PARIS
Almost one month after Malaysia's prime minister said that debris that washed up on a French island in the Indian Ocean belonged to a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, France has followed suit, saying "with certainty" Thursday that it belonged to flight MH370.
The two-meter-long piece of wreckage was found July 29 on La Reunion, east of Madagascar, and sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis.
"It is possible today to say with certainty that the flaperon discovered on La Reunion Island on July 29 came from flight MH370," Paris prosecutors said in a statement.
"As part of the judicial investigation into the disappearance of the flight MH370 Malaysia Airlines... the expertise operations initiated on August 5, 2015, following the discovery of the flaperon, helped to identify three numbers inside the flaperon."
According to investigators one of the figures on the wing part corresponded to the serial number of an MH370 flaperon.
Beijing-bound MH370, which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 last year, was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens.
Search and rescue operations have involved around 65 aircraft and 95 ships, as well as experts from 25 countries.
After a 10-month intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, Malaysia declared Jan. 29 that Flight MH370 was lost in an accident, with all on board killed.
Beijing-bound MH370, which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 last year, was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens.
Search and rescue operations have involved around 65 aircraft and 95 ships, as well as experts from 25 countries.
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