A search team picking throught the wreckage of an Air France plane that crashed off the Brazilian coast in 2009, has found a part that held one of the flight's data recorders.
Flight 447 plunged into the ocean en route from Rio to Paris on May 31st, 2009 killing all 228 passengers including three young Irish women.
France's BEA air accident inquiry office said in a statement today that the chassis of the "black box" flight data recorder had been found surrounded by debris during the first dive by an underwater remote vehicle.
The recent discovery of chunks of the plane's wreckage, in a vast search radius of some 10,000 square kilometres, had raised hopes that the aircraft's two black boxes might be within reach.
The aircraft vanished after hitting stormy weather over the Atlantic a few hours into the flight. Speculation about what caused the crash has focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.
The body of Dr Jane Deasy (27), from Rathgar in Dublin, was recovered during the initial search operation which was carried out shortly after the crash.
Dr Aisling Butler (26) of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and Dr Eithne Walls (28), from Ballygowan, Co Down, also died in the crash. Their bodies have not yet been found. The three friends were returning from a holiday in Brazil when the aircraft went missing.
A BEA spokeswoman said today that the flight data recorder could still be in a condition to be read, despite its separation from the chassis.
"The memory module is like a sarcophagus - the information is very well protected," she said.