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2nd black box recovered from Comoros plane crash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-29 21:57

MORONI: Authorities on Saturday recovered the second of two black boxes from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed into the Indian Ocean on June 30 with 153 people aboard, an official said.

Col. Ismael Daho, who heads the crisis unit set up to deal with the crash, said the plane's voice recorder had been handed to a team investigating the crash. The flight's data recorder was recovered using a remote-controlled robot the previous day.

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Red Cross co-ordinator Abdourhamane Bacari said teams will continue to work for another two weeks to try to bring up wreckage and look for more bodies and luggage. Around 37 bodies have been recovered so far.

A teenage girl was the only survivor when Yemenia Flight 626 from Paris to Moroni via Yemen plunged into the ocean on June 30.

It is hoped the recovery of the two black boxes can help ascertain the cause of the crash. Angry relatives of the victims have accuse Yemenia of operating an unsafe plane, but the airline has defended its record, saying high winds and bad weather were to blame for the crash.

Authorities from France, Yemen and Comoros have been working together to recover the boxes and other debris. The signal debris from the boxes was first detected by a French ship in July at depths of 3,900 feet (1,200 meters), about nine miles (15 kilometers) northwest of Grand Comoros island. But authorities had to wait for a specialized diving robot to arrive to continue the search.