Suspected plane debris washed up off the east coast of Africa is being investigated for connections to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The doomed airliner went missing in March last year with 239 people on board.
A Serial number on the wreckage may hold clues to the fate of the aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said it was “premature” to speculate on whether wreckage found in the Indian Ocean was from missing flight MH370, as authorities scrambled to verify the origin of the debris.
The two-metre long piece of wreckage, potentially from a wing part known as a flaperon, was found on a beach on the French island of La Reunion.
A MAS media representative said: “At the moment, it would be too premature for the airline to speculate (on) the origin of the flaperon,”
The plane vanished in March 2014 over the South China Sea after mysteriously diverting from its north-bound route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Authorities involved in an Australian-led search believe it went down in the southern Indian Ocean.
But no physical evidence of the wreckage has ever been found in one of aviation’s great mysteries, and Malaysian authorities in January declared that all on board were presumed dead.
The initial recovery effort involved 22 military aircraft and 19 ships.
Search vessels funded by Malaysia and Australia have been scouring the south Indian Ocean sea floor with sonar.
In a statement, Warren Truss, Australia’s deputy prime minister, said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was working with the French and American transport authorities and plane manufacturer Boeing on the examination of the plane part, under the leadership of Malaysia.
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