France steps up search efforts for MH370 debris

France is stepping up its efforts in the search for debris from missing Malaysian Airlines plane MH370.

Extra planes, boats and helicopters are being sent to scour the coast of the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where a piece of wing from MH370 was found on a beach last week.

Malaysia has called for the governments of Mauritius and Madagascar, near Reunion, to help widen the search area after additional debris, including a plane window, was discovered.

MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Malaysian officials have said paint colour and maintenance record matches proved that a piece of wing found on Reunion Island was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

The flight vanished without trace on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

A plane window has been found on Reunion Island, the Malaysian transport minister has said.

But Liow Tiong Lai said he cannot confirm they belong to Flight 370, which went missing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

"I can only ascertain that it's plane debris," he told reporters.

Liow said "there are many items collected" from the Indian Ocean island where a wing part washed up last week and has been confirmed as part of missing MH370.

The new debris has been sent "to the French authorities for verification. I cannot confirm that it's from MH370."

The "baffling mystery" of missing flight MH370 is closer to being solved, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said.

The Malaysian prime minister said yesterday that debris found on an Indian Ocean island did belong to the missing plane, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

French investigators stopped short of declaring they were certain of a link, saying only that there was a "very strong presumption".

Mr Abbott told reporters: "For the first time we may be a little bit closer to solving this baffling mystery."

He said the findings did indicate that the plane "did come down more or less where we thought it did".

Scientists are still trying to pinpoint where missing flight MH370 crashed after it was confirmed today that debris found on Reunion Island belongs to the missing plane.

The identification of part of the plane's wing has been hailed as a 'major breakthrough' in the search for the plane.

ITV News' Science Correspondent Alok Jha reports:

The wife and daughter of a crew member on board missing flight MH370 have said they still can't get closure despite confirmation tonight that part of the plane has finally been found.

Jacquita Gonzales who lost her flight attendant husband Patrick Gomes when the plane went missing in March last year told AP: "I can't have full closure until they bring back my husband".

Malaysia Airlines have hailed the identification of plane debris, washed ashore on Reunion Island last week and confirmed today as part of missing MH370, as a 'major breakthrough'.

The airline issued a statement online after the Malaysian PM announced that the wing fragment did belong to the missing plane.

A leading French prosecutor has said that there were multiple factors that point to the fact that a piece of plane debris that washed up on Reunion Island last week belongs to missing plane MH370.

Deputy Paris prosecutor Serge Mackowiak told a news conference that there was a "strong likeness" that the wing fragment was from the missing plane based on the information supplied to experts by planemaker Boeing and by Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed that part of the missing plane MH370 has been found.

Speaking at a televised news conference he said: "We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on the 24th of March last year, flight MH370 tragically landed in the South Indian ocean - this is a remote, inhospitable and dangerous area."

The plane debris found on Reunion Island "does belong" to the missing plane MH370, it has been confirmed.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed today that the Boeing 777 wing segment discovered last week was part of the plane and said his government was "committed to find the truth of what happened."

In a televised statement the PM said: "The international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370."

It is the first real breakthrough in the search for the plane that disappeared 17 months ago while transporting 239 passengers and crew members from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.