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The second “black box” from crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been recovered from the Mediterranean, the Egyptian committee investigating the passenger-plane crash said on Friday.
The deep-sea salvage vessel John Lethbridge recovered the flight data recorder at dawn on Friday, the committee said, having recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the wrecked Airbus A320 on Thursday.
The device, which was lifted in several stages, includes the most important part of the device containing the memory unit, the statement added.
Experts with the Civil Aviation Ministry have already started downloading information from the cockpit voice recorder retrieved on Thursday. It contains conversations between the pilot and his assistant in the cabin during the final 30 minutes before the plane crashed, sources with the investigation committee told DPA.
Salvage teams were forced to recover the cockpit voice recorder in several stages, since it was damaged, the Egyptian investigation committee said on Thursday.
Lethbridge John, a specialist vessel owned by Mauritius-based Deep Ocean Search had, however, been able to recover the memory unit, the committee said in a statement.
“The vessel’s equipment was able to salvage the part that contains the memory unit, which is considered the most important part of the recording device,” the statement said.
Egypt’s public prosecutor was informed and ordered that the recovered device, one of two so-called “black boxes” on the plane, be handed over to the Egyptian investigating team for analysis.
The committee said the device would be transferred to the coastal city of Alexandria where representatives from the public prosecution and investigator should receive it.
EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed into the Mediterranean early on May 19, killing all 66 people on board.
Since then, search teams have been working against the clock to recover the black box flight recorders which are crucial to explaining what caused the Airbus A320 to crash.
