MH370 search: Photos of possible personal items released

London, June 20  Campaigners for families of those on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have released photographs of personal items that washed up on a Madagascar beach, hoping to identify them.

Some 20 personal items were found which include a white, black and red "Angry Bird" purse, a tartan handbag and part of a black laptop case inscribed with the letters "MENSA", BBC reported on Monday.

There are no labels identifying them as belonging to the 239 people on board the ill-fated plane enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that vanished on March 8, 2014.

The items were found by US lawyer Blaine Gibson in June on Riake beach, on the island of Nosy Boraha in north-east Madagascar. 

"They may have just fallen off a ship," Gibson told the BBC.

"Still, I found them on the same 18km stretch of the Riake beach where I found suspected aircraft parts (of the Malaysia Airlines jet) so it is important that they are investigated properly," the lawyer added.

The images of the items were released by the Aircrash Support Group Australia website to ascertain whether they may have belonged to MH370 passengers.

As well as the personal items, Gibson also found two pieces of debris that may be from the aircraft itself.

He recently found three pieces of debris in that area, having already found another piece of debris in Mozambique in March, which Australian investigators believe is almost certainly part of the missing plane.