Kuala Lumpur: Newly found debris, suspected to be that of Malaysian Airlines MH370 has burn marks, suggesting that a fire broke out on the plane before it vanished mysteriously over the Indian Ocean in 2014, according to media reports.
The five pieces of the debris discovered by American independent investigator Blaine Gibson were handed over to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in Canberra on
Monday, over two-and-a-half years after the plane carrying 239 people, including five Indians, disappeared.
The ATSB has previously analysed several pieces of debris and concluded that four of them were "almost certainly" from the missing plane.
Blaine Gibson, has previously found other pieces of the debris of the Boeing 777 that were confirmed to be from MH370, the Guardian reported.
"If they are confirmed as MH370 and if the fire was before the crash, this is significant evidence of what caused the plane's demise," Blaine Gibson said.
Blaine Gibson, whose private search is self-funded, described the items as shattered composite panels with hexagonal honeycombing inside. Both had evidence of blackened singeing and burning to off-white paint on both sides.
He said he believed the parts were likely to be from an internal section of the plane, such as the cabin or cargo area, rather than a structural piece involved in flying, such as the wing.