Experts urge caution over alleged MH370 debris found washed up on the Maldives

Although Maldives islanders reported seeing a jumbo jet flying low over the island on the day MH370 disappeared, aviation experts say it is unlikely the latest debris is from the plane

Possible debris from MH370 was photographed and uploaded to Facebook by islander Mohammed Wafir (Mohamed Wafir)

Debris that may be from missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has washed up in the Maldives, a string of islands almost 2,000 miles from Reunion where a possible wing part was found.

Over the past two months, pieces of debris that some believe come from MH370 have washed up on the shores of a number of islands in the Maldives, in the northern Indian Ocean.

As reported by Maldives paper Haveeru, debris washed up near the luxury holiday resort Banya Tree Vabbinfaru around a month ago.

The piece of wreckage also has writing on it, which could help in identifying its origin (Picture: Mohamed Wafir) (Mohamed Wafir)

Since then, three other islands in the Maldives, two in Baa Atoll and one in Noonu Atoll, have come forward, saying unusual debris has also appeared on their islands.

However, experts are urging caution, saying that it is unlikely that these pieces of debris come from the missing plane.

Speaking to the paper, an aeronautical engineer said it was likely that the debris was in fact waste from building sites, not from an aeroplane.

Nevertheless, the Maldives Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that they will investigate the debris, and added they will co-operate fully with Malaysian authorities.

Shortly after MH370 disappeared, Maldives islanders said they witnessed a low-flying jumbo jet going over their island on the day it vanished.

Their sightings would have occurred more than seven hours after the plane last made contact with air traffic controllers. Maldives officials denied that this sighting was of MH370, but the latest findings could lend more evidence to the theory.

The Maldives are almost 3,000 miles away from the area where the plane was believed to have crashed, off the western coast of Australia.

However, if the wreckage that washed up on Reunion is indeed from the missing plane, as the Malaysian Prime Minister says, it's not unfeasible that the wreckage could have drifted a similar distance across the Indian Ocean over the course of the 18 months the plane has been missing.

French investigators into the crash were more cautious

The plane went missing on 8 March 2014, taking all 239 people on board with it.