[Zain Asher, Cnn Anchor:] Our breaking news this hour, airline debris is discovered in the Indian Ocean. Why experts believe it could help unlock the mystery of Flight MH370.
[Barnett:] Plus, new protests inside the United States after a white police officer is indicted in the shooting death of a black suspect.
[Asher:] And Donald Trump gets in another public spat this time over a breast pump.
[Barnett:] Hello. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and those tuned in from around the word. I'm Errol Barnett.
[Asher:] I'm Zain Asher. Glad to be with you for the next hour and this is
[Cnn Newsroom. Barnett:] We begin this hour with breaking news out of Reunion Island in the far western Indian Ocean. That is where investigators are headed to get a closer look at this piece of airplane debris that could be a part of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A source tells CNN it appears to be part of a Boeing 777, that's the same model as MH370. Australia's deputy prime minister spoke with reporters moments ago.
[Warren Truss, Australian Deputy Prime Minister:] Yes, this is obviously a very significant development. It is the first real evidence there is a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found. It's too early to make the judgment. We are treating this as a major lead and seeking to get assurance about what has been found and whether it is indeed linked to the disappearance of MH370.
[Asher:] Now just to put this in context for you. Reunion Island is near Madagascar. That is a very long way from the area where search crews were looking for the missing jetliner, some 2,500 miles. In fact, it vanished March of last year on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with about 239 people on board.
[Barnett:] Now CNN's Robyn Kriel has just arrived at Reunion Island and she can join us now on the phone. Robyn, I understand that you literally just got there. Bring us up to speed. What's the latest from the ground and how exactly did this piece of debris turn up?
[Robyn Kriel, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, the piece of debris was picked up by initially, by the sighted by locals then the police were brought in and they were seen dragging it on to the beach. What we can tell you is that the French Air Force has now, is now investigating into those to see if there is any more debris. Of course, the Australian Transportation Safety Board will become involved as well as Malaysian Airline has indeed confirmed to be part of MH370, which it has not been, rather, as of yet. A key part to this story is the serial number or whatever that number is etched in on the wing fragment. It is BB706. Now this could be anything. It could be what experts tell us, it could be a serial number, aircraft log from maintenance or it could indeed belong to a Boeing 777, which is consistent with the missing airliner MH370. As of yet though, no information is indeed the 777 and indeed, if it does turn out to be a 777. We don't know if there has been another 777 aircraft crashed in this area. It does not appear to be. So it is unlikely that it would belong to another aircraft other than MH370.
[Barnett:] Right. Deputy prime minister saying that that number possibly could be some kind of maintenance number which they can cross reference and check. That will take some time. But that also speaks to why this moment is so difficult. The Australian deputy prime minister calling this a credible and significant lead, but until all of these different agencies can get this information confirmed, we won't be able to help alleviate those concerns of relatives of victims on this aircraft that this is in fact a piece of MH370. What have you heard from some of the relatives of victims on this development?
[Kriel:] Well, a lot of people said that they're cautiously optimistic. They had so many false hopes raised from false information. But one family member did say this was a thread of hope. Fining a piece of debris like this would, if it does indeed turn out to be part of MH370 would make this disaster tangible. It's been a roller coaster. A number of family members have a very hard time believing that the aircraft could have traveled as far away as the Reunion Island. It is very, very far away from where the plane was originally meant to be on course. As you say, the Australian deputy prime minister saying this is, this is, could be rather a major development or lead, but they're very cautious as well. Just to give you a breakdown, Errol, of the nationalities on board, MH370, 239 passengers in total, 152 of those were Chinese, six Australians, three Americans, and 50 Malaysians. Fifteen different nationalities represented in total on board. So a number of family members obviously anxiously waiting to find out what this wing fragment could be and if it is indeed consistent with MH370.
[Barnett:] So there you have it. Officials are cross referencing all the information they have and even going as far to look at the barnacles on this piece of debris. Robyn Kriel with what I believe is CNN's first live report from Reunion Island. She is just one of a number of teams we have who arrived there as we try to gather more information on what the deputy prime minister of Australia calls a "credible and significant lead" in finding this piece of debris Zain.
[Asher:] Errol, I want to go now to our Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens. Andrew has been covering the story from the very beginning since the plane vanished March of last year. He is joining us live on the phone from Kuala Lumpur. So Andrew, as we heard Robyn Kriel mentioned there are a lot of people around the world especially Malaysia and China anxiously waiting for what the flaperon could be, is it part of MH370? I've want to ask you, can we really learn anything new from this particular piece of debris do you think?
[Andrew Stevens, Cnn Asia-pacific Editor:] Well, at this stage it is certainly the strongest lead that the investigators have had in the last 16 months looking for this plane. No doubt about that. The Australian deputy prime minister actually said in the press conference with the photos, mostly the photos. The photo at the top, which are being dragged out of the sea, they're not inconsistent with a 777. If you talk to and listen to the experts here so far on those photos, they are all saying the same thing. Excuse me. This could actually in form part of the flaperon, which is the second part of the wing that keeps the plane stable in flight. It could actually be a flaperon of a 777. Robyn was saying, there is only one 777 which is unaccounted for at the moment. There is a very, very strong lead at the moment. That's all it is. They're still a long way to go to actually get this confirmed properly. Errol mentioned barnacles. Australians are analyzing the barnacles to see how old they are, essentially, had they been in the water 16 months. That would be a clue. We don't know how long it is going to take to get a positive id with that maintenance number. The Australian prime minister said it could take some time. We can't be any more specific than that at this time.
[Asher:] It could take some time. You know, it's important to be, I guess, cautiously optimistic. Want to talk about Malaysia's role in the investigation. The piece was found in a French territory in Reunion. It's an American plane. It was made by Boeing. The Australians have said that they will be in charge of the black boxes. What will Malaysia's role specifically be in piecing together this mystery do you think?
[Stevens:] OK, they will be across all four process of the investigation and at this point, it is complex with a number of countries that are now involved with this, the French, and the Malaysian have sent a team away, dispatched a team to Reunion Island to work with the air investigators, French air investigators on that debris. So they are across all aspects of this has been involve in the search, which has been led by Australia because the plane was believed to have gone down in waters, which is closest to Australia. So the lead investigator not yet clear where parts of the plane will be taken for to try to reconstruct what happened to find out exactly the last few minutes of flight and why it did what it did. So, Malaysians saying [inaudible] particularly in the [inaudible] family, this is obviously a very sensitive time for the family at the moment. They have been hearing the same things we have been hearing. They're living in hope. They're also torn saying that one way they want closure. They need closure to what happened to their family members. The other one is facing up to what is going to be possibly a very, very grim truth. It's going to be very difficult so they are absolutely torn at the moment.
[Asher:] Absolutely. Yes, they want closure, but the reality of what could have happened to this plane, certainly very difficult to swallow. OK, Andrew Stevens live for us there on the phone from Kuala Lumpur. Thank you so much, Andrew Errol.
[Barnett:] Well, Zain, we want to figure out what we are dealing with here. So we are bringing in Geoffrey Thomas. He is the editor-in- chief and managing director of airlineratings.com joins us via webcam from Perth, Australia. Thanks for your time, Jeffrey. We are trying to be careful because of relatives of victims not to confirm this, but it appears this debris is a flaperon of a Boeing 777 in a location consistent with Indian Ocean currents and Australia's deputy pm moments ago saying this is the first credible lead in the search for MH370. Do you think this is MH370?
[Geoffrey Thomas, Editor-in-chief, Airlineratings.com:] Look, all of the evidence is certainly pointing that way and while officials are not saying so, within the industry there is a lot of dialogue in the last 12 hours discussing the various technical aspects of the piece found. It does point very strongly to it being from a 777 although we must be cautious here because a Yemeni airbus I310 crashed in that vicinity in 2009. There is a possibility that it could be from that. All technical evidence, discussions from engineers today around the globe is focusing on the fact that it is from 777.
[Barnett:] Talk to us more about the technical discussions I guess happening behind the scenes among those who are really experts in all of this. The item, the debris we are all looking at now appears to be a flaperon. It appears to have some damage around some of the edges. Just explain to us what it is and based on how it looks now, what happened to it?
[Thomas:] A flaperon, there is two of them, one on each side, that midway, midway along the wing, trailing edge of the wing. They're used to roll the airplane from the left to the right. There are sections of those, of the flaperon that you can see in the imagery which are consistent with a Boeing 777 flaperon. That's what everybody is focused on. That's what leads them to believe it is from a 777.
[Barnett:] Now you did mention a Yemen airbus crash in 2009 in the vicinity of where this piece of debris was found, any possibility that those types of models would have this similar piece?
[Thomas:] They have a similar piece, however, and this is the big however, the Yemeni Airbus A310, its flaperon is made of aluminum, this piece is made by composite material, which what the Boeing 777 flaperon is made from. There is a big difference between the two particularly with respect to damage. They both they exhibit very different sort of profiles when damaged and this one is consistent with a composite structure.
[Barnett:] OK, so even with that possibility the big money I guess is on this being part of a Boeing 777. Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief at airlineratings.com. Thank you for joining us from Perth Zain.
[Asher:] We previously thought that it would be the serial number on this piece of flaperon. Investigators are saying that it's possibly a maintenance number. So hopefully we'll be able to confirm sometimes soon. Many of you, wondering if it is possible for debris from MH370 to drift thousands of kilometers across the Indian Ocean. Our meteorologist, Ivan Cabrera, is joining us now. Ivan, we have been speaking before about the Indian Ocean, gyres, currents that move counterclockwise. That may possibly explain how this piece of debris could have drifted that far?
[Ivan Cabrera, Ams Meteorologist:] Yes, it certainly consistent with the currents in the Indian Ocean. No question about it. Break that down for you. Show you what we're talking about. The search area by the way continues to beep just west of Australia. We are talking about a distance now, 2,600 miles or 4,000 kilometers here. You are wondering how debris made it all the way to this island which is 2600 miles away here. Well, that could be explained by ocean currents. Likely the debris also hit some storms along the way. This is a very slow process. Debris getting lofted back towards the east, the north, but generally the current is toward the west. And that is because the debris would have been under the influence, what we call the Indian Ocean gyre here. We essentially have five major gyres across the planet because of global circulation. The wind moving the ocean basically what we are talking about here in the first 100 meters here. You recall in 2011, we had the Japan tsunami. The north pacific gyre got debris from the tsunami. It moved it from Japan all the way across the north pacific. And it ended up on some of the shores across northern America here. So certainly possible especially if the debris has enough area to it, if it is light enough, can be carried by the ocean current. So we'll focus in on the Indian Ocean gyre because in the southern hemisphere it moves counter clockwise here. So again consistent on the northern side of that to have any debris that is buoyant enough to be pushed towards the west so you think, well, we could just follow the debris from the island, further to the east. Not that easy. It doesn't move in a direct line here. In fact, I will be able to show you the ocean currents. They undulate and they are very complicated here, so yes, the movement is generally from Australia heading towards Reunion Island here. But if you are trying how to get debris and trying to trace it back, a very complicated process. They're going to be using very complicated drift modeling to see if they can trace the debris back, but it is going to be very difficult because again. It has gone through a lot from what we think is the original crash site here. So one clue at least at this point here and that is better than what we have had in a very, very long time. But as you saw there are upwards of 16 months at this point. The thing has been out in the Indian Ocean making it ashore to Reunion Island quite a long ways away.
[Barnett:] When you break it down like that, it's incredible that we even have this one piece of debris if in fact it is MH370 considering it had to get through all of that.
[Asher:] Right. Some people were cleaning up the piece of coastline on Reunion Island and happened to discover it. But it's one clue, but doesn't necessarily piece together what went down. We will have much more on Flight MH370 ahead this hour, but first
[Unidentified Male:] I've been doing this over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I have ever seen a police officer make.
[Asher:] Strong words there in a community rallies and an officer faces a murder charge in the shooting death of an unarmed black man.
[Barnett:] Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, a lawyer says Donald Trump lashed out at her during a deposition. He says she was being unprofessional.
[Donald Trump , Presidential Candidate:] She wanted to breast pump in front of me and I may have said that's disgusting. I may have said something else. I thought it was terrible.