French
Navy Detects Comoros Crash Black Boxes
A
French navy vessel has detected the black boxes of a
Yemeni Airways plane that crashed into the Indian
Ocean near the Comoros Islands.
The vessel’s captain Marc Reina said hydro graphic
and oceanographic frigate mapped the sea floor and
the ’’recorders have been pinpointed.’’
He has handed the finding over to Comoran
authorities and to the French aviation agency BEA.
He said cartography had been completed.
The plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders,
known as black boxes, could help explain why it
crashed as it tried to land in heavy winds. But they
lie in waters too deep for divers, requiring
specialized robots to bring them up to the surface.
Reina said underwater robots sent by the French navy
to Comoros should begin operating in August.
Cause unknown
Comoran and French authorities are still
investigating the cause of the June 30 crash that
left a 12-year-old girl as the only known survivor
out of 153 people aboard.
The Yemenia Flight IY626 crashed on its way from
Sana’a, Yemen, to Moroni, Comoros.
Many of those aboard were from France's Comoran
community and had embarked in Paris or Marseille
before changing planes in Yemen.
AP/Saint/Yinka