Officers from Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation have been sent to Madagascar to verify whether a piece of debris found on the island could be from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, local media reported on Wednesday.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Tuesday that the piece was "small" but that he wanted it to be picked up in person by Malaysian authorities, The Star reported.
The minister said he made the decision after one of his country's diplomats was killed in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo on August 24.
"In view of this case, where someone has been assassinated, instead of sending the debris back here (to Malaysia), we have sent officers there to retrieve it," Liow said.
Zahid Raza, the Malaysian honorary consul in Madagascar, was apparently tasked with transporting the debris back to investigators in Malaysia, according to some reports.
Liow said it was irresponsible to link Zahid's murder with MH370, however.
"I don't think that it (Zahid's murder) is related and it is premature to speculate as the case is still under police investigation," he said.
The Boeing 777 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board on March 8, 2014, and is presumed to have crashed into the sea.
Last month, an analysis of satellite images by Australian scientists narrowed the search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to three specific locations in the southern Indian Ocean.
A suspected piece of aircraft debris found on the coast of Mozambique.
