Malaysia Airlines

A piece of plane debris discovered in Mauritius was from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials in Malaysia have said.

The flight disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had found that the debris was consistent with the trailing edge of an aircraft wing, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement.

Two pieces of plane debris were previously confirmed as being from the missing jet. The first was recovered from the French island of Reunion in July 2015, while the second was found on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania.

Debris washed up over the weekend in Mozambique has been tentatively identified by experts as from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

An official from the US said the debris appears to be the leading edge of the right-hand horizontal stabiliser of a Boeing 777 passenger aircraft.

MH370, which disappeared two years ago this month, is the only known missing aircraft of that type.

The part is being transported to Malaysia, according to the official.

Last year, wreckage was found on the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where a piece of wing from the doomed airliner washed up.

France is stepping up its efforts in the search for debris from missing Malaysian Airlines plane MH370.

Extra planes, boats and helicopters are being sent to scour the coast of the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where a piece of wing from MH370 was found on a beach last week.

Malaysia has called for the governments of Mauritius and Madagascar, near Reunion, to help widen the search area after additional debris, including a plane window, was discovered.

MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Malaysian officials have said paint colour and maintenance record matches proved that a piece of wing found on Reunion Island was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The flight vanished without trace on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

A plane window has been found on Reunion Island, the Malaysian transport minister has said.

But Liow Tiong Lai said he cannot confirm they belong to Flight 370, which went missing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

"I can only ascertain that it's plane debris," he told reporters.

Liow said "there are many items collected" from the Indian Ocean island where a wing part washed up last week and has been confirmed as part of missing MH370.

The new debris has been sent "to the French authorities for verification. I cannot confirm that it's from MH370."

The "baffling mystery" of missing flight MH370 is closer to being solved, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said.

The Malaysian prime minister said yesterday that debris found on an Indian Ocean island did belong to the missing plane, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

French investigators stopped short of declaring they were certain of a link, saying only that there was a "very strong presumption".

Mr Abbott told reporters: "For the first time we may be a little bit closer to solving this baffling mystery."

He said the findings did indicate that the plane "did come down more or less where we thought it did".