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“Being an archaeologist I’m always looking for things with my nose to the ground,” said the 35-year-old. He recognized the brown honeycomb structure from photos of other pieces of debris believed to part of the missing aircraft.

“When I flipped it around, I didn’t know immediately what it was but just thought, ‘Oh my word!”’ he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. On the other side, Kruger said he recognized what remains of the black Rolls Royce logo, the manufacturer of aircraft engines. The piece is about 70 centimetres by 70 centimetres “with chunks gone from the side,” said Kruger.

The white surface, with the partial logo, has peeled away to reveal a dark metallic grey covering, a photograph showed. Kruger took photos and sent it to a friend who is a pilot, who in turn passed it on to other pilots, who all quickly became convinced that this was part of an airplane engine. Kruger alerted the South African Civil Aviation Authority who told him to sit tight until further instruction.

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Wondering what to do next, he sent a message via Facebook to Liam Lotter, the South African teenager who also found a piece of aircraft debris. In December last year, the 18-year-old found what he believes could be the wing of the missing plane on a beach in neighbouring in Mozambique. Lotter, who announced his discovery earlier this month, passed along the contact details of the Australian authorities tasked with leading the investigation into the missing plane.