French military transport plane
A French military transport plane taxis on the runway at the airport in Saint-Denis at the start of a search mission along the coast near Saint-Andre on the French Indian Ocean Reunion island August 7, 2015. French authorities said they would step up efforts to find more debris off Reunion, deploying a military aircrast as well as more police at sea and on the shore. Malaysia said on Thrsday paint colour and maintenance-record matches proved that a piece of wing found on the shore last week was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared with 239 passengers and crew 17 months ago. Reuters/Stringer

Crew members on and around Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean have been searching for fragments of MH370 since a wing believed to belong to the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane was discovered in late July. Crews were sent through helicopters, ships and every possible way to get something new that could indicate the presence of the airlines that departed from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing in March 2014. However, when no new debris of the Malaysian Airlines have been found, the authorities have decided to scale down the search.

The French police confirmed that after searching for MH370 for so long, no clues of the airline have been discovered and hence, the efforts have been minimised on Monday. According to the Reunion police, after the first discovery of MH370, about 200 French authorities have been searching the island via land, sea and air, but they still have not found anything connected to the missing Boeing 777.

“In the absence of a new discovery of objects of interest to the ongoing investigation, it appears that the statistical chances of discovering the remains of the MH370 in an organised research appear to be extremely low,” Reunion police stated .

When the first remains of the Malaysian airline were believed to be found, the PM of Malaysia Najib Razak said that the fragments “conclusively” belonged to the plane, but the French officials only believed them to match the missing plane. The flight with 239 people on board mysteriously changed route and moved over Indian Ocean prior to losing all contacts. Experts believed that the flight flowed in the waters off the Australian western coast.

The search efforts have been downsized, but the officials will continue to look for MH370 remains in the island during their daily assignment, according to the statement. On the other hand, the Australian authorities are still in search of the fragments in remote areas closer to the ocean, which is believed to swallow the airplane, according to the Australian government.

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