The authorities are yet to send the black box abroad to decode flight records to ascertain the causes of the October 8 crash.

Sources said Biman plans to get the black box decoded in an aviation laboratory in France or the Netherlands but long queues in both the labs forced Biman to delay its sending.

The aircraft skidded off Sylhet Osmani Airport runway and fell into a nearby canal injuring 30 of the 83 passengers and crew on board.

Although there was no human casualty, Biman has lost the plane as the insurance company declared the aircraft abandoned.

Biman authorities have already recovered all valuable parts including two engines from the plane. The fuselage of the plane will be salvaged after Eid.

After the incident, the civil aviation ministry formed a three-member probe body headed by Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) Zahed Quddus while Biman formed another six-member committee headed by Chief of Flight Safety Captain Selim.

Members of both the probe committees visited the crash site several times, talked to the officials and staff of the control tower and other officials at Sylhet airport and collected documents related to the landing system.

The investigation, however, did not proceed further. The probe committees are still waiting for clues from the black box recovered soon after the crash.

The black box contains conversations of the crewmembers that could reveal a strong clue to the accident. The black box also records information about the plane's engine, weather and other conditions of a flight.

Talking to The Daily Star, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Akhtar Hossain Khan yesterday said the probe committee is working hard to find out the cause of the crash. "The probe report will be available after decoding of the black box."

He said the decoding process of the black box, which includes cockpit voice recorder and flight recorder, takes some time.

A source, however, said the probe bodies are in a dilemma over giving reports fearing possible repercussions. The detection of any technical problem in the crashed F28 aircraft will surely put the Biman management in an embarrassing situation as Biman has long been defending purchase of outdated F28s.

The day after the crash, pilots went on a wildcat strike in protest at State Minister of Civil Aviation Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin's reported comment that the crash had occurred due to fault of the pilots. So the probe bodies also fear pilots' rage.

Earlier, the pilots blamed bad condition of the runway for the crash. But sources said the probe committee of Caab, which maintains country's airports, is unlikely to point at bad condition of the runway, which may damage Caab's credibility.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines meanwhile received $2.65 million from the Lloyds Aviation Insurance Company Ltd of the UK as insurance coverage of the crashed aircraft. According the settlement agreement, Biman also retained the aircraft.