Wreckage is the wing of missing plane MH370 says French aviation expert.

Finally is this the first clue to the plane’s mysterious disappearance?

Sixteen months after it went missing this looks like what might be the first solid piece of evidence as to what happened to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The wreckage of a plane has been found washed up on the French island of Reunion – near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It was initially discovered by public workers cleaning up the coastline near the town of Saint-André and taken to authorities.

The Boeing 777 disappeared on 8 March 2014 travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Xavier Tytelman, a former military pilot who now specialises in aviation security said that he was contacted by a man who sent him images of the wreckage and after comparing designs of the Boeing 777 wing with the Réunion debris, Tytelman believes “the similarity is incredible.”

Mr Tytleman told The Telegraph “I’ve been studying hundreds of photos and speaking to colleagues,” Mr Tytelman told The Telegraph. “And we all think it is likely that the wing is that of a Boeing 777 – the same plane as MH370.

“Police in Reunion examining the wreckage say that it looks like it’s been in the water for around a year, which again would fit with MH370. We can’t say for certainty, but we do think there is a chance that this is it.”

Mr Tytelman said that on a pilot’s online forum there was much discussion over a code on part of the wreckage: BB670.

“The code is not that of a plane number plate, nor that or a serial number on machinery,” he wrote.

“But if the flaperon does indeed belong to MH370, it’s clear that the reference will be swiftly identified. In a few days we will have a definitive answer.”

Related content: A mother’s heartbreak: “What can I tell my sons? What is the truth?”

Investigators – lead by a team from Australia –  have been searching for the missing plane in the southern Indian Ocean.

An international team of experts used satellite data to calculate that the plane eventually went down in that area.

The Guardian reports that online modelling from the University of New South Wales suggests that oceanic currents could carry wreckage from the MH370 search zone as far as Réunion, off the eastern coast of Africa in the period of time since the plane went missing.

In March – on the one year anniversary of the plane’s disappearance  – Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, said in a statement that Australia was committed to the search.

“Currently four vessels are involved in the underwater search. These vessels employ a range of equipment including side scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounders and video cameras to locate and identify aircraft debris in waters up to 6km deep.”

“The families deserve answers and we are doing all we can to get them.”

For more news:

The moment Penny Wong won today’s same-sex marriage debate.
The chilling moment a man deliberately flipped his wife’s car.