Malaysia has said it will send a team to the Maldives to inspect debris found on the Indian Ocean archipelago to determine whether it might be related to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The team will carry out an initial verification to establish if any of the debris is from an aircraft, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement Monday.
“At this stage, it is highly premature to speculate on whether this debris is in any way connected to MH370,” he cautioned.
The discovery late last month of part of an aircraft wing on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean has intensified interest in the hunt for remains of Flight 370, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board.
Malaysia says the wing part, known as a flaperon, has been conclusively confirmed to be from the missing Boeing 777. But French authorities overseeing the analysis of the object say that although there is strong evidence to support that belief, they need to do more tests to be absolutely sure.
Searches continuing around Reunion
France has stepped up its efforts on and around Reunion, which lies off the east coast of Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean, to look for more potential debris.
And authorities on the island of Mauritius, about 175 kilometers (110 miles) east-northeast of Reunion, have also been searching.
A lot of debris has been turned in to authorities on Reunion for verification. But so far, no leads as strong as the flaperon have been reported.
The remnants of a suitcase discovered the day after the flaperon have been sent to a French lab for testing. (CNN)
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