澳洲海灘飛機殘骸是馬航失聯客機重大線索

Malaysian officials expressed confidence that a piece of aircraft debris washed up on a beach on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion is from a Boeing 777 jet, increasing the likelihood it comes from flight MH370, the Malaysia Airlines aircraft that disappeared 17 months ago without a trace.

馬來西亞官員表示相信，被衝上印度洋法屬留尼汪島(La Réunion)的一塊飛機碎片來自一架波音777(Boeing 777)飛機，這意味着這塊碎片很有可能來自17個月以前消失得無影無蹤的馬來西亞航空公司(Malaysia Airlines) MH370航班。

Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, confirmed earlier comments by one of his ministers that the piece of wreckage was almost certainly from a Boeing 777 aircraft. “reports suggest that the debris is very likely to be from a Boeing 777, but we need to verify whether it is from flight MH370. At this stage it is too early to speculate,” Mr Najib wrote on his official blog.

馬來西亞總理納吉布拉扎克(Najib Razak)證實了他手下一名部長稍早前的言論，即這塊殘骸幾乎肯定來自一架波音777飛機。“相關報道似乎表明，這塊碎片很可能來自一架波音777，但我們需要驗證它是否來自MH370航班。目前階段要作出推測還爲時過早，”納吉布在自己的官方博客上寫道。

If the part is from a 777 twin-engined jet, it is highly likely to be from MH370, since other known losses of the aircraft type — including last year’s shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine — occurred over land.

如果飛機碎片來自一架777雙發噴氣客機，那麼它極有可能來自MH370，因爲這種機型的其它已知墜毀事件——包括去年馬航MH17航班在烏克蘭上空被擊落——都發生在陸地上空。

Mr Najib said the piece of debris would be sent to a laboratory in Toulouse, France, for inspection by investigators from the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses. La Réunion is a French territory east of Madagascar, which under international law makes the BEA the lead investigative body.

納吉布表示，這塊碎片將被送到法國圖盧茲的一個實驗室，由法國航空事故調查處(Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses, BEA)的專家進行檢驗。位於馬達加斯加以東的留尼汪島是法國領土，按照國際法，這使法國航空事故調查處成爲牽頭調查機構。

The Malaysians, Australians and Chinese have been conducting an extensive search for the aircraft off the west coast of Australia since it disappeared on March 8 2014. The jet was carrying 239 people on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

自這架飛機在2014年3月8日失聯以來，馬來西亞、澳大利亞和中國一直在澳大利亞西海岸外的大片海域進行搜尋。該機載有239人，當時在執行從吉隆坡飛往北京的航班。

Warren Truss, Australia’s deputy prime minister, described the discovery of the debris as a significant development. “It’s the first real evidence that there’s a possibility that part of the aircraft may have been found,” he said. But he cautioned: “It’s too early to make that judgment, but clearly we’re treating this as a major lead.”

澳大利亞副總理沃倫礠拉斯(Warren Truss)將發現這塊碎片形容爲一個重大發展。“這是第一個實實在在的證據，證明這架飛機的一部分有可能已被找到，”他說。但他告誡稱：“現在要作出那樣的判斷還爲時過早，但顯然我們把它當作一個重大線索。”

There were also unconfirmed reports that a badly damaged piece of luggage has been found close to where the debris washed up on La Réunion. Journalist Julien Delarue, who works for a local newspaper, posted a photograph of the suitcase on Twitter. It is not known whether the luggage came from MH370.

此外，還有未經證實的報道稱，一件嚴重受損的行李也被衝上留尼汪島，其發現地點靠近飛機碎片。爲當地一家報社工作的記者朱利安德拉羅(Julien Delarue)在Twitter上貼出了這個行李箱的一張照片。尚不清楚這件行李是否來自MH370航班。

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said yesterday that the discovery of the wreckage on the island was “not inconsistent with the current search location” which is 4,200km east of La Réunion. The search teams are working on the theory that MH370 crashed within a 120,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean, 1,800km south-west of Australia.

澳大利亞交通安全局(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)昨日表示，在留尼汪島發現飛機殘骸“與當前的搜索位置並不矛盾”；當前搜索位置在留尼汪島以東4200公里。搜索團隊依據的理論是，MH370航班在南印度洋一個12萬平方公里的區域內墜毀，大致位於澳大利亞西南方向1800公里。

If the part is from the missing flight, it could provide critical clues to the fate of MH370: radar tracking showed the aircraft changed course to the west after heading north-east from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing without any further communication from the pilots. Later analysis of satellite signals suggested the aircraft had then turned south and headed out over the Indian Ocean.

如果發現的殘骸被確認來自失聯航班，它有望提供關於MH370失事真相的關鍵線索：雷達跟蹤數據顯示，該機從吉隆坡起飛後，最初朝東北方向、即目的地北京飛行，後來改變航向向西飛行，而且沒有再接到機長或副駕駛的進一步呼叫。事發後對衛星信號的分析似乎表明，該機後來又朝着浩瀚的印度洋向南飛行。

Assumptions were made about the aircraft speed and height and it was decided it was likely to have ditched in the sea somewhere off Australia’s west coast when it ran out of fuel.

專家們對飛機速度和高度作出了一些假設，最後得出結論認爲，它很可能在耗盡燃油後，在澳大利亞西海岸外的海上某處墜落。

A multinational force of ships and aircraft have spent months searching a large area of the Indian Ocean without success. Experts said the discovery of the wreckage so far from the theoretical crash zone was consistent with the direction of the ocean currents.

多國派遣船舶和飛機，花了好幾個月在印度洋的一大片海域進行搜尋，但一直查無下落。專家們表示，在距離理論推定的墜機海域那麼遠的地方發現飛機碎片，與洋流方向是吻合的。

The undersea search for Flight MH370 is one of the most complex and expensive in aviation history, costing about $150m to date.

海底搜索MH370航班是航空史上最複雜和最昂貴的搜尋行動之一，迄今已耗資約1.5億美元。