he wing section is about 9 feet long and has an identification number that will show what type of aircraft it is, the local newspaper, Journale de l'ile de la Reunion reports, quoting the transport authority in charge of the investigation.
Adjutant Christian Retournat, a member of the French Air Force in Reunion, confirmed the discovery of the debris, CNN reported.
"It is way too soon to say whether or not it is MH370. We just found the debris this morning in the coast of Saint Andre," Retournat said Wednesday, CNN reports.
Family members of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet rest on March 1 after praying at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished last year on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. No trace of the plane has been found. Vincent Thian, AP
The presence of numerous shells on the wing tip suggests it has been in the water for a long period.
Dozens of countries initially searched for the aircraft, but the effort gradually narrowed to a search led by Australia, in partnership with Malaysia and China.
Air-traffic controllers lost contact with the plane less than an hour after it took off. The plane’s automated maintenance equipment and its transponder, which transmits its location, each shut down by 1:21 a.m., suggesting either a mechanical problem or someone intentionally turning them off.
Radar tracking suggested the plane turned west of its scheduled northeastern path, to the western side of the Malaysian peninsula. But radar, which only reaches a couple of hundred miles off shore, lost track of the plane.
An Inmarsat satellite over the Indian Ocean heard hourly pings that investigators believe were from the plane’s automated maintenance system, like a cellphone looking for a tower. The last ping came at 8:11 a.m.
Based on estimates from the satellite and the amount of fuel the plane burned, the search is focused on a remote area of ocean the size of Pennsylvania.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Wednesday that about half the area has been searched during the last year without signs of the plane.