French authorities are to resume searching for the black box flight recorders from an Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic in 2009, killing all 228 people on board.
Flight AF447, an Airbus A330, crashed into the sea between Rio de Janeiro and Paris on June 1st, 2009. An initial search found wreckage and bodies but not the flight recorders.
Three Irish women died in the crash.
The body of just one of the Irish victims, Dr Jane Deasy (27) from Rathgar in Dublin, was recovered during the search operation.
Dr Aisling Butler (26) of Roscrea, Co Tipperary and Dr Eithne Walls (28) from Ballygowan, Co Down, also died in the crash.
The three friends were returning from a holiday in Brazil when the aircraft went missing.
"The fourth search phase should start in February, 2011, in line with the hypotheses that were put forward on October 5th at the last information committee of the families," the French transport ministry said.
The initial search found 50 bodies and hundreds of pieces of the plane, including its torn-off tail. But the latest search, a €13 million third effort, ended in May and did not find the "black box" voice and data recorders at the crash site, where the ocean is as deep as 4,000m. Those items are critical to determine why the plane crashed.
Nelson Marinho, who heads the Brazilian victims' family association, welcomed the French government's announcement of a new search.
"It is something that has to be done," he said by telephone. "It's inconceivable that after three search operations the black boxes and more parts of the plane have not been found."
Automatic messages sent by the plane's computers just before the crash show that the aircraft was receiving false air speed readings from sensors known as Pitot tubes. However, investigators have insisted that a series of failures, and not the Pitot tubes alone, likely caused the crash.
Frustrated families have sought access to all documents and data concerning the search, and the inclusion of international experts in the inquiry.