Flight MH370 Update: New Debris Found In Madagascar? Relative Of Missing Passenger Finds Possible Plane Debris

A relative of one of the passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 found Wednesday a possible piece of debris from the plane during a search of the beaches in Madagascar. Some relatives of those on board the missing plane traveled to the Indian Ocean island to search for debris from the plane and also raise awareness of the debris that has been washing up on its beaches.

Jiang Hui, a Chinese man whose mother was on board the missing Boeing 777-200, found a small white and sand-colored piece of board in a rocky cove at the end of Riake beach on northeastern Île Sainte-Marie. Several pieces of debris have washed up on the east African coast over the last few months.

“I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening,” he said, according to the Guardian. “It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more so they can find out.”

The piece has been reportedly handed over to an official from the Malaysian investigation.

Following Jiang’s discovery, Blaine Gibson — a Seattle lawyer who has found 16 pieces of debris thought to be from the plane in Mozambique and Madagascar — said he had located a larger object in the same area.

“[The find] just shows how important it is that these beaches are checked daily, and that local people keep their eyes open,” Gibson reportedly said. “It also shows how important this visit by the families is for raising awareness.”

The next of kin of those on board Flight MH370 traveled to Madagascar after they were frustrated by the authorities' attempts to find the missing plane. According to the relatives, authorities did not pay much attention to the debris pieces that have been found over the last few months on several coasts of the Indian Ocean.

Grace Nathan, a spokeswoman for the Voice370 campaign group, said the discovery of the possible plane debris brought “mixed feelings” for the whole group.

“First time a piece was found by one of us. Such mixed feelings now for all of us – pain, sadness, confusion, hope,” she wrote on a Facebook page.

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A multimillion-dollar search for the missing plane has so far yielded no concrete clues as to the plane's whereabouts. The underwater search is expected to be completed by early 2017, following which the search will be suspended if no credible clues are found.