Search teams have recovered part of the cockpit-voice recorder of the crashed Ethiopian Boeing 737-800 off the coast of Lebanon.

The Lebanese defence ministry states that navy divers have retrieved a section of the Honeywell recorder, but part of the device has separated.

Images show that the recorder's chassis has been found but the cylindrical memory unit, and its attached locator beacon, are missing.

Recovery personnel are still searching for the remaining parts, the ministry says.

The flight-data recorder was recovered earlier this week, and has been sent to the French Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses for examination.

Flight ET409 to Addis Ababa came down shortly after take-off from Beirut on 25 January.

Ethiopian Airlines has today insisted that nothing - including sabotage - can be ruled out as a possible cause of the accident.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news