By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia is seeking permission to search coastal areas of Mozambique and South Africa for debris from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters in capital Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that the government has formally applied to authorities from the two locations for permission to commence search operations.

On Tuesday, Liow Tiong Lai said another piece of debris suspected to be from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had been found in South Africa.

"We hope that the two countries will be cooperative so the search operation groups can find more debris," he said. "When we can collect more of the debris, we will know the search areas more accurately."

Liow added that Australia, China and Malaysia had also committed to search for the aircraft in coastal areas of the two countries.

Since the plane vanished March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens, six pieces of aircraft debris believed to be from MH370 have been found.

The search and rescue mission -- which began immediately -- involved some 160 assets inclusive of 65 aircraft and 95 vessels as well as experts from 25 countries.

After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29 2015 Malaysia declared that MH370 was lost in an accident, killing all passengers.

On July 29 last year, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island, east of Madagascar. The debris -- believed to be from a Boeing 777 -- was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.

Days after, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flaperon was from MH370, and that the flight had ended in the Indian Ocean.