People Think A Plane Wing That Washed Up On An Island In The Indian Ocean May Belong To MH370

A fragment of a plane's wing was discovered Wednesday on the island of Réunion, French media reported, with speculation the debris may belong to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in March 2014.

According to Réunion 1ère, the wing was discovered by public workers cleaning up the coastline near the town of Saint-André on the French island, which sits in the Indian Ocean near the island of Madagascar.

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L'Info.re reported authorities arrived on scene shortly after the discovery was made, taking it to a local airport for examination.

The piece of the wing is reportedly 6.5 feet long and 3.2 feet wide.

The disappearance of MH370 on March 8 last year captivated the world. The plane, scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, vanished from radar screens.

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Analysis of satellite communications eventually determined the plane had flown far off course, heading into the southern Indian Ocean. Aviation experts suspect the flight eventually ran out of fuel before crashing into the sea.

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The airline says there were no survivors and Australian officials spent months scanning the ocean floor in search of wreckage from the Boeing 777, finding nothing.

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On his blog, French aviation expert Xavier Tytelman writes that those who have reviewed pictures of the wing believe it probably belongs to an airliner.

After comparing designs of the Boeing 777 wing with the Réunion debris, Tytelman writes "the similarity is incredible."

However, another aviation expert told L'Info.re he is certain the wing did not belong to MH370. Tytelman himself cautions that the debris does not appear to be very degraded.

Additionally, a code said to be found on the wreckage, BB670, does not correspond to any airline registration or device serial number, Tytelman writes.

"In a few days, we will have a definitive answer," he writes.

In a statement to Agence France-Presse, Boeing said it remained "committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane."

BuzzFeed News has reached out to Malaysia Airlines for comment.

SOURCE: BuzzFeed