Hong Kong investigators recover ‘black boxes’ from crashed cargo plane

Hong Kong authorities have retrieved two “black boxes” from a crashed cargo plane that killed two airport security workers earlier this week, pledging to release a preliminary report within a month.

The Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA), which is responsible for investigating the crash, said on Saturday that it had managed to recover two flight data recorders, commonly known as “black boxes”, from the wreckage on Friday night after the Airport Authority had lifted the aircraft’s tail from the water.

The devices had been waterlogged, the AAIA added.

The Airport Authority deployed a professional team and two salvage vessels on Thursday to remove the crashed cargo plane, which veered off course on Monday.

The AAIA has sent the recovered devices to a laboratory for preliminary examination to determine the next course of action.

“Following the successful recovery of the ‘black boxes’, the subsequent data processing, along with a thorough analysis and integration of other evidence, will take time,” an AAIA spokesman said.

“We will release a preliminary investigation report within one month and continue to conduct a thorough and rigorous investigation to determine the sequence of events and causes of the accident, as well as to propose safety recommendations to enhance aviation safety.”