New Delhi, June 19 -- The Union civil aviation ministry on Thursday said the probe into the Air India AI -171 crash, is progressing steadily in India, with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) having started investigations six days ago.

The investigation is being conducted with support from local authorities and agencies, it said in a clarification following reports it was sending black boxes recovered from the accident site to the US.

The ministry said, "It has been reported in certain media outlets that the CVR/DFDR from the ill-fated AI-171 flight is being sent abroad for retrieval and analysis. The decision regarding the location for decoding the flight recorders will be taken by the AAIB after due assessment of all tec...