Possible MH370 Debris Found In Seychelles, Malaysia Notified

Two debris pieces found in the island nation of Seychelles could possibly be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said Thursday. The Boeing 777 went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Scientists researching birds and turtles in the East African country spotted the debris on Farqhar, one of the islands that make up Seychelles.

"The direction of flow of the sea currents make it likely that the (debris) came from the general direction where other parts (of MH370) have been found in Indian Ocean countries," a senior SCAA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Read: MH370 Went Into ‘Spiral Dive’ Before Crash, Previously Secret Data Says

The largest piece of possible aircraft wreckage was nearly 4 feet long and a foot wide, Michael Payet, a spokesman for the state agency that manages all Seychelles islands said. He also added that the wreckage that appeared to be made of aluminum and carbon fiber "could be part of an engine cover."

The SCAA said in a statement they contacted Malaysian authorities "who have shown an interest, and with whom we expect to work closely."

The whereabouts of the missing plane remain unknown even after a multimillion-dollar search for the jet spanned for more than three years in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean where authorities believe the plane may have gone down. During the long search for the plane, several debris pieces were found on islands including Reunion Island, Mozambique, and Mauritius, some of which were confirmed to be from Flight MH370.

Earlier this year, the tripartite — China, Malaysia, and Australia — suspended the search for Flight MH370 after search vessels scoured 46,000 square miles of the ocean floor in a fruitless bid to locate the plane.

The disappearance of Flight MH370 was also clouded with several conspiracy theories which went as far as a hijack or a terrorist attack. Some theorists also claimed that the pilot of the plane may have deliberately crashed the plane.

Read: Will Flight MH370 Ever Be Found? Plane Wreckage Search Area Narrowed Down

On Tuesday, an independent analysis by a team of aviation and mathematical experts concluded that the aircraft was in a “spiral dive” in the moments just before it crashed into the ocean. The report also said there was likely nobody in control of the plane. The findings by the Independent Group confirmed the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s conclusion about the plane’s final moments.

“Considering that the newly available data generally support the conclusions of the official investigators, it remains a mystery as to why Malaysia withheld the data for so long and why it chose to release the data at this time,” Victor Iannello if the Independent Group, according to the West Australian, said.