Lebanon plane crash black box recovered from Med

BEIRUT, Feb 7, 2010 (AFP) - Lebanon said on Sunday it has retrieved a black box from an Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed in the sea killing 90 people, raising hopes of an answer to why the plane came down in a fierce storm.

The military also announced that more bodies from the tragedy have been recovered, taking to 23 the total number found since last month's crash.

"The Lebanese navy has recovered a black box from the Ethiopian plane and it has been transported to Beirut naval base to be handed over" to crash investigators, the military said.

Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi told AFP the flight data recorder had been retrieved and that efforts continued to recover the cockpit voice recorder.

Searchers located the two recorders on Saturday and Lebanese military divers were tasked to retrieve them. The black boxes are expected to contain data which may explain why the crash happened.

The boxes were found under a rear section of the fuselage, Aridi said, adding that the cockpit was also located on Sunday.

The Boeing 737-800 plunged into the Mediterranean before dawn on January 25, just minutes after take-off from Beirut airport during a storm. It was bound for Addis Ababa with 83 passengers and seven crew on board.

No survivors were found from Flight 409, and searchers have been struggling to recover bodies from the crash as most victims were believed to be still strapped to their seats.

Officials have described the salvage operation as "difficult and complicated."

"Eight bodies were recovered on Sunday," an army spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity, bringing to 23 the number retrieved. The bodies include those of two toddlers.

Health Minister Jawad Khalifeh said earlier on Sunday that an unspecified number of bodies had been found at the site where the black boxes were located.

Officials have said the captain was instructed by the control tower to turn to a certain heading, but that the aircraft then took a different course.

The probe is being undertaken by a Lebanese technical team backed by the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA), France's accident investigation agency, and a final report will go to Lebanon, Ethiopia and Boeing.

"If recovering the second box takes a long time, we will send the first one ahead to France for the data to be interpreted," Aridi said, adding that the focus would return to searching for bodies after most of the plane had been found.

Part of the debris has also been found off the Syrian coast.

Experts have told AFP that the stormy weather may not have been the only reason for the crash, and that the aircraft may have had engine or hydraulics problems.

Aridi said search vessel the Ocean Alert located a cabin rear section 10 to 12 metres (33 to 40 feet) long, at a depth of 45 metres (150 feet) off Naameh, just south of Beirut.

Flight recorders are usually placed in the rear of commercial airliners.

Fifty-four Lebanese were on board the aircraft, as was the wife of France's ambassador to Beirut.

The Lebanese military said pictures are being taken of the located sections of fuselage with a view to raising it.


by Rouba Kabbara
(c) 2010 AFP

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