KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — After many “false alarms”, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he hoped today’s discovery of airline debris near a French African colony would provide clear answers to the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

“We have had many false alarms before, but for the sake of the families who have lost loved ones, and suffered such heartbreaking uncertainty, I pray that we will find out the truth so that they may have closure and peace,” he said in a statement on Facebook today.

He added that he would release any additional information about the plane wreckage as soon as he received verification from the authorities.

A 2.7m-long piece of debris was discovered on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean this morning (local time) which is believed to be a piece from the missing MH370 jetliner.

In his statement, Najib also promised families that Putrajaya would continue to work towards finding out what happened to MH370.

“I promise the families of those lost that whatever happens, we will not give up,” he said.

The prime minister also said that two teams have been deployed to look into the discovery of the “flaperon”, a portion from a plane’s wing — one team to France where the debris has been transported to, and a second team to Réunion Island, off the Indian Ocean, where the wreckage was first found.

“A Malaysian team is on the way to Toulouse now. It includes senior representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Civil Aviation, the MH370 investigation team, and Malaysia Airlines,” he said, adding that the piece of wreckage was sent to French authorities in Toulouse, the closest site to the BEA (Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile).

“Simultaneously, a second Malaysian team is travelling to where the debris was found on Réunion,” he added.

He also cautioned against speculating, despite reports emerging that the debris was from a Boeing-777, as there is yet to be any verification.

“Initial reports suggest that the debris is very likely to be from a Boeing 777, but we need to verify whether it is from flight MH370. At this stage it is too early to speculate,” he said.

This comes after Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told newswire Reuters today that they were “almost certain” that the debris originated from a Boeing-777.

Australian deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss also said today there is a “realistic possibility” that the debris found on the island of La Réunion is from the wreckage of flight MH370.

Malaysia Airlines was operating a Boeing 777 on the ill-fated flight, which vanished without a trace in March last year while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. The plane was carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Search efforts led by Australia have focused on a broad expanse of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia, roughly 3,700km (2,300 miles) from France's Reunion Island.