French begin examination of suspected MH370 wing part

BALMA, France, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Examination of an aircraft part, possibly from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, began Wednesday in Balma, France.

The component of a Boeing 777 wing was found last week, washed up on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The plane, also a Boeing 777, disappeared during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 people aboard; it is believed to have crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, but the first discovery of what may be the plane's debris occurred nearly 4,000 miles away on Reunion.

French authorities invited Malaysian and Australian investigators to Balma, near the city of Toulouse, to aid in the investigation. Paint, serial numbers and other identifying markers will be under examination.

Other investigators are searching Reunion, as well as other islands, including the Seychelles and Mauritius, for more parts of the plane, but thus far only the wing section and the remnants of a suitcase are the only possible evidence found.

Earlier this year Australian authorities expanded the search zone for the missing plane, from 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles) to 120,000 square kilometers (43,332 square miles), and are continuing to search that section of the ocean.