France to Expand MH370 Search

The hunt for potential parts linked to missing flight MH370, comes as Malaysian authorities confirmed that a wing section found on the French Indian Ocean island was part of the Boeing 777 that mysteriously vanished 17 months ago.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday ended a 17-month wait for verified physical evidence from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane when he said a team of worldwide experts had confirmed a wing component found on Reunion last week was from MH370.

The Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said a maintenance seal on the plane part know as a flaperon matches the airline’s records, though he hasn’t elaborated.

Malaysia’s transport minister said further debris had now been found on Reunion.

However, none of the new debris appeared to have come from MH370, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said.

“The more likely case – that it landed a bit less hard than that – there’s going to be large pieces of the airframe intact so they are easier to detect with the techniques we’re using”, he said. “I want the government to provide something reliable, an adequate and convincing argument to convince us because it’s been more than 500 days”, said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

“A military plane will conduct flights over the waters near the French island from Friday onward, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement late Thursday, and security forces will carry out foot patrols as well as helicopter and naval searches.”

Bao Lanfang (centre), whose son, daughter-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, kneeling down in front of media before she and other family members expressed their demands to Malaysia Airlines outside its Beijing office today.

Speaking to the Nine Network on Friday, Julie Bishop said this week’s news of debris washing up on Reunion Island off the east coast of Africa pointed to the wreckage being somewhere within the 120,000 square kilometer search area off the west coast of Australia. Scientists at the University of Western Australia say the discovery of the wing fragment on Reunion Island fits in with their predictions.

“They’re anxious, and we’re also looking for answers”, Liow told Reuters.

Relatives of those on board have long been frustrated by Malaysia’s handling of the disaster, which at times has been marred by contradictory and conflicting information.

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

A French judicial source however said French investigators had not received any new items. Any such recommendations would come from an advisory group composed of experts from Australia, Malaysia, China and other countries, he said.