Divers recovered the black boxes from the wreckage of an airliner in Benin on Saturday as investigators puzzled over why the Beirut-bound Boeing smashed into the sea moments after take-off.
Nine more bodies were pulled from the surf on Saturday, taking the death toll from Thursday's disaster to near 140, while 15 survivors were met after touching down in Lebanon.
The Boeing 727 was carrying 151 passengers plus crew, including over a hundred Lebanese nationals, 15 Bangladeshi army officers returning from UN peacekeeping duty in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and people from many African nations.
PHOTO: AP
A team of divers found the black boxes underwater in the plane's tail section. The two orange-colored devices should have recorded cockpit conversations prior to the crash and any anomalies in the functioning of the aircraft.
Grieving relatives, Lebanese officials and national investigators want to find out if the plane had a technical hitch or ploughed into a building during take-off because it was overloaded.
At Beirut airport, relatives torn between relief and sadness, met 15 survivors, whisked home in a Lebanese government plane which had raced help to the tiny West African country.
"We don't know whether to be happy or sad. Those who died were all our children," said a relative of survivor Khodor Farhat. "Even Khodor's return is not what we wanted. He is back on a stretcher."
The Lebanese have thriving, long-standing communities in West Africa and many of those on the plane were flying to see families in poor villages in the south of the country.
Ambulances took the 12 Lebanese survivors, one Syrian and two Palestinians to hospital on arrival at Beirut airport. At least one of the Lebanese was in a critical condition.
A French plane carrying 140 coffins arrived in Cotonou on Saturday to fly bodies home.
Some 74 olive-green coffins were due to be flown to Beirut on Sunday after a midday ceremony on the airport tarmac in Benin. Two coffins were due to be taken to Paris.
In Lebanon, Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said after returning from Benin that the plane appeared to have been overloaded with passengers and baggage and investigations were under way.
"It seems from preliminary evidence that there was a surplus in the number of passengers and a surplus in the load. A big surplus," he said. "I don't know if there were problems before but the plane was unable to take off."
Some survivors described feeling the plane was struggling to take off before it smashed into a building at the end of the runway and plunged into the shallow coastal waters.
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Dozens of residents have evacuated remote islands in southern Japan that have been shaken by nearly 1,600 earthquakes in recent weeks, the local mayor said yesterday. There has been no major physical damage on hardest-hit Akuseki island, even after a magnitude 5.1 quake that struck overnight, said Toshima Mayor Genichiro Kubo, who is based on another island. However, the almost nonstop jolts since June 21 have caused severe stress to area residents, many of whom have been deprived of sleep. Of the 89 residents of Akuseki, 44 had evacuated to the regional hub of Kagoshima by Sunday, while 15 others also left another
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
RSS