Suspected MH370 debris to be verified in Australia, France

KUALA LUMPUR -- Suspected debris from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 discovered in Mozambique and French overseas Reunion Island recently will be sent to Australia and France for verification, Malaysian officials said Monday.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai called for patience for experts to carry out the verification process.

"It is important to reemphasize that at this juncture, it has not been confirmed whether any of the recovered debris came from MH370," Liow said in a statement.

A piece of debris suspected to be part of the horizontal stabilizer that washed ashore in Mozambique had been brought to Malaysia for preliminary analysis.

Another piece of debris was reported to be found in Mozambique by South African holidaymakers and was later brought to their home country.

Malaysian authorities have been in contact with South Africa and an expert team will be dispatched to take custody of the debris, Liow said.

Both pieces will be sent to Australia for further examination and verification by an international investigation team.

On the suspected debris found in the French overseas Reunion Island, where a wing part called flaperon was discovered last year, Liow said the piece would be transferred to France to be verified by the French authorities.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals.

A joint search in South Indian Ocean, where the flight presumably had ended its journey, has yet to found its wreckage. The flaperon has remained the only debris confirmed to be from the plane so far.