Meet the beachcomber who may have helped solve the world’s greatest aviation mystery MH370

Johnny Begue was out collecting stones on the French Indian Ocean island he calls home when he saw something unusual washed up in the sand.

He realised straight way that it was part of an aircraft.

The fragment may be the first clue to what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared last year with 293 people aboard. Massive search efforts have failed to find any sign of the plane, and authorities are analysing the piece to see if it matches the missing plane.

“I knew immediately it was part of an aircraft, but I didn’t realise how important it was, that it could help to solve the mystery of what happened to the Malaysian jet,” Begue, 46, said on Thursday.

Begue is the supervisor of workers who maintain the paths to the beaches in the Saint-Andre area, keeping them from being overgrown by the lush tropical shrubs.

He said he called several of his workmates and they carried the wing fragment out of the water so that it would not be battered by the surf against the volcanic rocks that make up most of the beach.