Missing Plane MH370: Debris Found On West Australian Beach Investigated

Debris has washed up on the coast of Western Australia, raising speculation it may be from the missing flight MH370.

The objects were found 10km east of Augusta, south of Perth, and handed into a police station, according to Sky News Australia.

Australian authorities are now set to assess the detritus to determine if it is from the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet that vanished last month.

The location where the debris was found is far south of the area where a US Navy underwater drone was searching last week for fading sonar pings thought to be from the plane’s black boxes.

A spokesman for the Air Transport Safety Bureau said that the find was “interesting.”

"It's sufficiently interesting for us to take a look at the photographs," ATSB chief Martin Dolan told CNN.

But he added: "The more we look at it, the less excited we get."

Dolan said the debris looked like sheet metal with rivets in it.

The search for the plane continues in a vast area of the Indian Ocean northwest of Perth and authorities have previously said it's more likely the prevailing currents would take debris west toward Africa rather than east to the Australian coast.

Earlier on Wednesday, Defence Minister David Johnston said Australia was consulting with Malaysia, China and the United States on the next phase of the search.