Debris, believed to be a part of the Boeing 777 from Flight MH370, has been found in the western Indian Ocean.
CNN reports that a part of the plane's wing, believed to be called a "flaperon," has been found off the coast of St. Andre, a community in Reunion Island.
Quite surprisingly, Reunion, a French island near Madagascar, is very far from the search area.
The Associated Press reports that the last primary radar contact with Flight MH370 positions it at about 230 miles northwest of the Malaysian city of Penang. Reunion is about 3,500 miles southwest of Penang, and about 2,600 miles west of the current search area.
The Associated Press says in another report that a man named Johnny Begue "stumbled across" the plane part on Wednesday morning while he was looking for stones to grind spices.
His colleague, Teddy Riviere, confirmed his account, but authorities wouldn't say who discovered the component.
"I knew immediately it was part of an aircraft, but I didn't realize how important it was, that it could help to solve the mystery of what happened to the Malaysian jet," Begue, a Reunion environmental worker, said.
Begue and several workmates took the debris out of the water to prevent additional damage that may be caused by it being battered into the rocks on the beach.
Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai, told reporters that he sent a team to verify the identity of the plane wreckage.
"Whatever wreckage found needs to be further verified before we can ever confirm that it is belonged to MH370," he said to the Associated Press.
Accordinfg to Australian Transport Minister, Warren Truss, there is enough evidence to prove that the debris belongs to a boeing 777.
Though several officials have expressed confidence that the debris is from a boeing 777, authorities are planning to have it undergo analysis before confirming thay it came from Flight MH370. According to the Paris Prosecutor's Office, the results will arrive on Saturday.
"The most important part of this whole exercise at the moment is to give some kind of closure to the families," said Truss, whose country is leading the search for the plane off Australia's west coast.
Over the past 16 months, there have been many false leads. Families of those onboard the missing plane are desperate for answers.
"I don't want to see any news about suspected debris," says Zhang Qian of Beijing, whose husband, Wang Houbin, was on the plane.
"What I want is a verified result," she added.
