Suspected fragment of MH370 business class cabin found on Rodrigues Island, east of Africa

A FRAGMENT believed to have come from inside the business class cabin of missing Flight MH370 has been found.

A FRAGMENT believed to have come from inside the cabin of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found on an island in Mauritius, east of Africa.

MH370 Independent Group expert Don Thompson saw photographs of the part and said it appeared to match the bulkhead of an MAS Boeing 777 business class cabin.

The decorative finish on the piece, however, was not limited to that section of a B777 and could also have come from economy class, Mr Thompson told news.com.au.

Fellow IG member Mike Exner agreed with the assessment and the group this morning passed on the information to the Australian Tranport Safety Bureau (ATSB) who is understood to be excited by the find.

The object, if proven to have come from the missing plane, is hugely significant because it is the first possible internal fragment to have been found. The piece is also likely to shed more light on the manner in which the aircraft entered the water.

The Vitry's #MH370 île Rodrigues find looks to b 1st ID of internal item, decorative foil match w B777-2H6 interior pic.twitter.com/TAs6f60knl

— Don Thompson (@GuardedDon) April 1, 2016

#MH370 "Debris @ beach Var-Brûlé, between Mourouk & Gravel,Rodrigues ". Looks like a match w/ MAS bulkhead. TNX Don. pic.twitter.com/K1MhQkc5Xj

— Mike Exner (@Airlandseaman) April 1, 2016

@Airlandseaman With interior items now washing up maybe we can finally admit the early pieces didn't flutter off of #mh370 *IT CRASHED*

— RM (@fxnighttrader) April 2, 2016

@fxnighttrader Yes, it crashed for sure. But the flapperon and maybe other pieces probably did come off before the main impact.

— Mike Exner (@Airlandseaman) April 2, 2016

The bulkhead of the business class cabin of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 the Rodrigues part is suspected to have come from.

The suspected fragment of a bulkhead (see above photo for where it corresponds on a plane)

A couple holidaying on Rodrigues Island (a small volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, east of Mauritius) found the wreckage as they were walking along the beach at Var-Brûlé between Mourouk and Gravel, on Thursday.

Jean Dominique and Suzy Vitry, who live on nearby La Reunion where a flaperon confirmed to have come from the plane was found last July, immediately suspected they had found another piece of MH370, reports Reunion website Clicanoo.

They took the piece back to their hotel, the Mourouk Ebony, and gave it to management for safekeeping while a report was made to the River Coco Police Station.

It is not clear how big the fragment is but Clicanoo quoted a senior hotel staff member as having described it as “tens of centimetres”. A small cluster of barnacles are visible on the piece.

Photographs of the fragment have been posted to the hotel’s Facebook page.

The ATSB recently confirmed that two pieces of debris found in Mozambique last month, including Blaine Gibson’s “NO STEP” part and the outboard wing flap found by South African teenager Liam Lotter, were “highly likely” to have come from MH370.

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The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished on March 8 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Another fragment, dubbed the “Rolls Royce piece”, found in South Africa’s Western Cape province, is thought to have come from the inlet cowling of the aircraft’s engine.

The “Rolls Royce” piece.

American adventurer and MH370 sleuth Blaine Gibson with his ‘NO STEP’ piece, which formed part of the horizontal stabiliser of a Boeing 777. Picture: Blaine A Gibson

South African teenager Liam Lotter’s piece, which he found while holidaying with family in Mozambique