‘Metallic debris’ found on Reunion Island

This picture taken on August 2, 2015 shows metallic debris found on a beach in Saint-Denis on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, close to where where a Boeing 777 wing part believed to belong to missing flight MH370 washed up last week. AFP PHOTO

PETALING JAYA: More suspected plane debris has been found washed up on Reunion Island, Sky News reported on Sunday. 

According to Sky News' David Bowden, the object was discovered in a different location to the flaperon which prompted speculation that it was from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. 

It was earlier reported that the debris resembled a plane door, but the news channel has now said that it can't be confirmed. 

AFP later reported that investigators on the Indian Ocean island took the debris into evidence as part of their probe into the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, although nothing indicated that it came from an airplane, the source said.

An AFP photographer saw police collect one piece of debris, measuring about 100 square centimetres (15 square inches), on the north of the island on Sunday morning.

Police placed the debris -- which has a sort of handle partially covered by leather and is inscribed with two ideograms -- in an iron case.

Also on Sunday morning a man handed police a piece of debris measuring 70 centimetres (27 inches), guessing it was part of a plane door.

Experts confirmed that the flaperon was consistent with that of Boeing 777 although it is not known if it is from the missing jet.

The Transport Ministry said that MH370 investigators would inspect the flaperon on Wednesday.  

Reunion Island is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.

Flight MH370 with 239 people on board disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 last year. It is believed to have ended in the southern Indian Ocean.