The flight recorders could help solve the mystery of why the Airbus A320 plunged into the sea with 66 people on board. (Representational Image)
A French naval ship has detected a signal from one of two black boxes belonging to the doomed EgyptAir flight that crashed en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19, French investigators confirmed Wednesday.
"The signal from a flight recorder has been detected" by the survey ship Laplace, said Remi Jouty of France's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis (BEA), following an announcement from Egyptian authorities that the signal had probably been picked up.
Jouty said the signal was spotted after data analysis, and a priority search area had been established.
"The detection of this signal is a first step," he said.
The Laplace arrived in the crash zone on Tuesday to join the search for wreckage and the black boxes.
It is equipped with three devices capable of picking up the sonar "pings" from the black boxes at a distance of up to five kilometres (3.1 miles).
The flight recorders could help solve the mystery of why the Airbus A320 plunged into the sea with 66 people on board.