Yemenia Air Black Boxes Too Deep for Divers

Investigators have concluded that the black boxes from Yemenia Airways Flight 626 that plunged into the Indian Ocean are too deep to be reached by divers, a French official said today. French investigators are trying to determine the exact zone where the boxes can be found using equipment that allows them to pick up signal beacons, he added, but cannot pinpoint the direction or distance of the sound.

A French submarine picked up signals from the plane's two black boxes, which contain the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, on Sunday. The boxes are believed to be lying between 1,600 and 4,000 feet under the surface of the ocean; France is sending special robots able to operate on the sea floor to the Comoros Islands; they’re expected to arrive this Sunday. (More Yemen stories.)