Jet's 2nd black box found

2010-02-10 16:15

Beirut - Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi has announced that divers have retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from an Ethiopian jet that crashed off the Lebanese coast killing 90 people last month.

"We have recovered the second black box from the Ethiopian plane and it will be handed over to investigators in France," said Aridi.

The Lebanese navy retrieved the first black box, the flight data recorder, on Sunday, and it was also sent to France.

The Lebanese government said it was still in the dark as to what had caused the January 25 crash and dismissed as inaccurate reports of pilot error.

Information Minister Tareq Mitri said on Wednesday: "We have not yet received the official report and all that is being reported as data from the black boxes is inaccurate.

"It is not acceptable that hypotheses be spun every time the technical team secures a piece of information," Mitri added.

A probe into the mysterious crash is being carried out by a Lebanese commission with support from a French body that investigates air accidents.

US and Ethiopian investigators are also involved.

Sabotage

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 plunged into the Mediterranean just minutes after take-off from Beirut airport during a fierce storm.

The Boeing 737-800 was bound for Addis Ababa with 83 passengers and seven crew on board.

No survivors were found and searchers have been struggling to recover bodies as most victims were believed to be still strapped to their seats.

There have been conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while airborne or after it hit the water. Officials have said there will be no answers until the data from the black boxes is analysed.

Lebanon has ruled out sabotage and officials have said the captain was instructed by the control tower to change to a certain heading before the aircraft took a different course.

Twenty-three bodies had been found by Sunday.

The body of the wife of France's ambassador to Lebanon, Marla Sanchez Pietton, who was on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, was also identified on Wednesday, the French embassy said.

- SAPA