Malaysia will send a team to the Maldives after the discovery of debris by residents on the Indian Ocean island nation.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said, the team will view the debris and conduct preliminary verification.

“Once it is determined to be aircraft debris, discussions will be held to determine the next step in terms of the process of analysis,” he said in a statement issued today.

However he stressed, it is still too early to speculate on whether the debris is linked to MH370.

He also urged all parties to allow for the verification process to take its course and refrain from making any speculation.

The Maldives on Sunday have joined a regional search for wreckage from the missing flight MH370 following reports that islanders in the Indian Ocean atoll nation had spotted unidentified debris.

Residents have reported several sightings of debris that had washed up along the northern atolls of the archipelago, some of which occurred about a month ago.

Apart from the Maldives, Mauritius has also joined in the search for debris, while France has sent a search team to Reunion Island.

Malaysia on Thursday confirmed the airplane debris that was found on Reunion Island two weeks ago was from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The flight was carrying 239 passengers and crew on board.

The Boeing 777 jet went missing on March 8, 2014 during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Beijing, China.

It disappeared from radar an hour after departure.

On Jan 29, 2015, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) had declared flight MH370 as an accident and that all those on board were presumed dead.