Personal items found no connection to MH370 passengers

KUALA LUMPUR: The Transport Ministry revealed that personal items that were washed up on a beach in Madagascar on Monday have no connection to the ill-fated flight MH370.

Transport minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that the confirmation was relayed to him by the country which found those items after conducting a thorough analysis.

"However, we will continue the necessary analysis and we also have the MH370 investigation teams that always monitor the latest development on any debris found.

"All these debris are important because it would allow us to find out more details about the MH370 incident as well as allowing us to conduct more analysis," Liow said in a press conference after officiating the 9th Hui Zhou World Convention earlier today.

Among the personal items that washed up Riake Beach in Madagascar are a camera case, shoulder bags, a laptop case, shoes, a prayer hat, a wash bag, a phone case and a rucksack.

Liow also added that the piece of plane debris found in Tanzania will be analysed to determine if it belongs to MH370.

"It is by far the biggest piece of debris retrieved from the Indian Ocean but prior to sending a team to Tanzania to conduct further checks, it is important for us to first confirm it belongs to a Boeing 777," he said.

Meanwhile, Liow stressed that although the current search efforts have been temporarily suspended due to bad weather and would be extended until October, Malaysia remain committed to completely search the targeted 120,000 sq km.

"Due to the bad weather, the tripartite countries would need to sit down and discuss on how to continue and complete the search.

"Currently the search team has searched 107,000sq km which is some 89% of the targeted search area," Liow said.

On whether the search would be continue or stop after 120,000sq km is reached, Liow pointed out that it would be decided during the tripartite meeting next month based on all the suggestion and proposal by the expert teams.

He said that the main focus now is to complete the 120,000sq km which is very crucial as it is 99% likely to find the plane within the targeted search area following the expert recommendation.

"Unless we complete searching the area, we would not discuss other need or possibilities," he added.