By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia's transport minister has said that debris found on the Maldives did not come from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Seri Liow Tiong Lai told reporters Friday that a Malaysian investigation team currently on the island archipelago had made the decision based on items it had examined so far.
"My team has witnessed the debris and most of them are negative. They are not related to MH370 and not even plane material," he said.
He added that if any of the debris still to be tested is believed to come from MH370 it would be handed over to investigators.
The team travelled to the Maldives Aug. 10 to view and conduct preliminary verification after Malaysia was officially notified by the Maldives Civil Aviation Authority about unidentified debris found on the island.
Lai had warned on the team leaving that it was "highly premature" to speculate on whether the debris was in any way connected to MH370.
The discovery came after a flaperon, apparently from the missing airliner, was discovered on the Indian Ocean territory of Reunion.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak later confirmed that flaperon had been part of the Boeing 777 that vanished last year, but French Deputy Prosecutor Serge Mackowiak has urged more caution, telling reporters in the French capital that there was “a very strong supposition” it belonged to MH370.
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.
