Australia to continue search for MH370

MELBOURNE -- Australia has noted the conclusion that aircraft wreckage found last week was from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and the country would continue its search effort in a defined search area, a senior official said on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said in statement that the conclusion from Malaysia and French authorities was well noted and Australia would await further detail as "the French-led investigation team is continuing to finalize its considerations of the wreckage".

"Our expert from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) remains in France and will continue to aid the international investigation team," said Truss.

The official stressed again that the confirmation of MH370 wreckage found on Reunion is consistent with the current search area. "For this reason thorough and methodical search efforts will continue in the defined search area," he said.

"The Australian government will continue to work to keep the next of kin of passengers and crew informed of developments as they happen," he added.

Verification had confirmed that the debris discovered on Reunion Island belongs to missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced early Thursday.

The prime minister said his country remains dedicated to finding out what had happened on board the flight.

"I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to doing everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened."

Meanwhile, the Malaysia Airlines said the finding had been confirmed jointly by the French Authorities, the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), the Malaysian investigation team, the technical representatives from China and the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB) in Toulouse, France.

The debris was discovered on Reunion Island on July 29 and was officially identified as part of a plane wing known as a flaperon from a Boeing 777.

Prior to the latest discovery, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to find the plane in what has become one of the biggest mysteries in the aviation history.

The plane went missing on March 8, 2014 enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board, most of them Chinese.