Flight recorders of crashed Emirates plane recovered: official

Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, said here Thursday the flight recorders of the Emirates Airline Boeing 777, flight EK521, which crashed on Dubai International Airport Wednesday had been recovered, local daily Gulfnews reported.

The "black box" had been recovered from the wreckage of the plane that was completely destroyed in a blaze.

The Dubai airport and Emirates Airline continue to investigate the exact cause of the accident.

Griffiths who returned Thursday to Dubai (he was out of the country on Wednesday) said since Wednesday 242 flights had been cancelled and 64 flights had been diverted.

Meanwhile, the second runway could be reopened earlier today. At least 19,000 passengers were affected, reported Gulfnews.

Dubai International Airport saw the worst plane crash-landing in the past six years on Wednesday, when a Boeing 777 of Emirates Airline, flying from Thiruvananthapuram, India, to Dubai, made an emergency landing at 12:45 local time (0845 GMT).

Altogether 300 people, including 18 crew members, were on board, all of whom are reported safe.

The 282 passengers come from 20 countries, including 224 from India, 24 from Britain and 11 from the UAE, the Emirates said.

One firefighter was killed while putting out a fire, caused by the crash-landing, which burnt out the plane. The fire was extinguished at 14:32 local time (1032 GMT) on Wednesday, according to Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum.

Dubai International Airport is the world's busiest civil aviation hub, which accommodated more than 78 million passengers in 2015. Endit