Update: Second black box found from flight MS804 wreckage

The crew of the specialist vessel John Lethbridge has found EgyptAir flight MS804’s second black box, according to a statement issued by Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry.

The flight data recorder, the second of the airplane’s two black boxes, records instructions sent to the plane’s electronic systems. Having partially disintegrated, the device had to be collected in several stages by the Deep Ocean Search-operated vessel, which was able to extract the device’s memory unit, according to the ministry’s statement.

Friday’s discovery was preceded by a Thursday announcement from the Egyptian committee investigating the crash, stating that the downed EgyptAir flight MS804’s other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been found.

The Civil Aviation Ministry published a statement Thursday, saying that the team aboard the John Lethbridge, which had been contracted by the Egyptian government to search for flight MS804’s wreckage, discovered the cockpit recorder, after a month-long search.

The voice recorder also had to be recovered in several steps, as it was also reported to have partially disintegrated in the crash, according to the investigative committee.

However, the search team was also able to extract the recorder’s memory unit, the most important part of the device.

The committee has sent the memory unit to Alexandria on the public prosecution’s orders, the statement continued. There, members of the prosecution and the investigative committee will examine the device.

The discovery of the black boxes comes shortly after Wednesday's announcement that  "several main locations of the wreckage" were identified in parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Egyptian investigators told local and international media outlets that a deep-sea search vessel had also sent back the first images of the wreckage.

Late last month, Egypt's navy and Armed Forces posted images of airplane wreckage fragments, life vests and passengers’ personal belongings that were reportedly floating in the Mediterranean. 

It is hoped that the memory units will shed light on what caused MS804 to crash on May 19, some miles into Egypt’s Mediterranean waters, killing all 66 passengers aboard. The plane was en route from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport. 

There is little verified information regarding flight MS804's crash or its causes. Although, smoke was reportedly detected in one of the lavatories near the cockpit before the plane disappeared from Egyptian and Greek radar.