Potential MH370 Plane window washes up on Reunion Island beach

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A piece of plastic believed to be a plane window has been found
It was discovered by a man named Bruno on Reunion Island on Tuesday
The foot-long object was found a few hundred metres from other debris
A National Police Brigadier could not confirm whether it is from a plane

By Rachel Eddie and Louise Cheer and Corey Charlton for MailOnline

Published: 09:59 EST, 4 August 2015 | Updated: 13:59 EST, 4 August 2015

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A plastic object believed to be a plane window has washed up on Reunion Island, as researchers determine whether parts found nearby are from the doomed MH370 flight.

A man named Bruno found the plastic part, which resembles a plane window, while jogging along a St Denis beach on Tuesday, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The object was found within a few hundred metres of where other pieces of debris were discovered, with hopes they can be traced back to the Malaysian Airlines plane which vanished in March last year.

Scroll down for video

A piece of plastic found by a French tourist on the coastline of Reunion Island is believed to be a plane window

It was found on Tuesday, however authorities have not yet confirmed whether the debris is from a plane - let alone a Boeing 777 or the doomed MH370 which vanished last March

National Police Brigadier Gisele Cadar could not confirm whether the object is from a plane.

‘It might resemble the back of a plane window or rather the part where the masks fall but right now I can’t tell you anything,’ she said.

Ms Cadar reportedly left the scene with the plastic item in the boot of a patrol car.

Bruno, who said he is holidaying on the island from France, is thought to be the same man who found an object on Sunday which he hoped could be traced back to the Boeing 777.

But Malaysian authorities dispelled the rumour that the object was a plane door, and said it was more likely a piece from a household ladder.

Beachcombers have scoured the coastline of Reunion Island, east of Madagascar, following the discovery of a wing section last Wednesday.

Malaysia confirms plane wing but cautions not to speculate

National Police Brigadier Gisele Cadar admitted the piece of plastic did look like it might be from a plane, and took the plastic item away in the boot of a patrol car

If found to be from the plane, the piece of plastic could unlock the mystery of the flight with testing from French investigators

Beachcombers have scoured the coastline following the discovery of a plane wing

The wing section is confirmed to be from a Boeing 777, the same model as MH370, and is suspected to have come from the plane that disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

It has been taken to the southern French city of Toulouse to be inspected by a forensic laboratory.

Analysis of the debris could reveal the details about the plane’s final moments, and put to rest the many conflicting hypotheses.

If the debris is confirmed to have come from the flight, French investigator's sophisticated equipment and expertise could solve the mystery of what happened to MH370, with 239 people on board, a source told CNN.

The wing flaperon will be analysed using physical and chemical methods including 'a scanning electron microscope that can magnify up to 100,000 times' to understand how it was damaged, said Pierre Bascary, former director of the tests at France's General Directorate for Armament.

It is hoped that lab tests will determine whether the plane wing came from the vanished plane on Wednesday.

New debris on Reunion Island is not from flight MH370

Police officers inspect metal debris found washed up on a beach in Saint-Denis on Reunion Island

Officials stand next to a plane's flaperon that had been recovered. Tests are currently underway to determine if it has come from the vanished MH370

La Reunion lawyer Creissen Philippe recovered these three water bottles and a plastic tube near his home on the island

The discovery of the potential plane window comes after water bottles from Malaysia and Taiwan were found beached on the same coastline.

They were found by La Reunion lawyer Philippe Creissen, who was later told by French police that his discoveries would be looked at by MH370 investigators.

He said there had been more and more pieces of flotsam washing up on the beaches of the island.

'I walk along this beach all the time and 99 per cent of the debris that's here comes from Reunion,' Mr Creissen told The Daily Telegraph.

'Recently though, there has been a lot of stuff that is not from here.'

Two police officers leave the beach of Saint-Denis carrying debris found on the coastline

A piece of metallic debris found on the beach turned out to be piece of a ladder, and not part of a plane as originally claimed

BLACK BOX KEY TO UNLOCKING MYSTERY OF MH370

The flight's mysterious disappearance, which saw it vanish off radars as a key transponder appeared to have been shut off, has baffled aviation experts and grieving families and given rise to a myriad conspiracy theories.

Speculation over the cause of the plane's disappearance has focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.

But beyond the flight identification, analyses of the aircraft wing are unlikely to draw the story of the disaster, experts say.

Authorities have warned that even if the debris is confirmed to come from MH370, the mystery of what happened to the plane and where exactly it went down are still likely to persist unless the black box is found.

And while the frenzy to discover a piece of the plane continues, it has been sensationally claimed analysis of shell fish growing on the plane wing could reveal the origin of the piece of debris.

Based on photographs, ecologists in Australia believe the crustaceans clinging to the wing piece are goose or stalk barnacles.

'Barnacle shells can tell us valuable information about the water conditions under which they were formed', Ryan Pearson, a PhD student at Australia's Griffith University, claimed.

Experts analyse barnacle shells to determine the temperature and chemical composition of the water through which they passed to help reveal their origin.

While the technique could help narrow the area of the search for MH370 to within tens, or hundreds, of kilometres, it was unlikely to pinpoint an exact location, Mr Pearson said.

Barnacles can be aged, based on growth rates and size. If the barnacles on the debris are older than the date MH370 went missing, it would rule it coming from that plane.