16 September 2016•Update: 17 September 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
A team investigating missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will begin probing whether the commercial aircraft was deliberately ditched or experienced an uncontrolled fall while carrying 239 people, according to Malaysia's transport minister.
Liow Tiong Lai told Anadolu Agency on Friday that both the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the MH370 Safety Investigation Team will look into details of debris confirmed to belong to the aircraft to determine the falling mode of MH370 in March 2014.
"The teams will examine into other details now and study how the accident happened -- whether it was a controlled or uncontrolled ditch into the sea," he said in a telephone conversation.
The minister had earlier dismissed a report claiming that evidence had shown that MH370 was deliberately crashed into the Indian Ocean by its pilot, and underlined that the ATSB had reported the incident was an "uncontrolled ditch".
His comments Friday come a day after he confirmed that a piece of debris -- an inboard flap of a Boeing 777 -- found in Tanzania last June originated from MH370.
In a statement late Thursday, Liow said the debris was determined to be from the missing aircraft after several numbers as well as its physical appearance and dimensions were found to match those of the ill-fated flight.
"A date stamp indicated that it was manufactured on Jan 23, 2002, and consistent with the May 31, 2002, delivery date for MH370,” Liow said.
"Besides the Boeing part number, all identification stamps have a second OL number which are unique identifiers relating to the part," the minister highlighted.
He added that an Italian parts manufacturer had confirmed that all numbers located on the recovered debris relate to the same outboard flap shipped to Boeing and delivered to Malaysia Airlines.
Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur enroute to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
The jetliner has yet to be found despite massive search operations in the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft was believed to have ended its flight after diverting from its original route.
The search and rescue mission -- which began immediately after -- involved some 160 assets as well as experts from 25 countries.
To-date, at least six pieces of aircraft debris found along Africa’s east coast have been confirmed as “almost certainly” coming from MH370 .
After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29 2015 Malaysia declared that MH370 was lost in an accident, killing all passengers.
On July 29 last year, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island, east of Madagascar. The debris -- believed to be from a Boeing 777 -- was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.
Days after, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flaperon was from MH370, and that the flight indeed ended in the Indian Ocean.
On July 22, ministers from Malaysia, Australia and China decided during a tripartite meeting to suspend the search operations for MH370, after competing the current earmarked 120,000-square kilometer search area.
