Black box found as carriers suspend 737 Max 8 flights following fatal crash
Ethiopian state TV is reporting the black box from the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on Sunday has been found by investigators.
The report comes as Indonesia has joined Ethiopia, China and the Cayman Islands in suspending use of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets following the crash in which all 157 people on board died.
The fatal crash was the second involving the new 737 Max 8 aircraft in five months, after a Lion Air flight crashed off the coast of Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189 people.
Yesterday, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa.
The move prompted Ethiopian Airlines and Cayman Airlines to ground the aircraft. China ordered its domestic airlines to suspend Boeing 787 Max 8 operations. Indonesia has since confirmed it has grounded the planes.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight, bound for Nairobi, had passengers from 30 nations on board. Victims included representatives of the United Nations. Seven passengers were British.
This morning, Ethiopian Airlines tweeted: "Following the tragic accident of ET 302… Ethiopian Airlines has decided to ground all B-737-8 MAX fleet effective yesterday, March 10, until further notice.
"Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we have to decide to ground the particular fleet as an extra safety precaution."
The Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered its domestic airlines to suspend operations of the aircraft due to similarities in the crashes.
More than 90 are in use by Chinese carriers including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines.
Cayman Airways, which operates two 737 8 Max aircraft, said it was suspending its use of the jet and was ‘putting the safety of our passengers and crew first’.
Other airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, which has five Boeing 737 Max 8s operating on its regional airline SilkAir, are ‘monitoring the situation’.
Several other airlines, including Ryanair, TUI and Norwegian, already have, or have ordered, Boeing 737 Max 8s.
Boeing has said it is ‘deeply saddened’ by the crash and is sending a team to Ethiopia to provide technical assistance.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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