Ethiopia to send plane's black box abroad, as grief grows

black box from Boeing jet that crashed and killed all 157 people on board will be sent overseas for analysis but country has been chosen, an Ethiopian Airlines spokesman said on Wednesday, as much of world grounded or barred plane model and grieving families arrived at disaster site.

In an interview with Associated Press, Asrat Begashaw said airline has "a range of options" for data and voice records of flight's last moments.

"What we can say is we don't have capability to probe it here in Ethiopia," he said. An airline official has said one recorder was partially damd.

Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft crashed six minutes after takeoff on March 10, killing all 157 people on board. disaster is second with a Max 8 plane in just five months.

While some aviation experts have warned against drawing conclusions until more information on latest crash emerges, much of world, including entire European Union, has grounded Boeing jetliner or banned it from ir air. Ethiopian Airlines, widely seen as Africa's best-mand airline, grounded its remaining four 737 Max 8s.

That leaves United States as one of few remaining operators of plane.

"Similar causes may have contributed to both events," European regulators said, referring to Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people last year.

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Ors took action on Wednesday. Leban and Kosovo barred Boeing 737 Max 8 from ir air, and rwegian Air Shuttles said it would seek compensation from Boeing after low-cost carrier grounded its fleet.

US-based Boeing has said it has reason to pull popular aircraft from skies and does t intend to issue new recommendations about aircraft to customers.

Boeing's CEO Dennis Muilenburg also spoke with President Donald Trump and reiterated that 737 Max 8 is safe, company said. Its technical team, meanwhile, joined American, Israeli, Kenyan and or aviation experts in investigation led by Ethiopian authorities.

Federal Aviation ministration also backed jet's airworthiness and said it was reviewing all available data. "Thus far, our review shows systemic performance issues and provides basis to order grounding aircraft," acting FAA ministrator Daniel K. Elwell said in a statement. "r have or civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action." Some aviation experts have warned that finding answers in this crash could take months.

An Ethiopian pilot who saw crash site minutes after disaster told AP that plane appeared to have "slid directly into ground." Asrat, Ethiopian Airlines spokesman, told AP that remains of victims recovered so far were in freezers and that forensic DNA work for identifications h t yet begun.

de came from 35 countries. airline has identifying m should take five days.

More devastated families arrived at crash site on Wednesday, some supported by loved ones and wailing. 

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