June 19 (Reuters) - India will send the black box

recovered from the recent fatally crashed Air India plane to the

U.S. for analysis, business newspaper The Economic Times

reported on Thursday, citing people aware of the development.

Indian authorities are investigating the crash of an Air

India Boeing Dreamliner which last week killed 241 people

on board and at least 30 on the ground, marking the world's

worst aviation disaster in a decade.

"The recorder sustained heavy external damage from

post-crash fire making it impossible to extract data in India,"

the ET said, citing people aware of the development.

However, the Director General of India's Aircraft Accident

Investigation Bureau, GVG Yugandhar, said in an emailed response

to Reuters that the report was "factually incorrect", without

giving further details.

Air India declined comment.

The disaster has cast a shadow on Air India's ambitions to

become a "world class airline" and put top bosses at Boeing ( BA ) back

in crisis mode.

Earlier this week, India's aviation safety watchdog said

surveillance conducted on Air India's Boeing 787 fleet did not

reveal any major safety concerns.

The black box consists of two components - the flight data

recorder and cockpit voice recorder. It provides crucial

insights for crash investigators, including altitude and

airspeed data and pilot conversation records that help determine

probable causes of crashes.

Data from the flight data recorder will be extracted at the

Washington-based laboratory of the National Transportation

Safety Board and shared with AAIB, the ET report added, citing

sources. The NTSB did not immediately reply to a Reuters request

for comment.

United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch will

also be present at the laboratory, the report added. The

government agency did not immediately reply to a Reuters request

for comment.