Flight MH370 Update: Kangaroo Island Debris Not From Missing Plane

In an update to the ongoing search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Wednesday that debris found on Kangaroo Island was not from the doomed plane. An aircraft part was found on the island, off the coast of South Australia, and ATSB was notified of it on June 9.

ATSB said it examined the part “in conjunction with Malaysian authorities and the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing. Information received from the manufacturer indicates that the item is not consistent with the manufacturing specifications of a Boeing commercial aircraft. As such, the ATSB has assessed that the item is not related to the safety investigation or on-going search for MH370.”

The update also said search operations were severely affected in recent weeks due to rough seas and strong winds, brought up by the extreme weather conditions in the area. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, the region is currently going through winter.

Officials from Australia, China and Malaysia met on June 20-21 and reaffirmed the decision by the three governments to search 120,000 square kilometers (46,330 square miles) in the southern Indian Ocean. The operation, impacted by the inclement weather, is expected to last until August now. If no new credible information about the possible location of the missing aircraft comes to light, the search area will not be expanded further.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, had gone missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.