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Friday 24 March 2023 Dublin: 8°C
Christophe Ena/AP/Press Association Images A picture of the crashed Air France flight 447 engine discovered earlier this month.
# Air France
Air France crash investigators uncover part of flight recorder but crucial data missing
Investigators fear that without recovering the “black box” flight recorder the mystery of the plane’s last moments will never be solved. The crash over the Atlantic two years ago killed all 228 people on board.

PART OF THE flight recorder from the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago has been found off the coast of Brazil but is missing the section which could hold the key to revealing the cause of the crash.

The Air France Airbus plane went down in the Altantic in June 2009 killing all 228 people on board including three Irish girls.

There was renewed hope earlier this month that search teams would be able to locate the bodies of many of those who perished in the crash, after a signiciant portion of the wreckage was found last month.

A salvage ship had begun work on Tuesday trying to retrieve more bodies when the chassis of the flight data recorder was found later in the evening.

However it did not contain the module protecting and containing the data, according to France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis, reports BBC News.

A spokesperson added that although only the outer chassis of the flight recorder had been found, the flight data recorder itself – if recovered – could still be in a condition to be read, reports the New York Times.

A second dive is now underway to see if the “black box” flight recorder might be uncovered. Failure to do so could mean the mystery of the plane’s last moments might never be solved.

Read: Mother awaits news of Irish victim in Air France crash >