Another aircraft debris washes up on southern beach prompting MH370 speculation

JUST a month after a mysterious piece of aircraft debris washed up on Nakhon Si Thammarat province’s Pak Phanang beach another puzzling fragment of a large plane landed at a nearby beach raising suspicions that it could belong to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014, Sanook.com said today (Apr. 27).

Mr. Prayut Thanwattana, chief of Laem Talumpuk subdistrict, Pak Phanang district, said the wreckage, which is around 1.20 metres wide and 3 metres long, appeared to be aluminum of 2mm thickness with the inner side lined with honeycomb-like material.

While the exterior is coated with white paint similar to other passenger airplanes, an important feature is that there is a red stripe on it and four golden yellow stars. No numbers were spotted on the inner side but there were traces of rapid and violent tearing similar to an explosion.

The barnacles on this debris indicate it has been in the sea for a long time.

On March 15 this year a 1.80-metre wide and 3.16-metre long curved metal sheet of an airplane with the code CCBU 07ZS engraved on it washed up at Pak Phanang beach. Local reporters said this was one of at least three puzzling airplane fragments that have washed ashore with one of them having done so 2015.

While they have all been ascertained to be aircraft wreckage the lack of details made it impossible to further identify them.

However clear markings on this fragment could unravel the mystery.

Prayut said this is definitely aircraft debris but what is not known is what type of airplane it came from, who it belongs to and where it crashed before landing here.

Traces on the chunk of metal indicate that it has been in the sea for around 10 years and he wants officials to examine it thoroughly to determine whether it tore off from the missing flight MH370 as if so it would solve the international mystery.

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The airplane fragment that washed ashore today. Photos: Sanook.com