The ongoing hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 has found another shipwreck in the southern Indian Ocean, the second since the search began almost two years ago.

The Australian-led underwater search, the most expensive ever conducted, has so far found no trace of the plane, which went missing with 239 passengers and crew during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

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Last year a flaperon wing part that washed up on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean was formally identified as part of the plane wreckage.

Last month, sonar imaging from one of the search vessels Havila Harmony, turned up an object resting on the ocean floor off Australia’s west coast.

An autonomous underwater vehicle was used to further examine the find and capture high-resolution images.

On Wednesday, authorities confirmed it was a shipwreck, with an iron or steel structure and most likely from the turn of the 19th Century.

In May 2015, another shipwreck was found as part of the search for the missing plane, believed to be a 19th Century cargo ship.

The hunt for MH370 has already examined more than 80,000 square kilometres of the sea floor.

The search is continuing, but is expected to wrap up in mid 2016 once it reaches its 12,000-square-kilometre target.