France hunts for more MH370 debris off Reunion island

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the differences between his country’s firm declaration and France’s less categorical one were “down to a choice of words”.

Searches around Reunion Island will be conducted by French authorities in a bid to find debris from doomed flight MH370, it has emerged. Reason for caution lies in French investigators stopping short of backing the confirmation, instead saying there was a “very strong presumption” that the debris belonged to MH370, although more study was needed before there could be conclusive proof.

The ministers of Defense, Transport, and Overseas Territories said in a joint statement, “It has been decided, at the request of the president and the prime minister and to respond to the needs of the inquiry, to deploy supplementary air and sea resources to search for the possible presence of new debris around Reunion“.

The growing distrust of Malaysian authorities during the investigation reached a boiling point as relatives of passengers on the flight demanded Malaysia explain comments made by Prime Minister Najib Razak that the wing section wreckage was “conclusively” found to be from the missing aircraft.

Discussions over compensation have been complicated by the fact that no concrete evidence has emerged over what caused the disappearance of Flight 370, which vanished on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The largest search operation in history is still underway in the remote area of the Indian Ocean where satellite data indicates the plane was most likely to have come down.

“It’s somewhat frustrating”, she said from Christchurch, New Zealand, where she lives. “As you know, they are a very committed team, but this gave them a real boost and they remained really focused on finding that missing aircraft”.

Zhang Jianyi, who had a daughter and granddaughter on the plane, reportedly said: “We will all go there together”.

Frustrated by seemingly mixed messages from the Malaysian and French governments over whether debris definitely linked to the missing Boeing 777, the 50-strong group attempted to gain entry to the building to demand an explanation from officials.

“This… Will last a week, after which we will draw our first conclusions”, Sorain said.

However, Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said Australia respected Malaysia’s right to make that call, given it is in charge of the investigation.

Dominique Sorain, La Reunion’s administrator, talks to media after a press conference on search plan for MH370 debris in Reunion Island, on August. 7, 2015.

Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the underwater search for the plane, said he is “increasingly confident but not yet certain” that the debris is from MH370.

Bewildered and despairing, it is perhaps little wonder that some find comfort in the myriad conspiracy theories swirling online; that the plane might not be at the bottom of the ocean and that their loved ones might still be alive.

Malaysian officials have said the plane’s movements were consistent with deliberate actions by someone on the plane, suggesting someone in the cockpit intentionally flew the aircraft off course.