KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 ― France will conduct air and sea searches off its Indian Ocean territory of Reunion Island until the start of next week for debris of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 aircraft which went missing in March last year.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP), quoting the island's top official yesterday said:

“Coordinated searches will continue until the beginning of next week. The searches so far, had yielded no significant element.”

He said the searches would be shifted to the periphery of the initial area scoured, especially to the south.

On July 29, a wing part was found on the French territory and confirmed by Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be part of Flight MH370 which went missing on March 8, with 239 people on board.      

Saint-Andre, a town of 50,000 where the wing part was washed up, has had a surreal fortnight as the world's media suddenly descended there in droves.

AFP said since Monday, there have been a total of 45-and-a-half hours of land searches and 15 hours of maritime and air searches.

The search was launched on August 7 and had to be suspended due to bad weather before resuming.

The Maldives has joined a regional search for wreckage of the missing MAS flight, following reports that islanders in the Indian Ocean had spotted unidentified debris, according to AFP. ― Bernama