Black boxes from Ethiopia crash to be sent overseas
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — The black boxes from the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday will be sent overseas for analysis because there is no capacity in the country to do it, an Ethiopian Airlines spokesman said yesterday.
The crash on Sunday of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max passenger jet killed all 157 people onboard.
The black boxes — the voice and data recorders — were recovered from the crash site, 60 kilometers outside Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Monday.
“There is no capacity here so the black box will be sent elsewhere for analysis,” the spokesman said.
It is not yet clear where the black boxes will be taken. The spokesman said: “The investigation team will decide where.”
Much of the world, including the entire European Union, grounded the Boeing jetliner involved in the Ethiopian Airlines crash or banned it from their airspace, leaving the United States as one of the few remaining operators of the plane involved in two deadly accidents in five months.
The European Aviation Safety Agency took steps to keep the Boeing 737 Max 8 out of the air, joining Asian and Middle Eastern governments and carriers that also had safety concerns in the aftermath of Sunday’s crash, which killed all 157 people on board.
Referring to the Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people last year, European regulators said Tuesday that “similar causes may have contributed to both events.’’
British regulators indicated possible trouble with a reportedly damaged flight data recorder.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand said yesterday it is suspending the use of the Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 9 due to safety concerns.
The regulator said it will temporarily suspend the use of Thai Lion Air’s Boeing 737 Max 9s for seven days, starting today and will continue to investigate safety measures.
Thai Lion Air’s three Max 9 jets will be affected.
Thailand is the last country in Asia where the jets are registered to issue a suspension, following the fatal crash of a Max 8 jet in Ethiopia on Sunday.
Thai airlines do not operate Max 8 jets.