Australia to study three new pieces of debris for link to missing MH370

May 26, 2016 11:20 AM

The minister, Darren Chester, said in a statement all three items would be investigated in connection with the disappearance of MH370.

A family member of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing in 2014 holds a banner during a gathering in front of the Malaysian Embassy on the second anniversary of the disappearance of MH370, in Beijing, China, March 8, 2016.

Three new pieces of debris thought to be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 have been found washed up on Indian Ocean beaches and will be examined in Australia, the transport minister said on Thursday.

Two of the pieces were found in Mauritius while the third was found in Mozambique.

"These items of debris are of interest and will be examined by experts," he said.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, in what has become one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

Investigators believe someone may have deliberately switched off the plane's transponder before diverting it thousands of miles off course over the Indian Ocean.

A first piece of the Boeing 777, a wing part known as a flaperon, washed up on the French island of Reunion in July 2015. Malaysia and French authorities confirmed it was from the aircraft.

Two pieces of debris discovered later in South Africa and the Mauritian island of Rodrigues were almost certainly from the jetliner, Malaysia's transport ministry said this month.

Chester said Malaysia was arranging to collect the three new pieces and would send them to Australia, which has been leading the search for the aircraft in the Indian Ocean.