Ethiopian Journal

BEIRUT - A U.S. Navy vessel has detected the flight recorders from a crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet at some 4,265 feet under the sea, the Lebanese army said Thursday.
The plane went down early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut in a fierce storm. All 90 people on board were feared dead.

It could take days to retrieve the plane's flight recorders, which were located late Wednesday. The Lebanese army said in a statement that the USS Ramage and a civilian ship from Cyprus were scanning the area.

Walid Noshie, a prominent Lebanese diver who is helping the search, said the priority is to find the people on the plane, and then the black boxes.

Noshie said crews were using sophisticated equipment, including an underwater torpedo to scan the water and sonar-equipped cables that stretch almost 2 miles.

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