Page 12 - ATODAY
P. 12
WORLD NEWS A11
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Malaysia says possible MH370
debris found in South Africa
LYNSEY CHUTEL inches by 27.56 inches) wings was found washed In this photo taken Monday March 21, 2016, a part of a plane
Associated Press “with chunks gone from the ashore on France’s Re- is photographed in Mossel Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A side,” said Kruger. union Island last July.
South African archaeolo- The white surface, with the Two more possible pieces Associated Press
gist has found a piece of partial logo, has peeled of debris which were dis-
debris with part of an air- away to reveal a dark covered recently in Mo-
craft engine manufactur- metallic grey covering, a zambique, by the South
er’s logo and Malaysia’s photograph showed. Kru- African teen and an Ameri-
transport minister said Tues- ger took photos and sent can adventurer, are being
day that authorities will ex- it to a friend who is a pilot, examined by an interna-
amine it to see if it is from who in turn passed it on to tional investigation team in
the missing Malaysia Air- other pilots, who all quickly Australia.q
lines Flight 370. became convinced that
“Based on early reports, this was part of an airplane
there is a possibility of the engine. Kruger alerted the
piece originating from an South African Civil Aviation
inlet cowling of an aircraft Authority who told him to sit
engine,” but a further ex- tight until further instruction.
amination and analysis are Wondering what to do
needed to verify whether it next, he sent a message
belongs to Flight 370, said via Facebook to Liam Lot-
Malaysian Transport Minis- ter, the South African teen-
ter Liow Tiong Lai. A team ager who also found a
will be dispatched to re- piece of aircraft debris. In
trieve the debris, Liow said December last year, the
in a statement. 18-year-old found what he
On South Africa’s southern believes could be the wing
coast, Neels Kruger was of the missing plane on a
walking along a lagoon on beach in neighboring in
Monday afternoon, near Mozambique. Lotter, who
the town of Mossel Bay announced his discovery
when he spotted some- earlier this month, passed
thing that did not seem to along the contact details
suit the natural surround- of the Australian authorities
ings. tasked with leading the in-
“Being an archaeolo- vestigation into the missing
gist I’m always looking for plane. “They said it was a
things with my nose to the very interesting piece and
ground,” said the 35-year- they need it sent to them,”
old. He recognized the said Kruger, adding that
brown honeycomb struc- the Australian aviation au-
ture from photos of other thorities would not confirm
pieces of debris believed that this was a piece of the
to part of the missing air- missing plane. The Malay-
craft. sia Airlines jet disappeared
“When I flipped it around, on March 8, 2014, with 239
I didn’t know immediately people on board while fly-
what it was but just thought, ing from Kuala Lumpur to
‘Oh my word!’” he told The Beijing. The plane remains
Associated Press in a tele- one of the biggest myster-
phone interview. On the ies in modern aviation.
other side, Kruger said he An Australian-led underwa-
recognized what remains ter search in the southern
of the black Rolls Royce Indian Ocean, where the
logo, the manufacturer of plane is believed to have
aircraft engines. The piece crashed, has found no
is about 70 centimeters trace of it so far. A piece
by 70 centimeters (27.56 from one of the plane’s
