Australia Expecting Possible Debris of Disappeared MH370 Plane 'Next Week'

Investigators in Australia are likely to receive an object believed to be part of the Boeing 777 plane that disappeared almost two years ago "early next week," the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier this week, the debris that washed ashore was found in Mozambique and subsequently sent to Australia. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Twitter that there was "high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777" but warned against "undue speculation" as the information still needed to be "confirmed and verified."

"At the moment, all we know is that it's a piece from an aircraft. But at this stage, we have no conclusive evidence as to what it is or where it comes from," ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said Friday, quoted by NBC News.

Dolan added that the object believed to be from the plane's horizontal stabilizer could arrive from Africa to the Australian capital "early next week."

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, less than an hour after takeoff. There were 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

In August 2015, a fragment of the plane’s wing (flaperon) was found on the French Island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, which helped to narrow down the search area.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has said that an international search-and-rescue operation to locate the remains of missing Malaysia Airlines plane is narrowing its search area and expected to find the plane by June 2016.