Divers have found what they believe to be three pieces of the fuselage that could account for one quarter of the Geneva-bound MD11 jet that crashed into the Atlantic late Wednesday, killing all 229 people aboard.

Gerden said investigators would carry and fly the recorder to an Ottawa laboratory, where a multinational team would decipher the information.

Working on the rock-strewn ocean floor with just two meters of visibility, divers found the ``black box'' containing the recorder shortly before the investigators' daily press conference at 8 pm (GMT), he said.

It was in 60 meters of water between what could be two pieces of the jet's fuselage, some five nautical miles off the coast.

Gerden said he was confident a second "black box'' containing the cockpit voice recorder would be found soon.

Of the three large objectslocated, the biggest measures between 13 and 17 meters. It could be the jet's central section because wing attachments have been spotted on it, investigators said.

A second object is seven to ten meters long. The third object was not described.

``We're relatively sure that those are the pieces of the fuselage,'' Gerden said. Divers had found "a large area of small debris'' that contained numerous aircraft pieces, he added.

That debris suggests that the jet ``disintegrated'' in an ``extremely violent'' crash, he said.

At a military base outside Halifax, the grim task of identifying bodies continued in a makeshift morgue. Investigators were hampered in their efforts because most of the remains were mangled pieces contained in about 60 body bags.

Coroner John Butt said on Sunday, a baby's body was among the few more or less complete ones fished out of the water.

On Saturday, Butt had announced the first positive identification of human remains. The victim was a black, French woman, he said, withoutgiving the name.

At the military base, several dozen relatives of the victims on Sunday managed to identify personal objects retrieved from the ocean after the crash.

The plane fell into the ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia less than two hours after leaving New York. The pilot had reported smoke in the cockpit and tried to make an emergency landing at Halifax.

Claire Mortimer, a US national whose parents were on the flight, said investigators were seeking help from families to speed up the identification process. Some have brought medical or dental records.

``Ideally they want blood from two immediate family members,'' Mortimer said.

At the request of the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, toxicologists were examining the victims' blood to determine whether there were traces of toxic gases in their bloodstreams -- which could have resulted from smoke in the cabin.

Butt said it appeared more likely that the victims died from the impact of the plane hitting the water.

Peggy's Cove, the rockyvillage near the crash site, began to return to normal on Sunday as police announced they would reopen it to the public.

``We expect quite a few people will want to come and look at the site,'' said police spokesman Brad Reid. ``We'll have extra security around the rocks.''

On Saturday, dozens of relatives of the victims walked the shores and deposited flowers and wreaths at the base of the village's lighthouse, turning it into a makeshift shrine for the dead.

Officials restrained one woman who had climbed over security barriers to scoop up Ocean water.

On Saturday another woman, apparently overcome with grief, tried to hurl herself into the Atlantic, and an elderly man hurt his neck when he apparently fainted and fell on the rocks, witnesses said.

Swissair chief Jeffrey Katz visited Peggy's Cove on Sunday and applauded the families who had trekked there.

``The Peggy's Cove experience has been perhaps the best part, if I can use that word, for getting them in touch with what happened, and dealingwith the loss of their loved ones,'' he said.

At the local Anglican church, Rev Richard Walsh said the entire village grieved with the victims' families.

``Those people became spiritually part of our community. We won't forget them,'' Walsh said.