MH370 search on island to end Monday

Local official Dominique Sorain says if no objects are found by next Monday "we will move to a phase of heightened surveillance".

"No object has been found in the sea that could belong to an airplane," Sorain told reporterstoday, adding however that "a certain amount of debris" had been found on land.

This has been handed over to investigators but there is nothing the size of the Boeing 777 wing part found on Reunion last month that Malaysian authorities have said comes from MH370.

Sorain says the searches, which began last Friday, have covered nearly 10,000 square kilometres (almost 3,900 square miles) of ocean.

Sorain, who gave no indication of the mission's cost, added that police have spent 200 hours searching for debris.

The tiny Indian Ocean island of Reunion has been in the global media spotlight since the  large wing part called a flaperon was discovered on its shores last month.

On August 5, Malaysia's prime minister said experts had "conclusively confirmed" that the debris came from the doomed flight, which disappeared mysteriously 17 months ago. 

However, French investigators are more cautious, saying only there is a "very high probability" that the flaperon came from plane, sparking anger from relatives over the difference in language.