Possible MH370 debris in Mauritius

Wreckage found by hotel guests will be examined to see if it is from Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in 2014

SYDNEY // Debris found in Mauritius will be examined to see if it belonged to MH370, just weeks after two fragments found in Mozambique were linked to the missing flight.

“The Malaysian government is working with officials from Mauritius to seek to take custody of the debris and arrange for its examination,” Australian transport minister Darren Chester said.

“This debris is an item of interest. However, until the debris has been examined by experts it is not possible to ascertain its origin.”

It was not clear which country would examine the debris. William Auguste, who owns the Mourouk Ebony Hotel on Rodrigues Island, about 560 kilometres east of the main island of Mauritius, said the wreckage was found by guests.

“For sure it looked like part of an aeroplane – it looks like it’s from the inside part of it,” he said. “I don’t know how to say it but there was wallpaper inside of the plane, you can see this design and part of it is still there.” The wreckage was handed over to police, he said.

Aviation expert Don Thompson told the Australian news website news.com.au that the fragment could be the bulk- head from the Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 business or economy class cabin.

The discovery came less than two weeks after Australian and Malaysian authorities said two pieces of debris found in Mozambique were “almost certainly from MH370”.

Another fragment picked up near Mossel Bay, a small town in Western Cape province in South Africa, would also be analysed to see if it came from MH370, South African officials said last month.

Before the latest discoveries, only a wing part recovered from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, which lies east of Mozambique and is a neighbour island to Mauritius, had been confirmed as coming from the airliner that disappeared two years ago.

Australia is leading the search for the remains of MH370 in a remote area of the Indian Ocean, where the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight is believed to have crashed after diverging from its scheduled path and disappearing on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Authorities predicted that any debris from the plane that is not on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.

Mr Chester added that authorities “remain hopeful the aircraft will be found”. More than 95,000 square kilometres of the target zone of 120,000 sq km have been searched so far, but no trace of the plane has been found in the main search area.

The governments of Australia, China and Malaysia said they will end the hunt when the target area is fully searched unless new, credible information emerges.

An aviation expert said the fragment could be part of a MH370 bulkhead