The mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 jet may finally be solved after a flaperon was found in the Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed. U.S. investigators confirmed that the aircraft part came from a Boeing 777, the same model as the ill-fated airplane.
The piece was found in Reunion, a French island in the western Indian Ocean. A French law enforcement team from BEA is in the island to examine the flaperon, reports Associated Press. A crew cleaning the island found the plane fragment.
NBC points out that there is only one missing Boeing 777 jet right now, which is the MH 370. The fragment, measuring about six feet long, appears to have been in the water for a long period, according to the French Interior Ministry.
A Boeing engineer confirmed that the concave shape is common to the 777 flap design, reports The Wall Street Journal. While the aircraft manufacturer declined to comment on the find, Boeing said that it would continue to share its technical expertise and analysis in the investigation.
Xavier Tytelman, an aviation consultant who used to work on maritime patrol jets for the French navy, also said that the flaperon looks like the wreckage of a 777. He added that the markings on the plane fragment could help identify the part's provenance.
The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8, 2014 after it left Kuala Lumpur airport bound for Beijing. It had 239 crew and passengers on board, many were Chinese.
BEA spokesman Sebastien Barthe said that the French probers are coordinating with Malaysian and Australian teams about the flaperon. Malaysia deployed team to Reunion to check the flaperon, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at the United Nations.
Following the discovery of the plane part, the Australian government said in a statement on Wednesday, "It would be consistent with other analysis and modelling that the resting place of the aircraft is in the southern Indian Ocean."