Spotlight: Search for more MH370 debris continues off Reunion

France Friday announced that hunts for more MH370 debris will continue for at least a week off la Reunion after a wing section was spotted near the island.

Dominique Sorain, administrator of the French overseas island, told reporters Friday that a military transport plane was patrolling the seas off the coast and a ship had departed for search.

He said there will also be forces combing the eastern part of the island where a flaperon confirmed by Malaysia as part of the plane was discovered last week.

"The plan will be developed in the coming days, but we will require a minimum of a week to conclude the search," Sorain said.

He said the scrutinized area will span from the island up to a search zone under the control of Mauritius authorities.

"We have urged all ships, both fishing and commercial, to immediately contact Reunion's Regional Operation Center for Surveillance and Rescue," he added.

The administrator said that new possible parts of a plane, some of them the size of a finger, have been submitted to authorities by local residents.

With regards to victims' families who wish to come to the Reunion Island, Sorain said if necessary, he will contact the consular authorities of the concerned countries. "We have not received any official request," he said.

Meanwhile, an official from the Maldives Police Service (MPS) told Xinhua that a police team along with aviation experts has started probing a piece of suspected plane debris found on the beach of a private resort in Maldives.

According to local media reports, the piece, probably a plane part which is five to seven inches long, was discovered in May.

Graham Braithwaite, aviation security expert at Britain's Cranfield University, told Xinhua that the search for the black box is still the core objective, as the data within it is key to solving all the mysteries.

In fact, as such a long time has passed, precisely locating the black box is already too hard, but the discovery of the debris at least indicates that the search is in correct direction, Braithwaite said.

Prior to the la Reunion discoveries, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to locate the plane, which went missing in 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A total of 239 people were on board, most of them Chinese.

Australia, the country that now leads the international search team, vowed it would continue the search efforts and maintain "a crucial role", according to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warrent Truss.

Braithwaite suggested that Australia expand its current search area and called for a concerted effort that involves assistance from Malaysia, Britain, China and the International Maritime Satellite Organization. Enditem