MH370 search: French investigators begin analysis of Boeing 777 wing part as 'plane window' washes up on Reunion island

Local media on French island report new debris finds, as experts urge caution

Experts assembled from across the world are starting to analyse a suspected part of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370, and could announce their results as early as this afternoon.

Items of debris including a Boeing 777 wing “flaperon” have arrived in Toulouse, south-west France, after they were found washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

Investigators from France, Australia and Malaysia will work together to establish whether the wing part and a burned item of luggage really are from the missing jet, which disappeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March last year with 239 people on board.

According to the AFP news agency, officials say they may pronounce on the origin of the items by the end of the week – but it would be significantly longer before the suspected items could give up any further clues as to how the plane came down.

“One should not expect miracles,” said Jean-Paul Troadec, the former head of the French BEA agency that investigates air accidents.

Officials remain on the lookout in Reunion for more suspected MH370 debris, with experts predicting that there could be many more items floating on the ocean’s surface. Further out across the ocean, authorities in Mauritius and the Seychelles say they are also keeping an eye out.

Reunion police say they have had to rule out dozens of possible “finds” since the Boeing 777 wing part was found – but they are investigating a piece of rounded plastic found on Tuesday that was described by local media as resembling a plane’s window.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the item was spotted by a local man named Bruno out jogging along a St Denis beach just a few hundred metres from where the other debris was found.

National Police Brigadier Gisele Cadar was sceptical about a possible link to the Malaysia Airlines flight, but said: “It might resemble the back of a plane window or rather the part where the masks fall but right now I can't tell you anything.”