Black boxes from crashed Pakistan jet head to France for analysis

Air crash detectives were en route from Pakistan to France on Monday with two ‘black box’ flight recorders of a Pakistani airliner that crashed in a residential area while attempting to land in the port city of Karachi last month, airport officials said.

According to Reuters, An Airbus test plane, unusually commissioned to transport the boxes because of disruption from the coronavirus crisis, was due to arrive on Monday afternoon at Le Bourget near Paris where France’s BEA air accident agency was standing by to open them.

The French agency is involved in the Pakistan-led probe because the crashed A320 was designed by France-based Airbus and is additionally carrying out the crucial task of decoding the recorders. After all, it has state-of-the-art equipment.

The A320 operated by Pakistan International Airlines crashed short of the runway on May 22, killing 97 people on board after the pilots reported the loss of both engines.

Two passengers survived and there were no reports of casualties on the ground. The crash site remained sealed off on Monday.