Ethiopian Review

BEIRUT (AFP) — Search teams on Friday swept the bottom of the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Beirut looking for the black boxes of an Ethiopian airliner which crashed with all 90 people on board presumed dead.

“We are still looking. We have combed two-thirds of the area,” Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi told AFP.

Search teams on Wednesday picked up the signals of the black boxes from the Boeing 737-800 which crashed two days earlier and have been trying since to determine their exact location.

Information Minister Tarek Mitri has said that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are thought to be located about 14 kilometres (nine miles) off the coast, south of the airport, at a depth of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet).

The Ocean Alert, a privately-operated US vessel, has been sweeping the area in which the signals had been picked up. It is equipped to reach objects 2,000 metres (6,561 feet) deep.

Once the boxes are retrieved, they will be sent to a decoding centre overseas, possibly in France, sources close to the investigation told AFP.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the Mediterranean minutes after takeoff from Beirut during a raging thunderstorm on Monday.

All 83 passengers and seven crew are presumed dead. Only 14 bodies, including those of two toddlers, and body parts have been found so far.

Rescue officials have said a number of the victims may still be strapped to their seats underwater.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while airborne or after it had hit the water, and officials have said there will be no answers until the data from the black boxes is retrieved and analysed.

Officials want to know why the plane veered off course after takeoff, but have ruled out sabotage.