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REUNION

France calls off search for MH370 wreckage

France on Monday said it was calling off the hunt for wreckage from missing flight MH370 after 10 days of air and sea searches off its Indian Ocean territory of Reunion yielded no results.

Published: 18 August 2015 08:29 CEST
France calls off search for MH370 wreckage
French police in Réunion. Photo: AFP

The island's top authority however said its search teams would maintain an attitude of “vigilance”.

A wing part washed up on the island on July 29 and was confirmed by the Malaysian prime minister to be part of the Boeing 777 which went missing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people onboard.

The find raised hopes of finally solving the mystery of what happened to the plane, prompting investigators to search a maritime surface of 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles) and scour the island's eastern coastline.

But the searches “have not led to the identification of anything that could have a link with a plane,” the French state's representative on the island, Dominique Sorain, said in a statement.

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REUNION

France confirms wing part is from flight MH370

French prosecutors confirmed on Thursday that a piece of debris found on the Indian island of Réunion was from the Malaysian airlines flight MH370.

Published: 3 September 2015 17:14 CEST
France confirms wing part is from flight MH370
A policeman and a gendarme stand next to the piece of debris on Réunion island. Photo: AFP
French prosecutors confirmed that the wing part was from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a month after tests on the flaperon began.
   
“It is possible today to say with certainty that the flaperon discovered on Reunion island on July 29 came from flight MH370,” Paris prosecutors said in a statement, confirming claims made by Malaysia's prime minister early last month.
 
In the statement on Thursday, prosecutors said investigators discovered three numbers on the wing part, and later concluded that one of the figures corresponded to the serial number of an MH370 flaperon.
 
French authorities had initially been more cautious about confirming that the piece was from the missing aircraft, only stating at the time that there was a “very high probability” it came from the plane.



(The wreckage on the island of Réunion. Photo: BFM TV/screengrab) 

The find raised hopes of finally solving the mystery of what happened to the plane, prompting investigators to search a maritime surface of 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles) and scour the island's eastern coastline.

But the searches did “not led to the identification of anything that could have a link with a plane,” the French state's representative on the island, Dominique Sorain, said last month after calling off the search. 

(A closer look at the “flaperon” on a Boeing 777. Photo: WikiCommons)
More to follow

 

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