Aircraft debris in Réunion ‘almost certainly’ from a Boeing 777

International media have been abuzz all morning about reports that an aircraft wing section washed up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

The Guardian reports that Malaysia’s deputy transport minister has said the debris is “almost certainly” wreckage from a Boeing 777, although it is not yet confirmed, whether it is indeed part of the missing Malaysia airlines flight MH370.

MH370, had disappeared almost 17 months ago on 8th March 2014, and it remains the only unaccounted-for 777 in the world. The aircraft, travelling from Kuala Lampur to Beijing had 239 people on board, including some 12 crew members, and it disappeared off radar screens after around 2 hours and 20 minutes of its journey.

Meanwhile, Malysian authorities have sent a team to Réunion to examine the debris of a flaperon, a two metre-long moveable part on the trailing edge of the wing.

According to the Guardian, a mechanic from the Réunion-based airline Air Austral told journalists he had studied the debris with French military officials and concluded with 99.9% certainty that it originated from a Boeing 777.

He said the debris was stamped with 657-BB, a number that could be used to identify a part and the plane to which it belonged.

The islands of Réunion lies on the extreme western edge of a huge search area in the Indian Ocean identified as the likely crash site by investigators, based on the last satellite pings from the aircraft.

Relatives of many of the 153 Chinese passengers of MH370 said they wanted authorities to be completely certain the part was from the missing plane.

A statement said: “We want [the information] to be 100% positive. We care more about where our families are rather than where the plane’s wreckage is.”

For the past 15 months the search has focused on a 46,000 sq mile (120,000 sq km) stretch of seabed nearly 1,250 miles (2,000km) south-west of Perth, Australia. Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian team coordinating the search, said the surfacing of debris in Réunion “doesn’t rule out our current search area”.