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Update: U.S. official says debris in photo belongs to same type of aircraft as missing Malaysia plane

In this file photo provided on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, debris from a shipwreck lay on the Indian Ocean floor, nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface, off the west coast of Australia. Amid mounting frustrations over the expensive, so-far failed search for vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, questions by experts about the competence of the company leading the search are growing, including whether crews may have passed over the sunken wreckage without even noticing.
In this file photo provided on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, debris from a shipwreck lay on the Indian Ocean floor, nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface, off the west coast of Australia. Amid mounting frustrations over the expensive, so-far failed search for vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, questions by experts about the competence of the company leading the search are growing, including whether crews may have passed over the sunken wreckage without even noticing.

By Associated Press 2 min read

WASHINGTON – Air safety investigators have a “high degree of confidence” that a photo of aircraft debrisfound in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, according to a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Air safety investigators – one of them a Boeing investigator – have identified the component as a “flaperon” from the trailing edge of a 777 wing, the U.S. official said.

A French official close to an investigation of the debris confirmed Wednesday that French law enforcement is on site to examine a piece of airplane wing found on the French island of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. A French television network was airing video from its Reunion affiliate of the debris.

The U.S. and French officials spoke on condition that they not be named because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.

At the United Nations, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that he has sent a team to verify the identity of the plane wreckage.