France conducts search for MH370 debris around Reunion

France has launched air, land and sea searches on and around the French island of Reunion in the hope of finding more debris which could be linked to the lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Malaysian authorities have said that a wing section found on the Indian Ocean island came from the lost flight, but aviation experts currently examining it in Toulouse have yet to confirm the link.

On 8 March 2014, Flight MH370 was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished from radar with 239 people on board.

Dominique Sorain, the top French government official for Reunion, said that a military transport plane and a ship had started exploring the island's coastal waters but had to turn back because of bad weather.

He said that helicopters would also take part in the operation, while soldiers and policemen would patrol the eastern part of the island where the wing part was found.

"This... will last a week, after which we will draw our first conclusions," he said.

Sorain added that some objects found on the beaches since last week had been placed under seal pending examination.

However, a spokesperson for the Australian government – which is leading the maritime search for the plane - said that none of the new debris appeared to originate form MH370.

Moreover, French officials have said that no other debris has been recovered and that there was only a strong possibility that the flaperon had come from MH370.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the differences between his country’s firm declaration and France’s less categorical one were “down to a choice of words”.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the passengers - who were mostly Chinese - have protested at the Malaysian embassy in Beijing.

They have been angered by the discrepancies in reports by French and Malaysian officials, and have accused the authorities of hiding the truth.

Lu Zhanzhong, whose son was aboard the plane, told AFP news agency that the families wanted to travel to Reunion themselves to "see the truth".

"I want to see if my son's luggage is there," he said.