Reunion Island Volcano Erupts As ‘Clues’ To Missing Malaysian Passenger Jet Are Found Ashore

Reunion Island was rocked by a volcanic eruption which spewed lava on its eastern side Friday as the discovery of a wing part, a suitcase, and water bottles along the western shore hinted at a possible resolution to Malaysia’s missing MH370 plane. While the local government banned access to the island after the eruption, searchers continued their activity on the west side in light of the new findings.

The Piton de la Fournaise volcano erupted for the third time this year on the French island three hundred miles east of Madagascar, Mirror reported, as experts were busy examining the washed-up debris likely from a Boeing 777 jet of the Malaysian Airlines.

According to Daily Mail, beach cleaner Johnny Begue was looking for a stone to grind chillies on when he stumbled upon the six-foot wing flap identified by the experts as a “flaperon” from a Boeing 777 jet. Partially hidden by sand, the edges of the flaperon were encrusted with barnacles.

Subsequent finds by Begue and other cleaners were a suitcase and plastic bottles with Indonesian and Chinese markings.

There were 239 passengers and crew on board flight MH370 that disappeared over the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014. Among the passengers on the flight en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, 153 were identified as Chinese.

According to Mirror, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the debris found on Reunion Island will be transported to France for further analysis. Regarding those aboard the lost aircraft and presumed dead, he said,

“As soon as we have more information or any verification we will make it public. I promise the families of those lost that whatever happens, we will not give up.”

According to Daily Mail, Zhang Qihuai, legal counsel to relatives of the missing passengers, said that some thirty of his clients are ready to take action when the Reunion Island evidence is confirmed to be from the missing aircraft. He indicated that there are claims already being processed through the Allianz insurance company.

Near the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, the forty-mile long Reunion Island is located about four thousand miles from where MH370 was last recorded to have vanished based on flight transmissions. The brunt of the search last year and early this year was conducted in an area of the southern Indian Ocean far off the western coast of Australia. It seems that the searchers, now focused on the volcano-rocked Reunion Island, were off the mark by over three thousand miles.

[Photo by Pool/Getty Images]