Story highlights A merchant ship and plane sent to the area find no sign of the reported object

A white object was spotted in Indian Ocean about 70 kilometers northwest of Reunion Island

Sighting comes after debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 washed up there

(CNN) Nearly two months after debris from the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 washed up on Reunion Island, a large object reportedly floating off the island has piqued the interest of French officials there.

An Air France pilot reported seeing "a white object" floating in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday morning about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of the French island, said Siva Vadivelou, assistant director of the French Civil Aviation Authority on Reunion.

The Air France flight was at an altitude of 3,000 meters, or about 9,800 feet, the office of the island's prefect said. Because of the altitude, "it must be a voluminous object for the pilot to see it," Vadivelou said.

Authorities diverted a merchant ship to the area and flew an aircraft over it at low altitude, but nothing was found Tuesday, according to the prefect's office.

French investigators said this month t hat debris that washed up on the island in July -- an airplane flaperon -- was from MH370, a Boeing 777 that disappeared with 239 people aboard in March 2014 while on a flight scheduled from Malaysia to China.

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