Flight MH370 Update: Photos Of Personal Items Found On Madagascar Beach Released

Photos of several personal items that washed up on a Madagascar beach have been released, suspecting links to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The items, which included purses, backpacks and part of a laptop case, were found by independent searcher Blaine Gibson, BBC reported.

The photos were reportedly released by campaigners for families of those on board the missing Boeing 777-200. The items were discovered earlier in June on Riake beach, on the island of Nosy Boraha in northeast Madagascar. Gibson, who found two pieces of debris that may be from the aircraft during the same time, said that it could be possible that the items may be irrelevant in the search for Flight MH370.

"They may have just fallen off a ship," Gibson told the BBC. "Still, I found them on the same 18km (11-mile) stretch of beach where I found suspected aircraft parts [of the Malaysia Airlines jet] so it is important that they are investigated properly."

Gibson, who has funded his own search for Flight MH370 debris in east Africa, recently found three pieces of debris in Madagascar. He had also found a piece of debris in Mozambique in March, which Australian investigators believe is almost certainly part of the missing plane.

The images, which were released on the Aircrash Support Group Australia website, were made public for the families of those on board the jet to ascertain if any of the items belonged to the victims.

Sheryl Keen, the group's head, said the images were being posted "to make sure everyone has the right and opportunity to view these items."

"The nature of aviation investigations [means] usually people don't get to see the nitty gritty of it. But because these have been found by members of the public we're able to take this opportunity to display the objects," Keen added.

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 plane, which has been ongoing for over two years, has so far yielded no concrete clues as to what happened to the jet that went off radar. Search vessels have so far scoured more than 40,540 square miles of the total search area of 46,332 square miles. The search for the missing plane is set to conclude in July, and a tripartite meeting is scheduled this week to decide the fate of the search.

Five debris pieces found since July 2015 are said to be most likely from the missing plane.