MH370: American finds new debris on Madagascar coast

New pieces of debris have been found washed ashore in Madagascar by a man who went searching for parts from the missing Malaysia aircraft MH370. Blaine Alan Gibson, who has been hunting for debris in the past, has made the latest discovery on Riake beach in the north-east coast of the island, two years after the flight went off the radar and vanished.

Investigators are examining images of the new pieces sent by Gibson to check if all the debris belonged to MH370. One of the parts was believed to resemble an aircraft seat part, the BBC reported. Gibson reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and to officials in Malaysia.

A British engineer, Don Thompson, who has been part of an informal group investigating MH370, wrote on his Twitter account that the debris could be a "piece of leading or trailing edge (cover) panel" off the plane's wings or "horizontal stabiliser".

"The seat part I am 99.9% sure on. It's the right colour of fabric for Malaysian Airlines. It shows the seat had to have disintegrated to have come away," he told the BBC.

Gibson is a lawyer and an adventurer from Seattle, who has been funding his own search for the missing flight's debris in the east coast of Africa. He had previously found a piece in Mozambique.

In a separate development, one more item was found in Australia after it washed up the shores off its south coast. According to footage on Australia's Channel Seven, the piece from Kangaroo Island resembles parts of a plane, with the words "caution no step" visible on it, and the ATSB is investigating if the debris belongs to MH370.

Samuel Armstrong, who found the debris in Australia, said he just "stumbled across a piece of what I thought to be aircraft. I thought about planes that had gone down and wondered where it could have come from", he told the broadcaster.

ATSB is leading the underwater search in the Indian Ocean where the Boeing 777 plane went missing in March 2014, with 239 people on board while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The hunt involving Malaysia and China has completed about 90% of the targeted 120,000 square km search off the west Australian coast. So far eight pieces of debris have been discovered thousands of miles from the current search zone. The recent finds have not been included in the count as the experts are yet to confirm whether it is from MH370.

The authorities have said they would halt their hunt in August with no further plans for searches if nothing turns up once the area is fully scoured.