By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

 Malaysia confirmed Tuesday that a metal piece that washed ashore in southern Thailand had not been part of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the part – measuring two meters wide and three meters long – did not match any of those of the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people onboard on March 8, 2014.

“The part numbers which were found on the recovered debris are not listed in the Malaysia Airlines B777 Illustrated Parts Catalogue manual,” he said in a statement. “Based on these identifying details, the team has confirmed that the debris does not belong to a B777 9M-MRO aircraft [MH370].”

The numbers on the recovered curved metal piece for its part assembly, wire bundle and bolts did not match those of a passenger plane, according to Liow.

He thanked Thai authorities for their swift response and support in the identification process and their cooperation with the Malaysian government.

Last weekend, media reports emerged that residents of a fishing village in Nakhon Si Thammarat province had found wreckage suspected of belonging to an aircraft, such as MH370 that disappeared over the Indian Ocean.

Liow had told reporters Sunday that although the fishermen who discovered the part believed it could have been under the sea for at least a year, an investigation team would examine it before any confirmation.

Beijing-bound MH370 vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March 2014, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

The search and rescue mission that began immediately involved 65 aircraft and 95 vessels as well as experts from 25 countries.

After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, in Jan. 2015 Malaysia declared MH370 lost in an accident, killing all passengers.

On July 29, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island of Le Reunion, east of Madagascar. The debris believed to be from a Boeing 777, was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.

Days after, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flaperon was from MH370, and that the flight had indeed ended in the Indian Ocean.