Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Reunion Island: The French government ramped up the search for MH370 plane wreckage on Friday, deploying a search plane for the first time over the waters off Reunion Island.
Up to three helicopters, search boats and land-based patrols have also been committed to look for debris from the ill-fated flight on and around the French Indian Ocean Island.
The escalated search comes nine days after a Boeing 777 wing flap French prosecutors deem to have a "very high probability" of belonging to a missing Malaysian Airlines flight was discovered on a local beach.
Speaking at a press conference in the Island's capital Saint-Denis on Friday, the state's top official, Prefect Dominique Sorain, defended any notion of the new search beginning too late.
"Searches were done immediately when the debris was found. As a reflex there were searches on the beaches and the near coast.
"The first analyses were done. We had a confirmation ... hence now the widening of the search zone," he said.
The search zone was determined by modelling local ocean currents and winds and estimating the floating speed of debris.
A French military CASA search plane carrying 13 crew members will cover a 120 by 40 kilometre area of water east of the island and extending to the edge of Mauritian government's search zone boundary.
But finding missing plane MH370 is not the objective of the search, Mr Sorain said.
"Our forces are not looking for the plane or working at identifying the item s… but we are looking for debris to be collected and sent to the relevant authorities."
Detailing the search procedure, he said the CASA plane would spot potential debris, a helicopter would then investigate it and a boat or land patrol would collect it.
Mr Sorain said the search operation will last a week or more.
Fairfax reporters on Reunion Island however could not see any visible sign of the increase search effort on Friday.
France's widened search comes after neighbouring Island state Mauritius answered a Malaysian government request on Monday for assistance locating debris in the region.
Mr Sorain said France is coordinating the operation with regional neighbours and countries involved in the air disaster.
But Jacques Luthaud, the acting commander of the FAZSOI, the French Southern Indian Ocean Armed Forces whose military assets are being deployed, said after the press conference that search efforts are not being coordinated with Australian search authorities, nor has any communication been made despite the two countries now searching either side of the Indian Ocean.
Drift modelling conducted by Australia's CSIRO research institute and released earlier this week showed that debris from the Australian-led underwater search area in the southern Indian Ocean could have been carried to Reunion Island as well as other locations.
The expanded search follows Malaysian government confirmation on Wednesday that the wing section found on Reunion Island belongs to missing flight MH370.
The Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines jet disappeared on 8 March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Reunion's Chinese community held a minute's silence during the Guan Di Festivities on Friday night to honour MH370 victim's, many of whom were Chinese.
