Backgrounder: A chronology of search for MH370

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed in an announcement early Thursday that the debris discovered on Reunion Island belongs to MH370, the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane that went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Prior to discovering the debris on the French overseas island in the southwestern Indian Ocean, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to find the plane, making it one of the biggest mysteries in the aviation history.

The list below is a brief chronology of the search for MH370.

-- Aug 6, 2015

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed that the debris found on Reunion Island is of MH370, citing a joint conclusion by an international investigation team that involved experts from Australia, China, France and Malaysia.

-- Aug. 5, 2015

Investigators and experts arrived in a military laboratory in Toulouse to analyze the probable missing MH370 wreckage.

-- Aug. 4, 2015

A piece of plastic debris was found on the northern coast of Reunion Island.

-- Aug. 2, 2015

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai officially confirmed that the flaperon discovered on Reunion Island has been identified as being part of a Boeing 777 aircraft.

A piece of metal debris was found along the northern coast of Reunion Island.

-- Aug. 1, 2015

The debris suspected to be part of MH370 arrived in Paris and was later transferred to Toulouse for further analysis.

-- July 31, 2015

A part number on the piece of debris found on Reunion Island confirmed that the plane is a Boeing 777, the same type as MH370.

Meanwhile, search resumed for more debris on Reunion Island.

-- July 29, 2015

An aircraft wreckage was found on Reunion Island, which experts believed could be part of the missing MH370.

-- April 10, 2014

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search area for the missing MH370 had been narrowed to a grid of 40 km by 50 km in the southern Indian Ocean, after the Australian navy vessel Ocean Shield detected signals believed to be from MH370's black box recorder.

-- March 24, 2014

Malaysia announced that new analysis of satellite data suggests MH370 "ends" in the southern Indian Ocean and Malaysia Airlines told relatives of the passengers the plane has been "lost" and "none of those on board survived".

The U.S. Pacific Command ordered the Pacific Fleet to move a black box locator into the region in case debris is located.

-- March 19, 2014

China shifted its search focus from the South China Sea to waters southeast of the Bay of Bengal and west of Indonesia, covering an area of 300,000 square kilometers.

Malaysia said background checks on almost all passengers and crew produced no "information of significance".

-- March 18, 2014

China announced nine vessels would sail from Singapore to waters southeast of the Bay of Bengal and west of Indonesia.

China said it had deployed 21 satellites to search for the missing jetliner.

Background checks on all passengers from the Chinese mainland on board the flight find no evidence of links to sabotage or terrorism.

-- March 17, 2014

Malaysian officials confirmed "All right, good night", spoken by the co-pilot, were the last words from the missing plane.

Twenty-six countries were involved in the search mission.

-- March 16, 2014

Twenty-five countries were involved in the search and rescue operation.

Malaysian police retrieved the flight simulator of the pilot. Malaysian Airlines said the pilot and co-pilot did not request to fly together, dismissing speculation of a pre-planned hijack attempt.

-- March 15, 2014

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the disappearance of the missing jet was deliberate. Authorities refocused their investigation into MH370's crew and passengers.

-- March 12, 2014

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) moved its search and rescue teams to the Andaman Sea to the south of Thailand.

Vietnam officials said the missing Malaysian jetliner seemed unlikely to have fallen in waters off Vietnam.

-- March 11, 2014

Five Chinese vessels arrived at waters of MH370's last known location.

Dozens of ships and planes from about 10 countries and regions scoured the waters, but no solid clues were found.

The multinational search mission was extended to land, with the focus on the West Peninsular of Malaysia at the Strait of Malacca.

-- March 10, 2014

China worked out a search plan involving four patrol and rescue vessels and two naval warships, and adjusted high-resolution satellites to help with the search.

A 13-member working group sent by the Chinese government arrived in Kuala Lumpur.

-- March 9, 2014

Chinese rescue vessels arrived at the search site.

Nine nations joined the hunt for the missing plane but no significant discoveries are reported.

-- March 8, 2014

The Malaysian Airlines passenger plane MH370, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft with 239 people onboard -- including 154 Chinese -- that travels from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost contact with the ground when it is believed to be in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area.

Vietnam launched a search operation in its waters where the plane was presumed to have crashed, while Malaysia, China, Singapore, the Philippines and the United States all dispatched rescue vessels and aircraft to search for the missing jet. Endi