A Chinese man who travelled to Madagascar in search of answers to the disappearance of his mother on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has found a possible piece of debris from the plane during a search of the country’s beaches.

Jiang Hui, 44, is one of seven relatives who flew to the Indian Ocean island on Saturday to raise awareness of the debris that has been washing up on its beaches in ever-increasing amounts and conduct preliminary searches.

He found a small white and sand-coloured piece of board in a rocky cove at the end of Riake beach on north-eastern Île Sainte-Marie, where a significant amount of the debris thought to be from MH370 has already been discovered. “I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening,” he said. “It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more so they can find out.”

The piece has been handed to an official from the Malaysian investigation, said Blaine Gibson, a Seattle lawyer who has found 16 pieces of debris thought to be from the plane in Mozambique and Madagascar.

Following Jiang’s discovery, Gibson said he had stumbled upon a larger object in the same area. He said both pieces appeared to be from the cabin of a large airliner.

“[The find] just shows how important it is that these beaches are checked daily, and that local people keep their eyes open,” Gibson said. “It also shows how important this visit by the families is for raising awareness.”



Jiang lost his 73-year-old mother, Jiang Cuiyun, on the flight and has been prominent in the relatives’ campaign amid a lack of openness – and seemingly of action – from the Malaysian-led official inquiry.

Relatives of those who were on MH370, which disappeared while flying to Beijing on 8 March 2014, have criticised the Malaysian investigation for failing to collect debris found on Madagascar six months ago. Malaysia is now sending investigators to Madagascar but insists the timing is a coincidence.

Relatives of some of the passengers on MH370 who are searching for debris from the plane in Madagascar. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Jiang spoke briefly at a press conference held in the capital, Antananarivo, on Sunday as the relatives began their search. “In order to look for my mum, I have come here but my English is poor,” he said, before switching to Chinese to appeal for help in finding more evidence of the plane.

Grace Nathan, spokeswoman for the Voice370 campaign group, said the discovery of debris potentially from the plane brought “mixed feelings” for the whole group.

What happened to MH370? Malaysia Airlines flight 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished on 8 March 2014. There was no trace of the plane until a flaperon washed up on Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 2015. Several pieces of debris found around east and south Africa have since been assessed to be from the missing aircraft. A seabed search led by Australia, backed by Malaysia and China, is due to continue until early 2017. Theories – all unproven – have ranged from crew involvement or hijacking to onboard fire or catastrophic technical failure.

“First time a piece was found by one of us. Such mixed feelings now for all of us – pain, sadness, confusion, hope,” she wrote on a Facebook page where the relatives share updates with others bereaved by the incident.

It is thought unlikely the small fragment found by Jiang would ever be definitively linked to MH370, but Gibson said it was washed up on the same part of the beach where he found items including a seat back – complete with coat hook and frame for an in-flight television screen.

The find comes after the families divided into three groups to visit the stretches of coastline where current and wind analysis has predicted most debris could wash up.

In Nosy Be, Tamatave and Île Sainte-Marie, they have met local officials, tourism and fishery associations as well as journalists to raise awareness about the need to pick up and hand in potential debris.

One local boat owner lent his vessel for free to Nathan and her father so they could search offshore islands. Homemade fliers she printed showing what the debris looked like and how it should be preserved have run out and had to be reprinted.

Ghislain Wattrelos, a French national who lost his wife and two teenage children, said the relatives had been moved by the outpouring of public sympathy.

“It was the right move to come,” he said. “We have had a very nice response from everyone, we have been very well-received.”