It came in the form of an email, to others, a text message. Information to the families of loved ones lost in March last year, that a fragment of the plane wing found off the coast of Reunion Island, belonged to Malaysian Airlines flight 370.
"Malaysia Airlines would like to sincerely convey our deepest sorrow that the object...was indeed from Flight MH370," the text message read.
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239 people were on board that flight, which left Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing almost a year and a half ago.
Since then, there has been much speculation, but few facts, about what happened to the Boeing 777 aircraft.
And the families of loved ones say this new find doesn't solve the mystery of what caused the plane to veer off course.
"To have some little bit of information has been rewarding."
Jeanette Maguire's sister and brother-in-law, Catherine and Robert Lawton, were on board the flight.
She said since the flaperon was first discovered, it has constantly been on her mind.
"Last week there were a lot of mixed emotions." she told the Channel Nine's Today Show.
"It's part of a puzzle that we needed, we needed to find where this plane had landed and where it has ended up. So to have some little bit of information has been rewarding."
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Ms Maguire said it hasn't brought the family any closure, and the past 515 days have been horrific for the family.
"There's still so much unknown there, that closure, unfortunately, isn't anywhere near close."
The Lawtons were travelling with their friends, fellow Queenslanders, Rodney and Mary Burrows.
Paul Weeks, Gu Naijun and Li Yuan were the remaining Australian residents on the flight.
Mr Weeks' wife, Danica, was informed by the airline, but his sister, Sara Weeks, learned of the news through the media.
"I'm always disappointed at how I find things out, and in general how the whole family has found things out."
"Until we understand how you can lose a plane, and how it can just disappear without a trace, and then why that happened - we're not going to get any closure."
Ms Weeks remains concerned about the conflicting advice being given about the recovered wing fragment.
"This is how the whole thing has been: confusing and frustrating".
"You have that, 'oh well, ok, that's it, we've got something', and that's fine, we'll move forward with that. It was however marred by the information from the French prosecutor that he hadn't conclusively confirmed it, and this was his press interview after the Malaysian Prime Minister."
"This is how the whole thing has been," Ms Weeks said. "It's confusing and frustrating.
"We just want to know. Just tell us, we want to know. And would it have hurt to wait another day so that everyone's on the same page and can give us the same information."
Ms Week's suspicion is shared by other loved ones, like Chinese citizen Jiang Hui, the son of a passenger.
"I am suspicious of Malaysia Airlines' words because in the past they have a track record of going back and forth in what they say."
"What I hope right now is for the Chinese officials to give me a confirmed answer," Mr Hui said.
"Don't just show that one piece of flaperon, that's not enough at all."
Xu Jinghong, whose mother was on board, was more angry. "I don't believe it," she said.
"I'm furious and I think this announcement is very irresponsible."
Lim Khim Fatt, the husband of a cabin crew member said, "One piece of flaperon doesn't mean the plane has been fully recovered. There must be more debris to be found.
"Don't just show that one piece of flaperon, that's not enough at all."
