New Delhi/IBNS: The black box data of the Air India aircraft that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport on June 12 has been recovered and downloaded, the government provided an update on Thursday, media reports said.

In a major breakthrough, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has succeeded in recovering the Crash Protection Module or CPM and the memory module.

The data has been downloaded.

The black box comprises a Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which were heavily damaged.

It was earlier reported, the black box might be sent to the United States as India lacks the equipment to recover data from recorders which have sustained heavy damage.

What is a black box?

A black box refers to two critical flight recording devices on an aircraft- Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.

While the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) records technical flight data (speed, altitude, engine performance, etc.),  Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) records conversations and sounds in the cockpit.

It is used to investigate accidents and understand what happened before a crash.

Despite the name, it is actually bright orange to make it easier to find in wreckage.

Ahmedabad plane crash

On June 12, a London-bound Air India Boeing Dreamliner flight crashed into a medical college hostel soon after takeoff near the Ahmedabad airport killing 275 people including on-ground people.

241 out of 242 onboard passengers and crew members were killed in the crash, which is one of the country's worst aviation tragedies.

One person, the passenger of seat No. 11A,  survived the crash miraculously.