727 overloaded

The French investigator leading a probe into a Christmas Day air crash that killed 138 people in Benin said overloading was partly to blame for the plane crashing into the sea moments after take-off.
“No doubt several factors contributed to this accident, among them is an excess load,” said Jean Louis Arslanian, who heads a French office in charge of the investigating team.
“We must examine this factor — the weight of the plane — and other factors such as the weather at the time and technicalities to do with the plane”, he said after meeting Lebanese Transport Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.
The Beirut-bound Boeing 727 clipped a building at the end of the runway and crashed into the sea soon after taking off from the West African country’s main city of Cotonou.
Twenty-one people survived. Some reported feeling the plane was heavy and unable to gain height.
Most of the dead were Lebanese, many heading home for the holidays. Also killed were French, Guinean, Beninese, Iranian, Pakistani, Indian and Libyan nationals as well as 15 Bangladeshi army officers returning home from peacekeeping duties.
Arslanian said investigators had inspected the scene of the accident and the “black box” recorders, which were recovered from the sea by divers about a month ago but it was still too early to give a final assessment of the causes.