France launches new search for MH370 wreckage

Friday, 07 August 2015 10:05 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 07 August 2015 10:12 AM ]

A Malaysian expert (C) looks for debris from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight, MH370, on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, on August 4, 2015. ©AFP

France has launched a fresh search operation off the island of Reunion for more debris belonging to the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight, MH370, according to a military officer.

The French military deployed a CASA transport aircraft "to search around the coast of Reunion island," Aline Simon, a French military officer, said on Friday.

Paris had earlier announced that it would conduct new air, land and sea searches on and around the Indian Ocean island in hopes of finding more debris which could be linked to MH370.

The French government said, in a statement, that a military plane would begin surveying the area around Reunion from Friday morning, adding that the search will also be stepped up with foot patrols, helicopters and maritime units.

The joint statement by the French ministers of defense, transport and overseas territories said France recognized the pain for the families, adding it would play its full part in international efforts to "shed light on this tragedy."

“Any discovery will be immediately made available to the investigation,” added the joint statement.

Meanwhile, authorities in the locality where the first piece of debris from the plane was found have said they would separately organize a thorough search starting on Monday.

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft, now believed to be of flight MH370, in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on July 29, 2015. ©AFP

France’s announcement came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said early on Thursday that the two-meter-long debris recently discovered on the French island belongs to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370,” Najib said.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also said on Thursday that certain characteristics of the wing part, including its paint, matched maintenance records of the crashed Malaysian plane.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished without a trace en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing last March with 239 people aboard.

A possible mechanical or structural failure is among the primary speculated causes for the plane's disappearance, which is one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.

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