USA: Malaysia sends experts to potential MH370 wreckage site

Malaysia will send a team to verify what could be part of the MH370 wreckage in France, Malaysian Minister of Transport Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai said during a UN Security Council meeting in New York, Wednesday. Liow Tiong Lai’s statement came after part of the wing of a plane was found on France's Reunion Island, Wednesday, fueling speculation that it could be from the lost MH370 flight. After washing up on the island’s shore, the debris is thought to be part of a Boeing 777 plane – the same model as the Malaysia Airlines aircraft. The part of the wing found on the island is believed to be a flaperon, which controls the crafts bank and roll. Investigators will now try and work out if the debris is indeed from the MH370 flight or from other aircraft crashes that have occurred near the island in recent years. On May 4, 2006, a twin-engine plane came down close to Reunion. Another possibility is the crash of Yemenia flight 626 in June 2009, which also came down close to the island. MH370 disappeared on March 8 2014, with 239 passengers and crew onboard whilst flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport. A desperate and wide-ranging search for the missing aircraft ensued around the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, but to no avail.