Malaysia's assertion that more debris potentially linked to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had washed up on an Indian Ocean island prompted puzzlement from French officials, adding to criticisms that the international response to one of the most famous aviation mysteries of all time is suffering from an exasperating lack of cohesion.
Ever since the Boeing 777 vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, Malaysian officials have been accused of jumping the gun, giving inaccurate statements and withholding information from families and other countries involved in the investigation.
Yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's statement that a wing fragment found on a French island had been definitively linked to Flight 370 prompted cautious responses from French, US and Australian officials involved in the probe, who would say only that it was likely or probable the part came from the missing plane.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai added to the confusion later yesterday, saying a Malaysian team had found more debris on Reunion Island, including a window and some aluminum foil, and had sent the material to local authorities for French investigators to examine.
"I can only ascertain that it's plane debris," Liow said. "I cannot confirm that it's from MH370."
French officials involved with the investigation in both Paris and Reunion were baffled by Liow's announcement; none were aware of any discovery or material in French custody.
The Paris prosecutor's office, which is spearheading a French legal inquiry into the crash, later denied there was any new debris, before French officials - notoriously cautious when it comes to air accident investigations - again retreated into silence.
A spokesman for Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said in a statement today that while a great deal of additional material has been handed to police in Reunion, none appears to have come from the plane.
Meanwhile, Liow sparked further questions when he said that a maintenance seal and the color tone of the paint on the wing part, known as a flaperon, matches the airline's records. Today, an Australian government official said that the paint is not a unique identifier for Flight 370; rather, it comes from a batch that Boeing used on all its planes when the missing plane was manufactured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Liow said yesterday that differences with other countries amounted to "a choice of words." But the dissonant comments prompted frustration from families of those on board the plane, who have waited more than 500 days for solid clues into the fate of their loved ones. Some questioned why the various countries involved couldn't get on the same page before speaking publicly.
