Second recorder of France's doomed Rafale recovered

French navy has found the second recorder of the two Rafale jets that crashed two months earlier into the Mediterranean Sea, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The second recorder was recovered Wednesday from 600-meter-deepunderwater and will be submitted to France's Bureau of Accidents Enquiring and Analysis (BEAD) for further investigation, the ministry said in a statement.

Two Rafale jets, French army's most advanced innovations, plunged into the Mediterranean Sea on the way back to their aircraft carrier after a test flight at 6:00 p.m. local time on Sept. 24.

One pilot survived from in time ejection, while the other was found dead confined within the sunken plane on a slope 700 meters beneath water, 35 kilometers east of Cap Bear in south France. His body was recovered on Oct. 5.

The first recorder has been found one month after the crash.

French authority initially assumed a collision of the two jets the cause of the crash, but the navy underscored that the real reason can't be determined until BEAD, the juridical department and the navy itself finish their respective reports.

Source: Xinhua