MH370 search officials admit initial analysis of where debris would wash up was wrong... suggesting reports of a low-flying jet above the Maldives may have been correct all along

• Staff

• 05/08/2015 08:06:00
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• Australian officials have admitted MH370 debris drift analysis was wrong
• It means reports of plane sightings in Maldives may have some substance
• Discovery of wing part suggests it have come from north of Indian Ocean
• Today officials in France will begin examining the wing part for clues
• It was found on a beach in French Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean

By Richard Shears and Corey Charlton for MailOnline

Published: 07:44 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 08:06 EST, 5 August 2015

Australian officials admitted today that drift analysis of MH370 debris had been wrong - leading to attention turning to a more northerly crash site in the Indian Ocean.

The dramatic admission may yet see officials looking again at reports from islanders in the Maldives that they had seen a low-flying aircraft in the hours after MH370 vanished in March last year. 

It comes as experts in France today began examining a washed-up wing part that likely belonged to the doomed plane and could provide a breakthrough in one of aviation's greatest enigmas.

A police car leaves the building in Toulouse, France, where the plane wing is due to be tested today

A policeman stands guard at the entrance of the facility, where French, Malaysian and Australian officials will be present

The anti-clockwise movement of the currents and the discovery of the wing part on Reunion Island suggests that it could have been carried from a more northerly position.

Experts had previously used computer calculations in June 2014 to decide that debris would first be found on the west coast of Indonesia.

This was based on the movement of currents in a general anti-clockwise direction, which would have carried debris from the search area off the south west coast of Australia towards the north east.

But the discovery of part of the wing suspected of being from MH370 on Reunion Island last week has resulted in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau issuing a statement today admitting an error.

The Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search said initial drift modelling had mistakenly indicated the the first possible landfall of debris would be on the west of Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

However, the bureau insisted today that the mistake did not affect the extensive international surface search for the missing plane off the south west coast of Australia.

The bureau said: 'While this error in that model had no impact on the way the surface search was conducted, it was important in order to understand over the course of time where debris might wash up and help verify or discount the various items found on beaches, particularly on the west coast of Australia.'

The ongoing confusion about where the plane crashed remained today as officials in France prepared to examine the wing part - testing that will involve trying to establish how the flaperon was torn off, where barnacles on the part might have originated and which airline had painted the part in white.

The discovery of a 7ft-long wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian Ocean island raised fresh hopes for relatives desperate for answers to the MH370 mystery

A group of police officers on French Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, look out across the beach where the plane wing washed up

Two police officers carry a small box from the beach containing debris which will be analysed

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, sparking a colossal but ultimately fruitless multinational hunt for the aircraft.

But last week's discovery of a 7ft-long wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian Ocean island raised fresh hopes for relatives desperate for answers.

The Boeing 777 piece was taken to the southwestern French city of Toulouse, where it will undergo tests at a high-tech laboratory, where journalists from around the world were camped outside today.

The case containing the wing part will be opened in the presence of French, Malaysian and Australian experts, Boeing employees and representatives from China - the country that lost the most passengers.

It is as yet unclear whether their conclusions will be announced on the same day or later. 

Reunion Island (pictured) was thrust into the international spotlight after last week's remarkable discovery