"We are sorry to say that we are pulling human remains," Khalife told reporters from Rafik Hariri state hospital. "But you all know that the plane exploded into flames before it crashed."

On Sunday, Lebanese army marine commandos recovered one of the two black boxes from the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed Jan. 25 off the Lebanese coast killing all 90 people on board. They also pulled eight victims.

"We cannot say when we'll have news because it is a process and there is an investigation," Wogayehu Terefe, a spokesman for the airline told AFP on Tuesday.

No survivors were found from Flight 409 that was bound for Addis Ababa when it crashed in flames into the Mediterranean Sea minutes after takeoff from Beirut airport in stormy weather.

Search teams have since been struggling to recover bodies from the crash as most victims were believed to be still strapped into their seats. So far, 23 bodies have been retrieved from the plane crash site off the coast of Naameh south of Beirut.

Probe into the disaster is being carried out by a Lebanese commission with support from a French body responsible for technical investigations into air accidents. American and Ethiopian investigators are also involved.