Sydney, Shawwal 20, 1436, August 05, 2015, SPA -- An Australian plane wreckage expert is joining French investigators examining a wing part which washed ashore on Reunion Island to see if came from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the government announced Wednesday, according to dpa. Experts examining the plane wreckage may be able to make a formal statement about the origin of the part, thought to be a type of wing flap from a Boeing 777, "later this week," Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said. Truss said scientists working with the Australian organization in charge of the search have confirmed material from the current search area could have been carried to La Reunion by currents and wind. "For this reason, thorough and methodical search efforts will continue to be focused on the defined underwater search area, covering 120,000 square kilometres, in the southern Indian Ocean," Truss said. Two survey ships are conducting the search in the Indian Ocean and have covered 60,000 of the 120,000 square kilometres search zone so far. Beijing-bound flight MH370, with 239 people aboard, disappeared on March 8 last year, about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. --SPA 11:43 LOCAL TIME 08:43 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w