ID :
376080
Mon, 08/03/2015 - 05:26
Auther :

French Authorities To Probe Reunion Island Aircraft Flaperon - Defence Minister

MERSING (Johor, Malaysia), Aug 3 (Bernama) -- The French Justice Ministry will conduct an investigation on an aircraft flaperon found in Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to determine if it belongs to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was informed by his French counterpart that the debris would be sent to a laboratory at DGA Technique Aeronautique in Balma, east Toulouse in France. "I received a telephone call from French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last night (Friday night) to inform me that the aircraft part will be sent to France. "The French Justice Ministry later asked the French Defence Ministry to assist in the investigation," he told reporters after opening the Mersing United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) division meeting here Saturday. Hishammuddin said in this regard, the French Defence Ministry had given its assurance the country would assist in the best way in the wreckage investigation. He said Le Drian would visit Malaysia at the end of the month and the investigation on the debris was expected to be brought up in their discussion, adding that the French defence minister had stated that Malaysia would be kept informed on the findings. According to Hishammuddin, should the aircraft debris be found to have belonged to MH370, then it further affirmed that MH370 was indeed, in the Indian Ocean. It would also debunk various other theories and questions pertaining to the plane which went missing last year, he noted. On March 8, last year, Flight MH370 vanished from the radar enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing while carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. On Jan 29, this year, the Department of Civil Aviation announced that an accident befell the missing aircraft, according to international aviation rules, and that all passengers and crew onboard the plane were presumed dead. -- BERNAMA

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