Debris found on Malaysia's east coast not from flight MH370: minister

Aviation officials said on Friday a metal object recovered from Malaysia's east coast a day earlier was not from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. 

PHOTO: AFP

JAN 29, 20169:55 PM

[KUALA LUMPUR] Aviation officials said on Friday a metal object recovered from Malaysia's east coast a day earlier was not from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

It was the second time in a week authorities have dismissed speculation that wreckage from the jet had been found, after a similar piece of ocean debris recovered from a beach in Southern Thailand on Jan 23 proved not to be from MH370.

Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said the two-metre-long object found in the eastern state of Terengganu on Thursday had been examined by officials from the ministry, the Department of Civil Aviation and Malaysia Airlines.

"The assessment found that the debris does not match those of a Boeing 777, thus confirming that the debris is not from MH370," he said in a statement.

Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

REUTERS