Beirut-Online
reports:
Searchers have located the black boxes of the Ethiopian Airlines plane under the jet's tail that has been discovered off the coastal town of Naameh, Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said Saturday.
"The boxes have been found under the rear part of the fuselage," which was found on Saturday morning, the minister said. "Lebanese army divers have gone down to retrieve them, but this operation will take time," he added. Aridi's announcement came after a press conference he held on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, a search vessel, the vessel Ocean Alert found the rear sections of the aircraft's cabin between 10 and 12 meters long at a depth of 45 meters off Naameh, 12 kilometers south of Beirut. The minister said during the press conference that retrieving parts of the plane was sensitive work.
"We made a positive progress in the search for bodies, the (black) box and consequently the plane," Aridi told reporters.
"We need time. This is a delicate operation. The most important thing is that we have reached an advanced stage," Aridi said. "The result is positive. However we can't deal with it with hastiness."
He also unveiled that Syrian authorities informed him about the discovery of a small part of the plane on the Golden beach in Latakia. It will be handed over to Lebanon on Monday, the minister said.
"I take responsibility for any decision I took and any step I made," he told reporters in response to a question on criticism for allowing foreign ships to scour Lebanese waters.
The minister reiterated there was no foul play in the plane's crash. An army command communiqué said Saturday morning that crews located parts of the wreckage and teams were photographing them before retrieval.
Retrieving the black box and flight data recorder are critical to determining the cause of the January 25 crash. However, Aridi said that even if they were retrieved, the investigation committee needed time to announce final results.