---
The rescue team returned to the aircraft.
This time, they searched the rear section more carefully.
Behind a metal panel, they found a small box.
It was the black box.
Extracting the recordings took days.
Finally, the last six minutes of the flight were recovered.
The sound of the engines.
Screaming.
Then the captain’s voice:
“There’s an island ahead.”
The co-pilot replied:
“There is no island here!”
Then came a third voice.
It did not belong to either pilot.
It was calm.
Very close.
And it said:
“Welcome to the final station.”
Then the recording cut off.
But in the final second, a child’s voice could be heard asking:
“Are we going home?”
And a woman answered through tears:
“We will.”
Then silence.
---
Months later, five more survivors were found.
A man living under another name in Norway.
A woman in a nursing home in Spain.
Two children who had grown into adults with no memory of their early lives.
But one passenger was never found.
