vscode react-native typescript breakpoint not hit: source map

I have been struggling with this problem for more that one year. I have filed an issue here. I have tried to apply the solution description there and from countless suggestions all over internet (example). Here is my configuration

node v8.9.1
npm 4.6.1
react-native-cli 2.0.1
react-native 0.54.2
vscode 1.21.1

Here is my tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es2015",
    "module": "es2015",
    "jsx": "react-native",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true
  },
  "exclude": [
      "node_modules"
  ]
}

Here is my package.json:

{
  "name": "xxx",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "default": "node node_modules/react-native/local-cli/cli.js start",
    "start": "react-native start --transformer node_modules/react-native-typescript-transformer/index.js --sourceExts ts,tsx",
    "test": "jest"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "16.3.0-alpha.1",
    "react-native": "0.54.2"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/react": "^16.0.40",
    "@types/react-native": "^0.52.18",
    "babel-jest": "23.0.0-alpha.0",
    "babel-preset-react-native": "4.0.0",
    "jest": "22.4.2",
    "react-native-typescript-transformer": "^1.2.3",
    "react-test-renderer": "16.3.0-alpha.1",
    "typescript": "^2.7.2"
  },
  "jest": {
    "preset": "react-native"
  }
}

No matter what I do, I can't get my typescript breakpoints (.tsx) hit, a little desperate here. Any help and assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the error messages I am getting:

./src/app.tsx

transpiled ./build/app.js

And finally here is my ./vscode/launch.json:

    "name": "debug android",
    "program": "${workspaceRoot}/.vscode/launchReactNative.js",
    "type": "reactnative",
    "request": "launch",
    "platform": "android",
    "sourceMaps": true,
    "outDir": "${workspaceRoot}/.vscode/.react"