PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Unidentified material washed up on the Australian coastline is being investigated for possible links to a Malaysian jetliner that disappeared more than seven weeks ago with 239 people on board, the Australian authorities said on Wednesday.

Australian police have secured the material, found 10 km (6 miles) east of the town of Augusta at the southern tip of Western Australia state, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said in a statement.

The material, no description of which was given, is the first report of suspected debris in weeks and the first lead since April 4, when authorities detected what they believed might have been a signal from the Malaysia Airlines plane’s black box recorder.