Wing part found on Reunion island is definitely from MH370, French prosecutors say

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

French prosecutors have said "with certainty" that the wing part found on Reunion island is from missing Malaysian Airlines plane MH370, it has been reported.

In a statement on their findings, the Paris prosecutor's office said the investigators used maintenance records to match a serial number found on the flaperon with the missing plane.

The Boeing 777 disappeared without a trace on 8 March, 2014, with 239 people on board.

In July, the flaperon was found washed up on the shores of Reunion, a small French island in the southern Indian Ocean.

"Today it is possible to state with certainty that the flaperon discovered on Reunion July 29, 2015 corresponds with that of Flight MH370," the prosecutor's statement said.

Since the flaperon was discovered, additional pieces of debris that investigators suspected may be from the plane have also been taken to France for analysis.

On 5 August, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed in a press conference that the debris did indeed come from MH370.

However, in another press conference in France on the same night, Paris prosecutor Serge Mackowiak declined to definitely confirm whether the debris was from the missing Boeing, instead saying that experts had "very strong suppositions" that the debris was from MH370.

More to follow