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Identification work of suspected MH370 debris set for Aug.5

Xinhua, August 2, 2015

• A white van transporting probable MH370 debris found at La Reunion arrives at General Directorate of Armaments(DGA) for analysis in Blagnac, near Toulouse, France, on Aug. 1, 2015. [Xinhua]

  Plane debris that washed up on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion and may belong to the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight has been transferred to Toulouse for identification, which would be conducted on Aug. 5, French media reported on Sunday.

  In Saint-Denis, capital of La Reunion, Chinese Consul General Guo Wei told Xinhua that the Chinese side is closely following latest developments of the issue.

  The consulate has been continuously monitoring information concerning recovery, transport and examination of the debris, and will keep in touch with La Reunion authorities, he added.

  The flight, a Boeing 777-200, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, and a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese nationals, are presumed dead.

  The debris was found Wednesday off the French overseas island. Experts identified it as a part of a plane wing known as a flaperon. A day later, pieces of a suitcase and bottles were also found in the area.

  The flaperon has been transported by truck to Toulouse on Saturday after being airlifted to Paris from Saint-Denis.

  The debris, about 2-2.5 meters long, will be checked by experts at the military-run General Directorate of Armaments (DGA) in Toulouse suburbs. The fragments of that suitcase went to a Paris lab for investigation.

  French experts won't examine the debris till the arrival of their Malaysian counterparts, the Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement.

  France and Malaysia will hold a conference in Paris on Aug. 3, two days ahead of the identification work, which would involve France's BEA air accident investigation agency, as well as Malaysian and Australian experts. Boeing also said it would participate.

  Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Saturday in Kuala Lumpur that it was too early to conclude whether the flaperon belongs to MH370.

  "We do not want to speculate. We will wait for verification from the French authorities," he said.

  Additional Malaysian officials were heading to France to cooperate in the examination, while others were dispatched to La Reunion to look for more debris, the minister said.

  Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz said that according to Malaysia Airlines, the debris has been confirmed as part of a Boeing 777, yet that did not necessarily mean it actually belonged to flight MH370.

  Reports say the debris could be quickly identified because each piece is numbered in an airplane.

  Experts say if the serial number on the flaperon confirms that it is from flight MH370, then the French lab can use sophisticated tools to try to get more information toward solving the MH370 mystery.

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