Debris recently recovered from the Indian Ocean was part of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysia’s prime minister confirmed Wednesday.
“We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said.
The flight from Kuala Lumpur went missing in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, sparking a 17-month long investigation into its mysterious disappearance.
{mosads}Plane debris was found last week off the coast of France’s Réunion Island led to hopes of a breakthrough.
Investigators and representatives from the airline manufacturer Boeing said they thought part of a recovered jet wing matched that from the missing Boeing 777.
Malaysia’s leader said Wednesday that “an international team of experts conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370.”
Razak thanked those involved in the search efforts in the “remote, inhospitable and dangerous area” in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar.
But others cast doubt that the initial findings are conclusive.
A French prosecutor speaking shortly afterward from Paris said that while experts believe it is very likely the airplane part is from the missing flight, the findings still need to be confirmed, according to multiple reports.
French police have yet to examine a piece of luggage also recovered from Réunion, the prosecutor said.
Someone involved in the investigation similarly told The New York Times that experts with Boeing and the U.S. aviation officials were not yet satisfied with the evidence as conclusive.
It is still unclear what brought down the jetliner.
“This is indeed a major breakthrough for us in resolving the disappearance of MH370,” Malaysia Airlines said in a statement, according to Bloomberg. “We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery.”
This story was updated at 3:12 p.m.