An Air France pilot seen a “white object” Tues. within the waters off Reunion Island, prompting search teams to investigate a large area about 35 nautical miles off the island’s coast.

Since then, there have been sporadic reports of people sighting objects they believe could be plane parts, but none has so far materialised.

French authorities are searching the Indian Ocean for apparent debris spotted by a jet pilot near where a wing part from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was discovered.

According to Reunion authorities, the ship that diverted to the area indicated by the pilot did not find anything.

A piece of the MH370’s wing flap washed up on shore at Reunion Island this summer.

Air crash investigators confirmed two weeks ago that a flaperon found on Reunion in July was definitely from MH370.

At 1:19 a.m., as the Boeing 777-200ER was flying over the South China Sea, Malaysian air traffic controllers radioed the crew to contact controllers in Ho Chi Minh City for the onward flight through Vietnamese airspace.

The aircraft’s transponder, which identifies the plane and relays details such as altitude and speed to controllers, stopped transmitting. Authorities have been studying currents to try to estimate where the plane could have moved.