Aircraft seat cushions, window panes found on Reunion: Malaysia

Malaysia’s transport minister had said hours earlier that new debris, including window material and metal, had been collected.

A group of families from China said French investigators and Boeing must also say definitively the wing piece was from the plane.

The airline described the discovery as “a major breakthrough for us in resolving the disappearance of MH370”.

Mr Liow, who later specified he was referring to aircraft seats and windows, said it remained to be seen whether the items found on Reunion Island were debris from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

“There should be at least one other flaperon from the other wing (floating around)”.

“We have also found debris like window panes, aluminium foil, and seat cushions”, Liow Tiong Lai told AFP.

The debris was discovered on Reunion Island on July 29 and was officially identified as part of a plane wing known as a flaperon from a Boeing 777.

And Ms Weeks said she was disappointed that “yet again” Malaysian authorities had failed to inform families before announcing it to media.

With the first trace of the plane confirmed, Malaysia has asked the governments of neighbouring Mauritius and Madagascar to help widen the search area, he told reporters.

An aircraft part that washed ashore on an island in the Indian Ocean last week is from long-missing Flight 370, Malaysian officials said, making it the first concrete evidence of the plane that disappeared 17 months ago in one of the world’s most confounding aviation mysteries.

Serge Mackowiak, a deputy prosecutor in France, used slightly less conclusive language than the prime minister and the airline: He said that investigators “can very strongly presume” that the wing flap came from Flight 370.

He said Thursday the paint color on the flaperon also matches with the airline’s records.

But he admitted that he understood why a French investigation team – who have been handed some initial pieces of debris – have been less categorical about declaring the part as belonging to Flight 370.

“But we said not strong supposition… not may be [sic]”.

“They have more verification process to make, the paint, the sealant and so on”.

To answer that question, investigators would have to find other pieces of the plane, particularly those containing the jet’s “black boxes”, which record conversations in the cockpit and the flight data.

“We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery”, it said in a statement.

Caroline Sapriel, managing director of CS&A, which advises companies on crisis management, said that the airline must communicate the developments “sensitively to the families and all stakeholders otherwise it may end up being perceived wrongly and have a further deteriorating effect on their already tainted reputation”.

China’s foreign ministry urged Malaysia to keep investigating and to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests” of relatives. “The French inquiry, of course, has not been quite so conclusive”.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. “Why not wait and get everybody on the same page so the families don’t need to go through this turmoil”.