ET409 crash: Black boxes located under the tail of the plane

Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi told LBC that the the black boxes of the crashed Ethiopian airliner flight ET409 were located under the plane’s tail and the army is studying ways to retrieve them.

“The boxes have been found under the rear part of the fuselage,” which was found on Saturday morning, the minister said.

“The vessel ‘Ocean Alert’ has found part of the rear section of the aircraft’s cabin between 10 and 12 meters long at a depth of 45 meters off Naameh,” Aridi told Agence France Presse on Saturday morning.

Earlier today Aridi revealed during a press conference Aridi that the tail of the plane was located off the coastal town of Naameh 12 km ( 7.5 miles) south of Beirut .

Aridi also said that Syrian authorities informed him that another part of the plane was found on the Latakia beachfront and that it will be handed over to the Lebanese authorities on Monday.

In response to criticism for allowing foreign ships to scour Lebanese waters Aridi said :“I take responsibility for any decision I took and any step I made,”

He added: “This is a delicate task. The most important thing is that we have made progress and reached an advanced stage in the search effort “, Aridi said.

Aridi stressed that it took a lot of coordination from all sides to locate parts of the plane, the boxes and the bodies of the victims

Aridi said he hoped that the main section of the plane would soon be found, along with the bodies of the remaining victims, who are believed to be still strapped to their seats since the accident happened so soon after take-off.