PARIS
France has intensified its land, sea and air searches for debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on and around the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
A flaperon, apparently from the missing airliner, was discovered on the French overseas territory last week.
"At the request of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, it was decided to deploy additional air and sea means to detect the possible presence of new debris off the coast of Reunion," read a joint statement issued late on Thursday by the French defense and transport ministers.
"Any discovery will be immediately made available to the investigation," said the statement.
A Casa military aircraft was to start surveying the area from Friday morning, the ministers added.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had confirmed that the debris found on the French territory in the Indian Ocean had been part of the Boeing 777 that vanished March 8 last year.
However, French deputy prosecutor Serge Mackowiak had used more cautious language by telling reporters in the French capital that there was “a very strong supposition” that the flaperon found in Reunion belonged to MH370.
He said that Boeing confirmed that "this piece came from a Boeing 777, and representatives from Malaysian Airlines communicated with us to compare the debris from the wing found to a wing from an almost identical Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777".
The two-meter-long piece of wreckage was found July 29 on Reunion, east of Madagascar, and sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.
Beijing-bound MH370, which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 last year, was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens.
Search and rescue operations have involved around 65 aircraft and 95 ships, as well as experts from 25 countries.
After a 10-month intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, Malaysia declared Jan. 29 that Flight MH370 was lost in an accident, with all on board killed.
