Divers retrieve black boxes from crashed Ethiopian jet (Roundup)

Feb 7, 2010, 13:16 GMT

Naameh, Lebanon - Divers from the Lebanese army on Sunday retrieved the flight data recorders of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing that crashed into the sea off the coast of Lebanon two weeks ago.

An army source told the German Press Agency dpa that the black boxes were found early Sunday and would be taken to a military base at Jounieh, 20 kilometres north of Beirut, before being handed over to the investigators.

The Boeing 737-800 with 90 people on board went down four minutes after take-off from Beirut international airport, amid stormy weather on January 25. There were no survivors.

The flight recorders should provide information on why the pilot who was instructed by the control tower in Beirut International Airport to change direction did not abide by the orders, the head of the Lebanese Pilot syndicate, Mahmoud Hoomani, told dpa.

'The black box would tell us why the captain since he acknowledged the request of the control tower did not change his direction' Hoomani said.

Hoomani said the black box will be taken later Sunday to Paris for analysis.

He stressed that the investigation will take weeks.

The plane apparently made a sharp turn before disappearing off radar.

Meanwhile, Lebanese and international teams, including a US navy vessel, continued searching the Mediterranean along the southern Beirut coast for more bodies and wreckage.

Dozens of families of the victims have been holding a vigil on the shore in Naameh, carrying white flowers and candles.

'I am waiting here since I heard the news and I will stay praying here until I see the body of my loved ones,' said Mohammed Jaber who lost two cousins in the crashed plane.

An Ethiopian lady who identified herself only as Joyce stood crying Sunday morning as she watched the army vessels working at sea to remove more bodies and debris from the plane.

'My cousin was on that plane, we both work in Lebanon as domestic workers and she was going home to see her family,' said Joyce.

Among the 90 victims, 54 were Lebanese, 22 Ethiopian, a French woman who was identified as the wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon, two holders of a British passports, a Syrian and an Iraqi.

Ambulances and Civil Defence workers have swamped the area of Naameh, where the debris was found 12 kilometers south of Beirut.

'We have to work fast because on Monday we are expecting a new weather storm which will make it difficult for us to work and retrieve more bodies,' said a civil defence volunteer at the site of the crash.

Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said 'we are working with great caution because we must preserve the data contained in the boxes.'

According to officials from the Ethiopian Airlines the crashed plane had a maintenance check on December 25 and no technical problems were found.