A UTA Boeing 727-223 heading to Beirut carrying 161 people,[1] mainly Lebanese going to spend the New Year vacation in Lebanon, crashed into the sea shortly after take off resulting in 139 dead [1] on December 25, 2003.
At 12:20 a.m., night of December 25–26, 2003, commander of the Lebanese Navy SEALs Regiment General George Chraim receives a call from the Lebanese Armed Forces commander-in-chief General Michel Suleiman ordering him to prepare a Navy SEALs unit to be fully equipped and immediately dispatched to Beirut International Airport, and then fly for a rescuing and bodies recovering mission in Benin, that's in addition to locating the two black boxes.
The plane reached Cadjehoun Airport at 10 a.m, a French military attache officer and another Beninese were waiting the team in order to guide them through and cooperate on their needs.
For the next step the team had to take vehicles prepared by the local Lebanese community to reach the crash scene and start surveying it.
At 1:10 p.m. of the third day, a plane carrying the team and Lebanese officials, in addition to the bodies of the victims took off to Lebanon, and arrived to Beirut International Airport at around 9 p.m.