BANGKOK, Jan 25 — Four Malaysian officials, believed to be from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) arrived in Nakhon Si Thammarat here today and examined the suspected aircraft wreckage found at the province’s coast yesterday.
In confirming this, Pak Phanang district police chief Thanyapat Pattikongsan said the officers arrived about 10am (11am Malaysian time) at the site of the wreckage and left about an hour later.
“They (Malaysian officers) spent about an hour at the site, inspected the suspected wreckage and collected evidence before leaving the area. They did not provide any details on their work,” he told Bernama today.
The Malaysian officials, he said, arrived at Nakhon Si Thammarat’s airport this morning from Kuala Lumpur.
Local villagers living off the coast of southern Thai’s province yesterday reported the discovery of a large metal object, measuring two metres wide and three metres long, suspected to originate from an aircraft.
The find off the shore of southern Thai’s has prompted the country’s media to speculate the suspected plane wreckage could be that of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that vanished from the radar during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. two years ago.
There were 239 passengers and crew on board the doomed Boeing 777-200ER jetliner whose flight path ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
Yesterday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai instructed DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman to contact the Thai authorities on the latest suspected plane wreckage.
Meanwhile at the Pa Thya beach in Nakhorn Si Thammarat today – the site where the wreckage was discovered by local fishermen on Saturday – efforts by the local media to interview the four Malaysian officials drew a nil.
The officials also declined to divulge their identities to the local media.
Nevertheless, one of the officials confirmed that the data and evidence collected from the suspected aircraft wreckage would be sent to Kuala Lumpur for further analysis by experts.
“The data and evidence will be further analysed,” said the Malaysian official.
Also present at the site were Thai DCA officials and security personnel.
According to the Thai DCA, the suspected aircraft wreckage will be flown to Bangkok today to enable further analysis by the experts.
Its deputy director-general, Amphawan Wannako told Bernama they would also discuss the possibility of sending pictures of the wreckage to Boeing or the United States’ National Transportation Safety Board for clarification.
“We will discuss (the matter) today,” she said. — Bernama
