Black box found in Cuba plane crash

A rescue team member works at the wreckage of the Boeing 737 plane in Cuba, on May 18, 2018. PHOTO: REUTERS

HAVANA (AFP) - A black box from a Boeing passenger jet that crashed in Cuba, killing 110 people and wounding three others, has been found and is in "good condition," Cuban Transport Minister Adel Yzquierdo said Saturday (May 19).

"We should receive the other one in the next few hours," he told state media.

The two black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder - will be key in determining what caused the crash of the plane, a 39-year-old Boeing 737-200 that plummeted to the ground on Friday just after take-off on a domestic run to the east of Cuba.

The disaster is the worst of its kind the island nation has suffered in nearly 30 years.

Yzquierdo said the recovered black box had been handed to investigators.

The Boeing and its Mexican crew had been leased to Cuba's state airline Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company, Global Air, also known as Aerolineas Damojh. The aircraft had passed a safety inspection in November, according to the company.

Mexico's civil aviation authority has sent a team of experts to Cuba to help officials work out what caused the crash.

Boeing has also offered technical assistance if needed.

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