More debris found, families frustrated with conflicting official statements

Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 argue with police officers after the relatives tried to push through a police line outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on Friday.

He also said, in another development, that more suspected plane debris had been found on Reunion, including window panes and seat cushions.

However, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which helped in the search for the missing Boeing 777, says there was no indication of any more airline debris being located.

“I can not confirm that it’s from MH370”.

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.

In the early hours of Thursday morning Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak “conclusively” confirmed the wing part, or flaperon, was from MH370.

Ever since the Boeing 777 vanished on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014, Malaysian officials have been accused of giving inaccurate statements and withholding information from families and other countries involved in the investigation.

The first piece of direct evidence that it crashed in the ocean closes a chapter in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.

This is a breaking news article.

On Wednesday, a French prosecutor announced that there was “very high probability” that the wreckage found on La Reunion Island came from the MH370 plane.

Hu Xiufang, who had three relatives on board the plane said: “Our demand is to go to Réunion island and look for ourselves”.

The discovery of a washed-up wing part last week by a beach cleaner has put the island of Reunion under intense scrutiny.

Liu said authorities did not give relatives advance notice of their announcement and had long disregarded requests to review airport security data or video of passengers boarding.

Zhang Jianyi, a 59-year-old Anhui native whose daughter and son-in-law and grandson were on the flight, said he would not believe the finding because many other parts, such as chairs and life jackets, could have been more easily found than the wing part.

Ms Bishop made it clear the French are in charge of the investigation, not the Malaysians.

Mr Liow said he understood why the French team had been less categorical in their conclusions over the flaperon, saying: “We respect their decision to continue with their verification”. “I reiterate this is for the sake of the next of kin of the loved ones of MH370 who would be anxiously awaiting news and have suffered much over this time”, Liow said.