Aircraft seat cushions, window panes found on Reunion–Malaysia

This picture taken on August 2, 2015 shows metallic debris found on a beach in Saint-Denis on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, close to where where a Boeing 777 wing part believed to belong to missing flight MH370 washed up last week. A piece of metal was found on La Reunion island, where a Boeing 777 wing part believed to belong to missing flight MH370 washed up last week, said a source close to the investigation. Investigators on the Indian Ocean island took the debris into evidence as part of their probe into the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, however nothing indicated the piece of metal came from an airplane, the source said. AFP PHOTO / RICHARD BOUHET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Aircraft seat cushions and window panes have been found on an Indian Ocean island where wreckage from MH370 was recovered, Malaysia’s transport minister said Thursday.

“We have also found debris like window panes, aluminium foil, and seat cushions,” Liow Tiong Lai told AFP.

Liow, who later specified he was referring to aircraft seats and windows, said it remained to be seen whether the items found on Reunion Island were debris from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

“They are little parts, but the debris cannot be verified if it belongs to MH370. It has to be verified by the French authorities,” he said.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier on Thursday ended a 17-month wait for verified physical evidence from the plane when he announced that a team of international experts had confirmed that a wing component found on Reunion last week was from MH370.

The jet disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The disappearance created one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation, sparking a colossal hunt in the Indian Ocean based on satellite data that hinted at MH370’s possible path.