KUALA LUMPUR/BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia is still awaiting verification on whether the debris found on the French Reunion island was from the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Saturday.
"As of today I haven't received detailed verification report," Liow said as he arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport from abroad.
"I would like to emphasize that we are waiting for the verification result and we hope it can be done as soon as possible," he said. "At the meantime, let's not speculate on anything."
Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said Friday that he had been informed that the flaperon washed ashore on the Reunion Island were from a Boeing 777.
"Yes, MAS (Malaysia Airlines) told me that the part number of that flaperon is a Boeing 777, but it doesn't mean that it belongs to MH370," said the official.
"It confirms that the flaperon belongs to a (Boeing) 777," he added.
According to Liow, Malaysia has sent two teams to assist the investigation, one to Paris and the other to the Reunion Island.
All 239 passengers aboard the MH370 are presumed dead after it went missing not long after takeoff on March 8, 2014.
A wreckage was found on Wednesday off the French overseas island. Experts identified it as a part of a plane wing known as a flaperon. A day later, pieces of a suitcase and bottles were also found in the area.
The piece of plane debris has brought investigators a step closer to solving the mystery of MH370, officials from Malaysia's transport ministry said.
The wing part arrived in Paris Saturday to be handed over to investigators looking for a possible link with missing flight MH370.
Paris' Orly airport website confirmed the Air France flight transporting the piece of wreckage landed at 6:17 a.m. local time (0413 GMT).
Work to identify the aircraft wreckage would start on Wednesday, according to French local media.
"Pieces of a suitcase, discovered near the aircraft debris, will also be transferred and studied by experts of the criminal research institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise," the news channel BFMTV said Friday, citing a Paris prosecutor.
Meanwhile, further search for plane debris resumed Friday on the Reunion island.
To help solve the mystery of the disappeared Boeing 777, French authorities have mobilized significant resources to monitor and control the beach and all the objects disgorged by the sea.
A Navy ship has made several patrols, while a helicopter and a plane from the Air Force has conducted air reconnaissance in the discovery zone.
Estelle Crochelet, a Reunion-based expert, used models of ocean drift calculations and found that results were perfectly concordant with the dates and locations of the alleged disappearance of flight MH370.
In Australia, officials were "increasingly convinced that the debris is those of the MH370," as was Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
However, French authorities did not elaborate on the possible link between the debris and the missing Boeing aircraft.
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Is wreckage found on La Reunion Island from Flight MH370?
BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The wreckage found on La Reunion Island has once again kindled the public's attention to the ill-fated MH370 -- a flight which went missing on March 8, 2014.
As 239 people vanished with the plane on that fateful night, their heart-broken families have had to endure the grilling uncertainty about the fates of their loved ones ever since.
Will this wreckage be the first bit of physical evidence recovered from the Malaysian jetliner?Full story
Wreckage discovery shouldn't disrupt search: MH370 families
BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Families of Chinese passengers on board MH370 are concerned the discovery of debris possibly belonging to the missing Malaysian aircraft may disrupt the international search operation.
In a statement issued Thursday, a group of family members urged all parties committed to the search to keep up their efforts while the origin of a plane part washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion is determined.Full story
