KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia has said it will send a team to Maldives to inspect debris found there, but cautioned that it was too early to establish any connection to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

This comes after several news reports said unidentified debris were being collected by the authorities there in case they are from the missing plane. "At this juncture, no verification of the debris has taken place," said Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai in a statement on his Facebook page yesterday.

"Once it is determined to be aircraft debris, discussions will be held to determine (the) next steps in terms of the process of analysis."

Urging all parties to allow the verification process to take its course, Datuk Seri Liow said: "At this stage, it is highly premature to speculate on whether this debris is in any way connected to MH370."

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 last year while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, 3,700km from Reunion.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said last week that experts had "conclusively confirmed" a piece of debris found on Reunion Island was part of the plane's wing.

REUTERS, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK