Crashed Ethiopian plane’s black box found but damaged

Airplane parts lie on the ground at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday, March 11, 2019. A spokesman says Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as a safety precaution, following the crash of one of its planes in which 157 people were killed. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate has reported that the black box has been found from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet.

An airline official, however, tells The Associated Press that the box is partially damaged and that “we will see what we can retrieve from it.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

An Ethiopian Airlines plane faltered and crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff from the country’s capital, carving a gash in the earth and spreading global grief to 35 countries that had someone among the 157 people who were killed.

Among the passengers who perished in the accident were three Austrian physicians; the co-founder of an international aid organization; a career ambassador; wife and children of a Slovak legislator; and a Nigerian-born Canadian college professor, author and satirist.

Ethiopia immediately grounded all of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 following the incident.

China’s civilian aviation authority also ordered all Chinese airlines to temporarily ground their Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.

It said the order was “taken in line with the management principle of zero tolerance for security risks,” because the crash was the second after another of the planes fell into the ocean off the coast of Indonesia in similar circumstances on October 29, killing all aboard. /kga