Debris washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion is being flown to France to see whether it is part of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The two-metre long wreckage will be inspected by experts in Toulouse, the site of the nearest office of the BEA, the French body responsible for air accident investigations.
Malaysia’s deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said it was ‘almost certain’ the debris is from a Boeing 777 aircraft.
Martin Dolan, who is leading Australia’s search efforts, told the BBC he is ‘increasingly confident’ the part is from the missing plane.
Aviation experts who have studied photos of the debris found on Reunion say it resembles a flaperon – a moving part of the wing – from a 777.
Flight MH370, which disappeared with 239 on board in March 2014, is the only 777 to have gone missing over the sea.
Scientists are now studying photographs to see if the barnacles on the wreckage match up with the time the wreckage would have been in the water.
The search efforts for the aircraft have been focused on an expanse of the southern Indian Ocean 3,700 miles east of Reunion, which is a French territory around 370 miles east of Madagascar.
Malaysia Airlines said it was working with the relevant authorities but added: "At the moment, it would be too premature for the airline to speculate the origin of the object."
Chinese relatives of the victims released a statement saying they would be following the developments.
"We don’t ever again want information that is 99% positive information that is given by some officials. We want [the information] to be 100% positive," it said.
"We care more about where our families rather than where the plane’s wreckage is."
