Malaysia said on Tuesday it will send a team to retrieve a piece of debris found along the southern coast of South Africa to check whether it could belong to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The wreckage, discovered near the town of Mosselbay on Tuesday, could be from an "inlet cowling" of an aircraft engine based on early reports, the Malaysian transport ministry said in a statement, two years after MH370 disappeared.

Malaysia said further examination was required to verify if the debris belonged to MH370.

Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

A piece of the plane washed up on the French island of Reunion in July 2015 but no further trace has been found.

Debris found earlier this month off the southeast African coast arrived in Australia for testing on Monday. - Reuters