Sixteen months after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, debris from the aircraft may have been found near an island in the western Indian Ocean. CNN is, of course, all over the story and reports that French authorities believe the apparent wreckage might be a wing flap from the doomed plane.

French Air Force Adjutant Christian Retournat told CNN the debris was found off the coast of Reunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean. “It is way too soon to say whether or not it is MH370. We just found the debris this morning,” he said.

Not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, the Beijing-bound MH370 veered off course and vanished over the Indian Ocean. While the search for the plane continues, the Malaysian government officially declared the incident an accident in January 2015 and said that all 239 people onboard are presumed dead.

UPDATE 6:00 p.m.: According to the Associated Press, air safety investigators have identified the debris with a “high degree of confidence” as a component unique to a Boeing 777, the same type of aircraft as MH370.


Image via Getty. Contact the author at taylor@gawker.com.