Operation underway to retrieve Ethiopia plane's black boxes

BEIRUT, Jan 28, 2010 (AFP) - Search teams on Thursday were expected to retrieve the black boxes from an Ethiopian aircraft that crashed off Lebanon's coast with 90 people on board, after pinpointing their locations overnight.

"We expect to have them some time today," Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi told AFP.


The boxes were located late Wednesday approximately 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Beirut airport at a depth of 1,300 metres (4,265 feet) below sea level.

"As of this morning we are evaluating the necessary means to retrieve the boxes," a military spokesman told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Aridi said that the body of the Boeing 737-800 had yet to be located four days after the tragedy in which all 90 passengers and crew are presumed dead.

"We hope to find the body of the plane in the coming hours," the military spokesman said.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the Mediterranean minutes after takeoff from Beirut at 2:37 am (0037 GMT) during a raging thunderstorm on Monday.

Only 14 bodies and some body parts have been recovered so far.

Rescue officials have said a number of the bodies may still be strapped to their seats and hope to recover them once they find the wreckage.

Officials are counting on the flight data recorder to explain why the pilot veered off course on takeoff.

An international search operation has been mounted by the Lebanese navy, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the US navy destroyer USS Ramage and a civilian boat from Cyprus with sonar equipment.


by Natacha Yazbeck
(c) 2010 AFP