REUTERS/Baz Ratner ReutersBy David Shepardson(Reuters) - U.S. officials have not yet validated data from the black boxes of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed killing all 157 people on board, emphasizing the investigation remains in the very early stages, two officials briefed on the matter told Reuters Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Transport Ministry said the data from the black boxes was successfully recovered and teams from the United States and Ethiopia had validated it. Citing analysis of the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the March 10 disaster, the spokesman said the crash had "clear similarities" with October's Lion Air crash. The officials said after investigators reviewing black box data return to Addis Ababa and start conducting interpretive work, the NTSB and FAA will assist in verification and validation of the data, the officials said. NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss did not immediately comment Sunday on the report that the NTSB had "validated" some data but said “As the U.S. accredited representative to the Ethiopian-led investigation, the NTSB is a full partner during this fact-finding phase."

Source: Ethiopian News March 17, 2019 19:52 UTC