Australia 'increasingly confident' that debris is from missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 (Update)

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Friday said they were 'increasingly confident' that the debris from the missing flight MH370 found recently on Indian Ocean's Reunion island is from the ill-fated jet.

A two-metre barnacle-covered chunk of aircraft debris was flown to Toulouse yesterday for identification amid hopes that it will be the first physical evidence since the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines jet 16 months ago.

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Bureau, said the evidence, a wing piece also known as a flaperon, was quite similar to 'a very specific part associated only with 777 aircrafts', adding that they are working round the clock with their French and Malaysian colleagues to analyse all the information.

According to the Guardian, Dolan's comments marks the first time a high-level official has said the flaperon was likely to have come from the missing jet.

The search surrounding the missing MH370 had gone cold after planes and ships from more than 20 countries scoured the Indian Ocean for the aircraft that was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

More than half of those on board the missing plane were Chinese.