In this March 13, 2014, photo, children run past dedication messages left for passengers and others involved with the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner MH370 on the walls of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in Sepang, Malaysia. A fevered hunt for more wreckage from missing flight MH370 on La Reunion island turned up no new clues Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015, as authorities said metallic debris found by locals did not come from an airplane. AP FILE PHOTO
SAINT-ANDR脡, France鈥揂 fevered hunt for more wreckage from missing flight MH370 on La Reunion island turned up no new clues Sunday as authorities said metallic debris found by locals did not come from an airplane.
However, Malaysia urged authorities in the Indian Ocean region to be on the lookout for debris washing up on their shores after the discovery of part of a Boeing 777 wing raised hopes it could help solve one of aviation鈥檚 greatest mysteries.
Locals on La Reunion island have been combing the shores since the wing part was found last Wednesday, handing over bits of what they believe to be wreckage to police.
On Sunday, several pieces of debris sparked excitement, one of which was believed by locals to be from a plane door.
However, investigators quickly shot down hopes.
Malaysian Director General of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, who is in France for the analysis of the wing part, told AFP one item 鈥渨as actually from a domestic ladder. It is not a door.鈥�
And a source close to the investigation in Paris said 鈥渘o object or debris likely to come from a plane鈥� had been placed into evidence on Sunday.
Police on the Indian Ocean island also collected Sunday a mangled piece of metal inscribed with two Chinese characters and attached to what appears to be a leather-covered handle.
Chinese internet users suggested it may be a kettle.
鈥淧eople are more vigilant. They are going to think any metallic object they find on the beach is from flight MH370, but there are objects all along the coast, the ocean continually throws them up,鈥� said Jean-Yves Sambimanan, spokesman for the town of Saint-Andre where the wing debris was found.
He said islanders were also dumbfounded that after cursory helicopter flights the day after the wing part was found, no official search of the coastline is under way.
鈥淚f it comes from a plane it would be a pity if I didn鈥檛 take it鈥� to police, said Luc Igounet, 62, who found the metal bar that turned out to be from a ladder.
鈥楾reasure hunt鈥� mentality
The rush to find more debris showed the desperation for answers 16 months after MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
鈥淭here is a sort of 鈥榯reasure hunt鈥� mentality that is taking hold and people are calling us for everything,鈥� said a local source close to the investigation.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said civil aviation authorities were reaching out to their counterparts in other Indian Ocean territories to be on the lookout for further debris that could provide 鈥渕ore clues to the missing aircraft.鈥�
He also confirmed that the wing part had been 鈥渙fficially identified鈥� as from a Boeing 777鈥搈aking it virtually certain that it was from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Flight MH370 is the only Boeing 777 to ever be lost at sea.
The flight鈥檚 mysterious disappearance, which saw it vanish off radars as a key transponder appeared to have been shut off, has baffled aviation experts and grieving families and given rise to a myriad conspiracy theories.
Speculation on the cause of the plane鈥檚 disappearance has focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.
Debris won鈥檛 solve mystery 聽
Scientists say it is plausible that ocean currents carried a piece of the wreckage as far as La Reunion.
However, Roland Triadec, a local oceanographer, said La Reunion represented only 鈥渁 pinhead鈥� in the Indian Ocean and the likelihood of other debris washing up there was low.
Authorities have warned that even if the debris was confirmed to come from MH370, it is unlikely to completely clear up one of aviation鈥檚 greatest puzzles.
The mystery of what happened to the plane and where it went down exactly are still likely to persist unless the black box is found.
The flaperon will be examined in a lab near the French city of Toulouse that specializes in plane crash investigations.
Four Malaysian officials including the head of civil aviation are in Paris together with officials from Malaysia Airlines for a meeting on Monday with three French magistrates and an official from France鈥檚 civil aviation investigating authority BEA.
Australian search authorities leading the hunt for the aircraft some 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from La Reunion are confident the main debris field is in the current search area.
For the families of the victims, the discovery of the part has been yet another painful twist on an emotional rollercoaster.
鈥淚t has been hurting for so long. We need the closure and all the evidence possible so that we can go ahead with our lives,鈥� said Nur Laila Ngah, the wife of the flight鈥檚 chief steward Wan Swaid Wan Ismail.鈥�Sonia Wolf and Mahdia Benhamla
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