Debris Almost Certainly from Missing MH370

Two pieces of debris discovered in South Africa and the Mauritian island of Rodrigues are almost certainly from the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 jetliner, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Thursday.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, in 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, out over the Indian Ocean.

"The team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement.

Liow said the findings support results from a previous examination in March, during which the team confirmed that another piece of debris found in Mozambique was also almost certainly from MH370.

A first piece of the Boeing 777 washed up on the French island of Reunion in July 2015. Malaysia and French authorities confirmed the flaperon was from the aircraft.

Underwater Search

More than 105,000 square kilometers of the seafloor have been searched so far. In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, Australia, Malaysia and China have agreed to plans for recovery activities, including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation.

Consistent with the undertaking given by the Governments of Australia, Malaysia and the in April last year, 120,000 square kilometers will be thoroughly searched. It is anticipated this will be completed around the middle of the year. In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, the governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.