Australia promises thorough examination of possible MH370 debris

CANBERRA, March 21 -- Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester confirmed on Monday that the two pieces of debris found in Mozambique have arrived in Australia and Australia will examine them thoroughly.

In a statement sent to media on Monday evening, Chester said the two pieces of debris, discovered recently in Mozambique, may be from an aircraft.

Both items will be examined in Canberra by investigators from Australia and Malaysia, as well as specialists from Boeing, Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University.

The items will be examined to determine whether they are from a plane, and if so, whether they can be conclusively linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

"These are items of interest but, because of the rigorous analysis to be performed, it is not possible to speculate on how long it might take to reach any conclusions," Chester said.

"I would like to assure the loved ones of those on board the aircraft, and the wider travelling community, that the examination will be thorough and undertaken by an experienced international investigation team."

One of the two pieces was found by South African holiday makers in Mozambique and was brought back to their home country. A Malaysian team retrieved the debris from South African authorities.

The other piece, with a honeycomb structure inside, was found by Mozambican fishermen accompanying an American tourist on a sandbank near Vilanculos town in central Mozambique.

A wing part called flaperon washed ashore to the Reunion Island last year remained the only confirmed debris from MH370 so far.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals. A joint search in southern Indian Ocean, where the flight presumably had ended its journey, has yet to found its wreckage.