After nearly a year-and-a-half search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 370, it seems that every finding as of late has become subject to more scrutiny if not ridicule.
Many believe that if the combined search teams of China, Malaysia, and Australia were not able to turn up anything after over a year of operations covering over 60,000 square nautical miles of ocean, then it must be absurd finding something suddenly showing up right under their noses.
Late in July, an alleged plane part of the ill-fated Flight MH 370 was said to have been found on Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar in Africa. But Malaysian aviation authorities subsequently debunked the discovery.
A piece of a Boeing 777 wing flap was found on a beach in the town of Saint-Andre in Reunion Island on July 30. Initial reports also said that the debris was believed to be part of a door.
Four days later or on August 2, a Malaysian official debunked the notion that the debris found was part of the missing Flight MH 370, officially identifying it as a generic ladder that has nothing to do with the ill-fated plane.
A ‘white object’
A few days ago, an Air France pilot flying his plane from Paris to the French island and hovering 3,000 meters on the air, or almost 10,000 feet, reported that he saw a white object floating about 45 miles off the coast of Reunion Island.
The report has been under scrutiny since because, at 3,000 meters from the sky, the pilot’s sighting must really be a big object. If what the pilot saw is really a big object, and floating on the sea, it could not have been a part of the plane at all but something else.
The French Civil Aviation Authority on Reunion Island had ordered a merchant ship to search the area where the white object was spotted, but nothing has been found thus far. A military plane was also deployed to check and search the location, but it turned up nothing so far, details the International Business Times of UK.
Air France released a statement about their pilot’s finding on September 15 as if to validate the sighting officially. Unfortunately, no white object has been spotted on the place of sighting of the Air France pilot so many are assuming that it could be something else that he saw and definitely not a part of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 370, cites Yahoo! News.
More debris or just adding confusion?
Since the discovery of the supposed wing part of the missing Flight MH 370 on July 30, which locators initially referred to as flaperon, more debris have started washing ashore at Reunion Island, as if to reveal more clues to the whereabouts of the plane..
Malaysia has already asked regions nearby to be on alert for any debris that could be from Flight MH 370.
On August 2, one of the photographers who went to check on the discovery also saw a mangled piece of metal inscribed with two Chinese characters attached to a leather-covered handle and measuring 100 square centimetres being placed into an iron case and carried away.
Those who have seen the image of the mangled metal says that it could be a kettle. The authorities, however, have yet to confirm whether they are considering that the new piece of metal found could be from the plane or not. But those in the social media think the new discovery appears to be merely a kettle.
Upon the discovery of the object on the beach of Saint-Andre on July 30, a Malaysian transport minister was actually the first one who stated that the item was a wing flap from a Boeing 777.
The finding was actually verified by French authorities along with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. In fact, the piece has been taken to mainland France where investigators in the city of Toulouse will seek to establish if indeed it came from Flight MH 370.
There were also fragments of a suitcase that were found on the same beach, which will be included as well in the examination at Toulouse.