Spotlight: Malaysia seeks help as suspected MH370 debris continues to emerge

As more debris has washed up on La Reunion Island, Malaysia has called on nearby territories for help in continuing its search for helpful clues to the missing flight MH370.

Malaysian civil aviation authorities are reaching out to their counterparts in territories near the island to be on the lookout for further debris that could provide "more clues to the missing aircraft," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Sunday.

A metallic object was found Sunday on the island, inscribed with two Chinese characters and with a handle attached, and appears to be part of an aluminium kettle, according to local media.

Experts will use the object as part of their investigation into the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, French news channel BFMTV said, adding that nothing indicated that it was part of an aircraft.

Another piece of metallic debris, discovered Sunday on the island, was originally believed to be part of a plane hatch, but it turned out to be from a domestic ladder.

"I urge all parties to allow this crucial investigation process to take its course. I reiterate this is for the sake of the next of kin of the loved ones of MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and have suffered much over this time," Liow said.

Malaysian authorities will make an announcement once the verification process has been completed, the minister said.

A two-meter-long piece of wreckage was reportedly discovered by an environmental worker on La Reunion Island, east of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, and was identified as part of a plane wing known as a flaperon.

A day later, pieces of a suitcase and bottles were also found in the area.

The plane wreckage has brought investigators a step closer to solving the mystery of flight MH370, Malaysian Transport Ministry officials said.

The flaperon has been officially identified as part of a Boeing 777, the same aircraft type used for flight MH370, Liow said Sunday.

This was verified by French authorities together with aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and a Malaysian team of experts, he said.

The wreckage arrived in Toulouse, France on Saturday for verification by the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA), with the verification process set to start next Wednesday.

Liow said Malaysia, the United States, China, France and Boeing will send representatives to participate in the verification of the flaperon in Toulouse.

Meanwhile, the suitcase and bottles would be examined by experts from the criminal research institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) in Pontoise, France.

Despite the confirmation of the debris as a Boeing 777 flaperon, authorities remain cautious as to whether it belongs to flight MH370.

Liow said Saturday in Kuala Lumpur that it was too early to draw any conclusions.

"We do not want to speculate. We will wait for verification from the French authorities," he said.

Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz said that according to Malaysia Airlines, the confirmation of the debris as part of a Boeing 777 did not necessarily mean it actually belonged to flight MH370.

The missing flight, a Boeing 777-200, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with a total of 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

So far, the plane has not been found despite a massive surface and underwater hunt. The plane's disappearance has become one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Endi