Aeroplane wreckage has washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, which air safety investigators have a "high degree of confidence" is a piece of the missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 plane.

Writing on a blog, French aviation security expert and former pilot Xavier Tytelman, said the images showed an "incredible" similarity between the appearance of the aircraft which went missing in March last year and the wing of a Boeing 777.

Comparing Boeing plane schematics and the images from the scene, Tytelman said there is a small possibility that the wreckage found could be the remnants of MH370.

The Boeing 777 has only been involved in five 'hull loss' incidents in its history. This term is used when the aircraft is damaged beyond repair, or when it has gone missing.

One of these accidents was the destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, after it was hit by a missile while over Ukraine in July last year. The rest of the accidents (excluding MH370) all took place over land, at airports in London, Cairo and San Francisco, leaving only one missing 777 in the world.

Confirmation that the wreckage is indeed from a Boeing 777 would suggest it is likely to be from MH370.

Mr Tytelman added that the piece of debris, which resembles part of a wing, seems relatively intact, and reported that police on the scene believed it could have been underwater for about a year.

A US official told the Associated Press that air safety investigators had a “high degree of confidence” the aircraft debris was a “flaperon”, a wing component unique to the Boeing 777.

A French official close to the investigation also confirmed that French law enforcement officers were on site to examine the debris.

Certainly, La Reunion is far away from the suspected crash site of MH370, which is in the ocean to the west of Australia.

The island is still in the Indian ocean, but is around 2,800 miles from where investigators have been searching for the downed plane.

However, according to Mr Tytelman, it is not unfeasible that this piece of debris could have been moved by the current across the ocean over the course of the year.

In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burns incense as he prays at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Family members of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 burn incense to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 comforts another relative as they gather to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry as they gather at the Lama Temple in Beijing. Chinese relatives marked 100 days since the plane went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing by offering prayers and burning incense at the buddhist temple In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 offer prayers at the Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 prays at the Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Chinese relatives of passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 hold incense sticks and pray at the Lama Temple in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Malaysian relatives Intan Maizura Othman (34) wife of MH370 fligh attendant Hazrin Hasnan holds placard during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Malaysian relatives A young relative tries to stick paper planes on a board during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Malaysian relatives Pictures of crews and passengers is displayed during an event to remember the 100th day of the missing crews and passengers of Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 in Damansara, Selangor In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370. Twenty-six nations have been involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 since it disappeared more than a month ago In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Chinese women, relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 cry as they wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing. About 50 relatives of Chinese passengers on the plane continued a sit-in protest outside the Malaysian Embassy after officials failed to show up to update them on the search In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 speaks to media as he and others wait for Malaysia embassy staff to meet them outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 push through a police line to march to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing. Angry relatives who had been waiting for more than 8 hours in vain for a Malaysia embassy representative to attend their daily meeting marched to the Malaysia embassy and protested through the night In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Chinese police men try to prevent relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 from marching to the Malaysian embassy from a hotel in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 Flying Officer Elizabeth Vonfinster, an Air Combat Officer with No. 2 Squadron sits at her station aboard the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft during its return from another mission in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Wen Wanchang, whose son was on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as he pleads with Malaysian embassy representative Bala Chandran Tharman for answers during a meeting in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is carried by medical personnel and policemen after collapsing during a briefing Lido Hotel in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cry during a meeting in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as she asks for answers during a meeting with Malaysia embassy and Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative (C) of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 reacts as he attends a meeting at the Metro Park Hotel in Beijing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A relative of Chinese passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, demands answers from Malaysian representatives at a meeting in Beijing. Relatives chanted slogans and shouted protests against the lack of meaning answers from Malaysian officials and Malaysia Airlines representatives In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she speaks to Malaysian representatives during a briefing at Lido Hotel in Beijing. A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean, as a submarine drone neared the end of its mission scouring the sea bed with still no sign of wreckage In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Chinese relatives A Chinese relative of passengers onboard missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 reacts in front of journalists as she arrives during a briefing at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The effort to find missing flight MH370 is at a "very critical juncture", Malaysia's transport minister said as authorities mull whether to reassess a challenging search of the Indian Ocean seabed that has so far found nothing In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 Commander James Lybrand, Mission Commander ADV Ocean Shield (L) and Chris "Sharkie" Moore, Phoenix team leader, watch the launching of the Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis as it is craned over the side of Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield before launching it in to the southern Indian Ocean in the search of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 The Phoenix International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis is craned over the side of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 Leading Seaman, Boatswain's Mate, William Sharkey searching for debris on a rigid hull inflatable boat at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 Boatswain's Mate, Able Seaman Morgan Macdonald (L) observing markers from a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3K Orion at sea in the Southern Indian Ocean. An oil slick in the Indian Ocean is not from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials said when insisting underwater search efforts would be 'pursued to their completion' In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 HMAS Perth transiting through the Southern Indian Ocean as an Orion P-3K of the Royal New Zealand Air Force searches for debris for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean In pictures: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Search for flight MH370 Craig Turner from Phoenix International monitoring the Artemis' depth and speed as the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle scans the ocean floor for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 in the southern Indian Ocean

Despite the find, there was some scepticism amongst aviation sources that debris from an aircraft found in the western Indian Ocean could be part of MH370.

Satellite “pings” helped to establish that the Malaysia Airlines jet kept flying for hours after the last contact from the flight deck. The automatic signals have been minutely examined by an international forum of accident investigators, including experts from Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch. They concluded that the aircraft and the 239 people on board, will be found on the sea bed roughly 1,000 miles west of Perth in Western Australia.

A “priority search area,” about three times the size of Wales, was finely calculated for MH370. A multi-national search operation, led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, is currently “sweeping” the ocean floor using sophisticated equipment capable of identifying larger pieces of debris at a depth of thousands of feet.

Investigators believe the Boeing is much more intact than other aircraft lost at sea. With AF447, the Air France jet that crashed between Rio and Paris, the first evidence of disaster took the form of lifejackets floating on the surface of the ocean.

Since no such evidence of MH370 has come to light in more than a year, many experts believe that the 777 was deliberately flown into the ocean in such a way as to minimise the break-up of the plane.

A relative of an MH370 passenger cries shortly after the plane's disappearance (Feng Li/Getty Images)

Even if the calculations about the likely final resting place of MH370 are out by a significant margin, and the plane hit the Indian Ocean much further west than believed, the amount of fuel on board would leave it well short of the island of Reunion. The prospect that a large item of wreckage could be swept so far by ocean currents over the course of 16 months seems implausible, especially since no smaller, lighter pieces of debris have been detected.

The Malaysian Government has sent experts to Reunion to determine whether a piece of flight MH370 has been found, Reuters reported.

“I have sent a team to verify the wreckage ... we hope that it can identify (the wreckage) as soon as possible,” Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said during a visit to the United Nations in New York.