SCAA follows up on sighting of alleged plane debris on Farquhar |14 July 2017

Following the sighting of alleged aircraft debris on Farquhar on Monday July 10, 2017, the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority’s (SCAA) aircraft incident investigators will be dispatched to North Island in the Farquhar Atoll to retrieve and secure the debris, which will be brought to Mahé Island.

Furthermore, with the assistance of employees from the Islands Development Company (IDC), the team will be combing other neighbouring islands in the Farquhar Atoll, in search of other possible debris that might have been washed ashore.

Once the debris have been retrieved and confirmed to have been part of an aircraft, SCAA will in this particular case be contacting  the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) in view that they had been interested in debris previously found in other parts of the Indian Ocean in connection with the disappearance of Malaysian Airline MH 370 in 2014.

“It is our obligation, as a contracting state of ICAO under the Chicago Convention Annex 13, to contact any other authorities who may be interested in any serious incidents or accidents, or, to provide any information that it may have come across and which may contribute to or assist in an investigation,” said Wilfred Fock Tave, the Inspector of Accident from the SCAA.

If the ATSB indicates that they are interested in that piece of debris, SCAA will make the necessary arrangements to transfer it to them.

SCAA is already in contact with the Malaysian authorities, who have shown an interest, and with whom it expects to work closely.