Malaysia has urged caution as speculation grows debris washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion comes from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

A two-metre long piece of wreckage was found on Wednesday on the island, off the coast of Madagascar.

Malaysia deputy transport minister, Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, said it was “almost certain” the wreckage was from a Boeing 777 aircraft, but said it was “premature” if it was from the missing flight.

However, MH370 is the only Boeing 777 to have disappeared over an ocean.

A Malaysian team has arrived on Reunion to determine whether debris which washed up there is from missing flight.

There were 239 people on board the plane when it disappeared in March 2014.

An exhaustive search off the coast of Australia has so far revealed no trace of the missing plane.

Reunion, a French territory, is about 600 kilometres east of Madagascar.