Plane debris found on the coast of Mozambique will be sent to Australia to determine whether it belongs to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
American blogger Blaine Gibson reportedly discovered the three-foot-long debris fragment on the east African coast earlier this week.
The president of Mozambique’s Civil Aviation Institute, Joao de Abreu, said Gibson has since handed the debris to authorities.
The find was first reported by NBC, which said the fragment could be part of an aircraft’s tail known as a horizontal stabiliser.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said initial indications suggest there is a “high possibility” it came from a Boeing 777, the same model of aircraft as MH370.
Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said the location of the possible find is consistent with oceanic drift models used to search for signs of the missing plane, reports Sky News.
“The debris is to be transferred to Australia where it will be examined by officials from Australia and Malaysia, as well as international specialists,” he said in a statement.
MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There were 239 passengers and crew aboard.
In July a wing fragment was found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, with experts later determining that it came from MH370.
It is the only confirmed find of debris during a two-year investigation into the missing plane.
Aviation experts believe MH370 veered sharply off course to the far-southern Indian Ocean before crashing into the sea.
