Aviation experts in France have finished their investigation of an airplane wing piece, or flaperon, that was found on Réunion Island last week, far outside the original search zone for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. They concluded the debris is in fact from the doomed flight.
This is the first physical trace of MH370, which vanished en route to China in March 2014 with 239 people on board.
Malaysia’s prime minister announced the revelation at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, saying:
It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion is indeed from MH370. We now have physical evidence that … Flight MH370 tragically ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.
This story is developing and will be updated.