Video Scavenger search for debris from MH370
Three water bottles that were washed onto a beach at Reunion Island are being investigated as possible links to the missing airliner MH370.
Philippe Creissen, a lawyer from Reunion Island, lives close to Bois Rouge beach where the Boeing 777 wing washed up last week.
He found the bottles while walking on the beach on Saturday.
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One was from Taiwan and the others were from Malaysia.
Mr Creissen posted images of the bottles on social media and on Monday handed them to local police.
Mr Creissen says he has recently noticed an increase in foreign material along the coast.
“I walk along this beach all the time and 99 per cent of the debris that’s here comes from Reunion,” Mr Creissen said.
“Recently though, there has been a lot of stuff that is not from here.”
An item of interest is a medication tube from China.
Police have contacted him since and told him a team from the Island is investigating the bottles as part of the official inquiry.
Malaysia has asked for help from around the southern Indian Ocean, including WA’s South West coast, to look for possible debris from MH370 but urged caution after false leads.
Charitha Pattiaratchi, professor of coastal oceanography at the University of WA, reiterated that computer modelling indicated debris from MH370 could have washed up in the South West.
Modelling also showed debris could have reached as far as South Australia and Tasmania.
But it is unknown how much debris from MH370 could still be floating.
Another lead into finding out the truth about MH370 are barnacles that were found encrusted on a piece of plane debris that washed up on the French island of Reunion.
Authorities say it may help unravel the mystery of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared last year with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Malaysia said on Sunday the piece of debris, a 2-2.5 metre (6.5-8 feet) wing surface known as flaperon, had been identified as being from a Boeing 777, the same model as the missing Malaysian plane. Investigators in France are expected to determine whether the piece came from MH370 or not by Wednesday.
Based on photographs, ecologists in Australia believe the crustaceans clinging to the wing piece are goose or stalk barnacles.
"Barnacle shells ... can tell us valuable information about the water conditions under which they were formed," said Ryan Pearson, a PhD student at Australia's Griffith University who is studying the shell chemistry of barnacles to determine migration patterns of endangered loggerhead turtles.
The technique is also used to study the movement of whales.
Experts analyse barnacle shells to determine the temperature and chemical composition of the water through which they passed to help reveal their origin.
While the technique could help narrow the area of the search for MH370 to within tens, or hundreds, of kilometres, it was unlikely to pinpoint an exact location, Pearson said.
Barnacles can be aged, based on growth rates and size. If the barnacles on the debris are older than the date MH370 went missing, it would rule it coming from that plane, said Melanie Bishop a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University.
Video Debris found on Réunion Island is believed to belong to the missing MH370
Ecologists would look at whether the barnacles were on the surface of the flaperon or confined to the sides as that could indicate whether the debris moved on the surface of the water or was submerged.
arine archaeologists study barnacles for clues about shipwrecks but this was believed to be the first time they will be studied to determine the fate of an airliner.
"It's a nice example of the unexpected ways that discovery research can be surprisingly useful in tackling new problems in different contexts," said professor Angela Moles, evolution and ecology research centre at the University of New South Wales.
