French, Malaysian experts meet in Paris for MH370 investigation

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on July 29, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

PARIS -- Investigators from France and Malaysia are meeting here Monday to study the origin of plane debris found Wednesday on the La Reunion Island beach, which may belong to the Boeing 777 plane of the missing MH370 flight, French media said Monday.

Behind closed door, a Malaysian delegation, headed by Malaysia Civil Aviation Director General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman and composed of representatives of the Malaysia Airlines and Malaysian judges, will meet with three French judges in charge of the investigation, representatives of the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) and investigators from the French Section of Research of the Air Transport Gendarmerie.

The meeting aims to outline terms of judicial cooperation conducted under the aegis of the French justice, as the debris had been found on France's territory and four of its nationals were among the 239 victims aboard, according to the reports.

Experts believed that the wreckage came from the Boeing 777, arguing that the code "657 BB" appearing in the debris picture corresponds to a manual code in the aircraft.

In addition, no other air crash involving a Boeing plane has ever been reported before in the area, reinforcing the assumption that the debris might be part of a wing from the missing plane.

Speaking to reporters, BEA ex-director Jean-Paul Troadec expressed cautions over the analysis results. "We should not expect miracles from this analysis," he said.

A luggage, discovered near the aircraft debris, is also being analyzed at the Criminal Research Institute of the French Gendarmerie in Paris suburbs.

The two bottles found in the area with inscriptions in Chinese and Indonesian are being studied in a laboratory on France's overseas La Reunion Island.

Transferred to France's southwestern city of Toulouse at the weekend, the plane wreckage will be examined by specialists in charge of analyzing aviation wreckage.

The study to identify the debris could last several weeks, according to the reports.