Three new pieces of debris have been found in Mauritius and in Mozambique that could be linked to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Australia’s transport minister has said.



The fate of the passenger jet, which is presumed to have crashed at sea after disappearing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board in March 2014, remains a mystery.

Five other fragments have previously been found and identified as definitely or probably from the Boeing 777.

All of them were discovered thousands of kilometres from the current search zone far off Australia’s west coast.

The country’s transport minister, Darren Chester, said two of the new pieces were found in Mauritius, with the other in Mozambique and were “of interest in connection to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370”.

“The Malaysian government is yet to take custody of the items, however as with previous items, Malaysian officials are arranging collection and it is expected the items will be brought to Australia for examination,” Chester said in a statement.

“These items of debris are of interest and will be examined by experts.”

No other details were given.

Australia is leading the hunt for MH370 in the remote Indian Ocean, with more than 105,000sq km (40,500sq miles) of the designated 120,000 sq km search zone scoured without success.

If nothing turns up once the area is fully scoured, the search is likely to be abandoned, Australia, Malaysia and China have jointly said.

The head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said last week that the hunt could wrap up in August.