Philippines to assist in verifying claim of MH370 wreckage find, says IGP
Malaysian authorities said they have yet to ascertain the truth behind a report claiming that a plane wreckage with a Malaysian flag was found at an island in southern Philippines. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said Malaysian police were reaching out to their counterpart in the Philippines to confirm the validity of the claim, and the alleged link to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Local daily, The Star reported last night that a man had lodged a police report that the wreckage, with human remains inside, was spotted by his nephew from the southern Philippine island several days ago. Khalid in responding to this new development said that police have yet to be able to verify the matter as the report was not backed by any supporting documents or photographs. "There was no photograph to support the claim. So, we have asked our counterpart in the Philippines to check whether there was such a wreckage," he said. In the news report, the man, an audio visual technician in his 40s, said that his nephew and few others were hunting for birds when they spotted the wreckage on the island of Ubian. The man claimed that they managed to get near the wreckage and found skeletal remains in the pilot's chair with the seat belt fastened. Before leaving the area, he said the group took a flag they found in the wreckage. The man said he decided to lodge a police report as he believed it could be that of an aircraft that disappeared last year, referring to MH370. The plane had disappeared in March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. Last month, French authorities confirmed that a piece of a wing flaperon, found on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean, belonged to the missing MH370 aircraft. Malaysian authorities had also said that the paint colour and maintenance record on the particular aircraft wing matches the part found, thus proving it came from the lost aircraft. – October 11, 2015.
