Malaysia to send team to inspect debris found in Mozambique: official

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said here Thursday that a team will be sent to Mozambique to inspect the newly found debris there, which was very likely from the missing MH370 aircraft.

Liow said that the team will include members from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Malaysia Airlines, and the investigation team.

He said that the debris will be sent to Australia, as the country has already a team in Mozambique. "I have not received the details about when the debris will arrive in Australia, but definitely the debris will be under the custody of Malaysia," he added.

The minister said that if the debris were indeed from MH370, the location of the debris still falls into the drifting pattern related to the search for the missing plane in the South Indian Ocean.

Liow said that there will be a tripartite meeting between Malaysia, Australia and China in June, during which the experts will give advice on the future search.

As the two years' anniversary of the MH370 incident is approaching, Liow said that an interim statement will be issued by the investigation team on March 8 according to the rules of the ICAO, which is expected to look into the cause of the accident.

A plane wreckage, likely to be from a Boeing 777, was found ashore on the coast of Mozambique.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese nationals.