Wreckage is from Boeing 777, says Malaysia government official

Malaysia has also deployed additional personnel to look for more debris at Réunion while dispatching another set of experts to France to coordinate the investigation.

Abdul Aziz also confirmed that there were no Malaysian-based MH370 investigators on the island given reports that a volcano had erupted there yesterday. It is unclear when the identification process will be completed.

Plane debris that might be from a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared without a trace last year will undergo testing by aviation experts beginning Wednesday.

A Boeing parts supplier confirmed the number was on a seal associated with the Boeing 777, a source said.

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search for the passenger jet, said the agency was “increasingly confident that this debris is from MH370″.

According to a Reuters witness and Agence France Presse, an Air France flight carrying the debris landed at Orly airport near Paris at 0417 GMT (12.17 a.m. EDT).

The debris will be analysed “next week”, according to a source in the French investigations team.

French authorities have imposed extraordinary secrecy, putting the piece of wreckage under police protection in the hours before it left the island of Reunion.

The remains of what could be a suitcase were also found on the same stretch of rocky beach, in the town of Saint Andre.

Of the victims, 152 were Chinese and seven from Indonesia.

National carrier Malaysia Airlines was operating a Boeing 777 when the ill-fated flight disappeared in March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, creating one of the most baffling mysteries in aviation history.

A multinational search effort focusing on the southern Indian Ocean and led by Australia has yet to produce any concrete clues in the case, with officials claiming that the operation has been repeatedly perplexed due to false leads and wrong information.

The Malaysian government officially declared it to be an accident and concluded that all those on board are presumed dead.

Loved ones of those on board will likely have to wait at least another day for confirmation.

The families deserved answers, she said. Despite extensive ocean searches, nothing has been found of the aircraft.

Oceanographers say it is possible that currents could have swept the debris such a distance – though the piece, even if confirmed as part of MH370, is unlikely to help investigators figure out where the plane came down.