Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that “an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed” the plane wreckage discovered on the French island of La Reunion last week is from Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing over a year ago.
The French officials leading the investigation of the wing part, however, declined to issue an outright confirmation, saying instead that there are “very strong presumptions" that the part belongs to the missing Boeing 777 but further testing is still needed.
The lack of clarity from official sources has been criticized for adding to the agony of the relatives.
"I was left somewhat confused and, frankly, a little angry and dismayed," K.S. Narendran, whose wife was on MH370 told CNN.
When the plane debris, part of the wing called a flaperon, was found last week, the families of the 152 Chinese passengers aboard the missing jet issued a joint statement saying, “We don’t want to hear yet again officials say they’re 99 percent sure. We want 100 percent confirmation.”
Others have said that that confirmation would not bring closure.
"Just that if it is from MH370 but it doesn't mean anything more, you know it still cannot help you to find the plane and it still cannot help you find the truth about what happened or why," the son of a Chinese passenger said.
Malaysia Airlines told Malaysian media Wednesday that representatives from the carrier would meet Chinese relatives on Friday.
Many of the Chinese relatives have been critical of the way Malaysia Airlines has handled the tragedy.
“We have urged them to resume the MH370 family support center here, but they have rejected it, ” Jiang Hui said.
The airline closed all six of its family support centers in China in April, said Jiang, whose mother was on the flight.
While uncertainty about the fate of the plane remains, aviation expert Peter Goelz says the announcement that the flaperon almost certainly belongs to MH370 "confirms the sad truth that the plane ended up in the water with all its passengers and crew and that there were no survivors.”
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[Image via CNN]
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