Black box flight recorder found after India plane crash

The black box recorder from an Air India plane which crashed in south India has been found by investigators.

The device could provide vital clues to the cause of the incident which killed 158 people when the pilot overshot the runway at Mangalore's Bajpe Airport.

The digital flight data recorder (DFDR) records the plane's acceleration, engine thrust, airspeed, altitude and rudder position.

Civil Aviation officials told reporters at the site that there was no damage to "the portion where the main memory is located".

GM Mathew, Air India's general manager (flight and safety), said: "What was recovered today is the main part (of the black box)."

Together with the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which was recovered on Sunday, the DFDR will be taken to New Delhi for a preliminary analysis, while reports suggest it could later be sent to the US for a detailed examination.

It is unclear when the results will be available.

Saturday's crash was one of the worst disasters for the country's aviation industry, but eight people emerged alive from the wreckage after the plane crashed into a gorge, overshooting the table-top airport by about 2,000 feet.