Australia to study latest debris for MH370 connect

A hotel owner on the island who saw the debris said it looked like it was from the inside of a plane, with what he thought was a wallpaper “design”, which if confirmed, would be the first piece of interior debris from the plane yet to be found. 

Australia has led the search for the plane, which went missing in March 2014 with 239 people on board on a flight from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing, and Transport Minister Darren Chester said the debris, found last week, was an “item of interest”.  

In a statement, Chester said, “The Malaysian government is working with officials from Mauritius to seek to take custody of the debris and arrange for its examination”. He did not say from what part of the missing Boeing 777 the debris was suspected to have come. 

Last month, Australia said debris found in Mozambique was “almost certainly from MH370” and in 2015 French authorities said a wing part found on the Indian Ocean island of  Reunion was part of the plane. 

Australia said that more than 95,000 square kilometers of a 120,000 square kilometer target zone had been searched and that the entire zone would be covered by June, when the search is scheduled to end.