Sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik works on a sand sculpture praying for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, at a beach in Puri, India, March 12, 2014. (Xinhua/ Stringer)
DAR ES SALAAM, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian aviation experts said on Monday a piece of an aircraft wing found last week on Pemba Island off Tanzania's coast was of a Boeing 777, but were hesitant to confirm that it belonged to the missing Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777-200 ER Flight MH370.
Reports said last week that a new piece of debris was found on Pemba Island, linking it to the missing flight MH370.
The Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Hamza Johari, Director General for Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), said investigations by TCAA experts found that it was a piece of wing from a Boeing 777.
"But it is too early to link the piece of wing to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which was also a Boeing 777," he told Xinhua by phone.
"We are also puzzled because no such plane has been reported missing in Tanzania and the entire east African region," said Johari.
Students watch a three-dimensional graffiti as a way of sympathizing to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 at a school in Makati City, the Philippines, March 17, 2014. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
He said TCAA was getting in touch with Malaysian aviation authorities to send experts to Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam to establish whether the debris was part of the fateful aircraft.
Johari said TCAA was also making arrangement to ferry the piece of wing from Pemba to Dar es Salaam where it will be kept while waiting for the Malaysian experts.
On Saturday, Minister for Works, Transport and Communication Makame Mbarawa said Tanzania has contacted the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, to help investigate the wreckage linked to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
He said experts from ICAO would join local experts from TCAA to investigate the debris.
"This is a very sensitive issue. We need to undertake thorough investigation before moving to another step," said Mbarawa.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said last week the new piece of debris found in Tanzania would be examined for a possible link to the missing Flight MH370.
