Malaysia Confirms Thailand Debris is not from MH370
Malaysia confirmed Tuesday that debris found on the coast of southern Thailand was not from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, laying to rest one question but leaving the fate of the missing airliner still shrouded in mystery.
The discovery of the metal panel on the shores of the Gulf of Thailand on Saturday ignited intense speculation over whether a fresh clue had been found in the MH370 enigma, whose bizarre disappearance continues to haunt the aviation world.
After taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board, the Boeing 777 inexplicably veered off course over the South China Sea -- near the Gulf of Thailand -- and vanished.
But Malaysia's transport ministry said a team of experts from the government and Malaysia Airlines had examined the debris in Thailand and confirmed there was no link.
"Based on these identifying details, the team has confirmed the debris does not belong to... MH370," a ministry statement said.
A day earlier, Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the metal panel was probably from a rocket it manufactured to launch satellites into space, but was yet to confirm that.
Two years after its disappearance, the only hard evidence that the Malaysian airliner met a tragic end is a two-meter-long MH370 wing part found last July on a beach on the French-held Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
Investigators have long believed that the plane went down in a remote part of the Indian Ocean far off Australia's western coast.
Australia is leading a high-tech search using state of the art sonar detection equipment, searching for any sign of wreckage on the seabed at crushing depths approaching 5,000 meters (16,400 feet).
But they have been unable to locate an exact crash site, which could help solve the mystery, and the cause of the disappearance remains one of aviation's greatest riddles.
The challenges of the difficult search were underlined on Monday, when Australian officials said an underwater sonar vehicle used in the hunt had been lost to the deep ocean floor after hitting an undersea volcano.
Relatives of those aboard MH370 have bitterly criticized the airline and Malaysian government for failing to provide answers, and the case has sparked a range of conspiracy theories, including that the plane was commandeered and landed safely somewhere.
Experts say the most plausible scenarios remain a hijack, rogue pilot action or catastrophic mechanical failure, but no evidence has emerged to support any theory.
The Malaysian transport ministry statement said: "Our thoughts continue to be with the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew of MH370."
"We remain committed to continue the ongoing search in the Southern Indian Ocean."