PUTRAJAYA - Debris found in South Africa and the Mauritian island of Rodrigues were confirmed to be "almost certainly" from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Thursday (May 12).

Investigators concluded that the two pieces of debris, which were an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo and an interior panel piece from an aircraft cabin, are consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.

The Malaysian International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team confirmed that the debris "are almost certainly from MH370".

This complements the results from a previous examination in March during which the team confirmed that debris found in Mozambique was almost certainly from flight MH370.

"We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Geoscience Australia and Boeing for their undivided commitment and assistance in this examination process," Mr Liow said in a statement.

"We also thank the Governments of Mozambique, Mauritius and South Africa for the efforts and cooperation extended to Malaysia in this matter.

"The Governments of Malaysia, Australia and China continue to be wholly committed to the search for MH370. To date, more than 105,000 sq km of the search area have been completed,'' he added.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

Investigators believe someone may have deliberately switched off the plane's transponder before diverting it thousands of miles off course, out over the Indian Ocean.