Debris found in the Maldives in recent weeks is not from a plane and therefore is unrelated to missing the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Malaysia’s transport minister has said.

Last week Malaysia said a wing fragment found on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion was confirmed to be from MH370. The plane disappeared on 8 March last year with 239 people aboard while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Media reports in Maldives indicated that debris found in recent weeks was brought to authorities’ attention following the discovery on Réunion. The transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, said a Malaysian team sent to Maldives had examined the debris.

“Most of the debris are … not related to MH370 and they are not plane material,” Liow said. He said he did not know whether the team would bring back any debris for examination, but if they did it would be handed over to the international investigation team. It is unclear whether all the debris found in Maldives has been examined.

The plane was believed to have crashed in the remote southern Indian Ocean but no trace had been found until a barnacle-crusted object was discovered two weeks ago on Réunion. Authorities are certain the fragment is from a Boeing 777 component known as a flaperon, but the French have yet to positively identify it as a piece of MH370.

Malaysia has since sought help from other territories to look for other possible debris, and France deployed a plane, helicopters and boats around Réunion to search the waters.