Australian news site news.com.au said there were now fears that countless other pieces of wreckage from the plane may have been recovered by people who may be keeping them at home as showpieces.

It said the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s Accident and Incident Investigations Division has confirmed it is sending an official to the Wartburg home of teenager Liam Lotter in South Africa to collect a piece of suspected debris from the missing jet.

Lotter, 18, and his cousin found the “shiny object” on a sandbank way back in December in Mozambique.

Mozambique was also where another piece of wreckage, said to have been part of the MH370 aircraft, was recovered by US blogger and MH370 private investigator Blaine Gibson last week.

Aviation experts told the news portal that the “676EB” letters were clearly seen printed on Lotter’s piece in photos which emerged overnight. It may not be a serial number but a zone reference identifying it as part of the inboard support fairing for the outboard trailing edge flap of a Boeing 777.

The website said, if proven genuine, this latest discovery will be the fourth piece of MH370 found and the second to turn up in Mozambique.

A flaperon which washed up on a beach in La Reunion last July is the only piece confirmed to have come from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. The man who found the piece, Johnny Begue, came forward with another suspected piece this week.

The news site posed the question as to why a more thorough search was not done along Mozambique and La Reunion beaches to look for more MH370 debris.

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Fears souvenir hunters hoarding MH370 wreckage as South African family comes forward with find