More debris suspected to be part of the lost Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 have been found on an uninhabited island in central Maldives.
The latest piece of debris was found by Mohamed Shifah, who went to Laamu atoll Maamendhoo, an uninhabited island, for fishing. He described the debris as “a metal object with greyish colour and two-feet long.”
“It was lying near the beach and when I saw it I immediately though it was part of a plane because of the bends and colour,” Shifah, 21, a health officer said.
“It was damaged pretty badly though.”
The police have now collected the debris.
Debris was also found on Banyan Tree resort on Vabbinfaru in late May and on three islands in early August.
Malaysia’s deputy minister of transport, Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi, said on Tuesday night that the authorities believe a three-foot long object found washed ashore at the Banyan Tree resort in late May was part of the missing aircraft.
The piece was thrown out as garbage, but the police managed to recover a four inch piece.
A team of Malaysian aviation experts arrived in the Maldives on Tuesday night. The metal piece will be taken to Malaysia for analysis and verification.
Locals the island of Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu atoll insist they saw a low-flying plane on the morning MH370 disappeared.
But president’s office minister Mohamed Hussain Shareef ‘Mundhu’ told The AFP that defence radar and surveillance data showed no unidentified vessel had entered Maldivian airspace.
The Malaysian investigation team led by the deputy transport minister is expected to examine the debris collected by the police from all over the Maldives and determine whether it is from MH370.
In addition to the Banyan Tree resort, located northwest of Malé, islanders from Baa atoll Fehendhoo, Baa atoll Fulhadhoo and Haa Alif Uligan have reported finding debris similar to a plane.
However, doubts have been raised whether the debris found in Baa atoll is from a plane. A captain of a barge that sank near the north central atoll early in February said the debris is wall panels the vessel was carrying to a resort.
But Universal Company which owns the barge and the goods it was carrying, said it was unlikely the debris is goods from the barge.
Meanwhile, coastal oceanography expert Professor Charitha Pattiaratchy from the University of Western Australia told News.com.au that “it would be a big conundrum to see stuff in Reunion as well as Maldives”.
He suggested that it was impossible to have debris washing up on both side of the equator.
“If the debris originated from where we’re talking about in the southern hemisphere, none of it actually goes northwards. It can’t cross the hemispheres because of the wind and the current patterns,” he said.
