics have attacked the ATSB’s assumptions, with Australian veteran pilot Bryon Bailey claiming assumptions may be designed to avoid saying the aircraft’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, might have hijacked his own plane, a scenario that could embarrass Malaysia.

At the weekend, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said a further interim statement on the loss of the aircraft would be delivered today, while the Speaker of the Malaysian parliament would make a speech to commemorate the second anniversary of the tragedy.

Mr Liow said a team of Malaysian and Australian aviation officials were in Mozambique to arrange the transfer of a piece of debris thought to be part of MH370’s tail. He said it would be sent to Australia for inspection but remain in Malaysia’s custody.

The developments came as Johny Begue, the Reunion man who in July found the movable control surface of a wing known as a “flaperon” — later confirmed as being part of MH370 — said he had found another, smaller piece of debris.

The newly discovered item is about 40cm square, grey on one side with a blue border consistent with the Malaysia Airlines livery, with a honeycomb construction.

Mr Begue said the new piece was found in almost the same place as the flaperon, and he had handed it to the local gen­dar­merie.

“I was running. After, when I stopped to rest, that’s when I found the piece,” Mr Begue told the Associated Press. “The same beach and nearly the same place.”

MTF...P2