Divers retrieve flight data recorder from crashed AirAsia jet as they search for other box
Posted Jan 11, 2015 10:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Divers retrieved one of the black boxes Monday from the AirAsia plane that plummeted more than two weeks ago into the Java Sea, a major breakthrough in the slow-moving hunt to recover bodies and wreckage.
The flight data recorder was found under part of the plane’s wing and brought to the surface early in the morning, said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, head of the national search and rescue agency.
Divers began zeroing in on the site a day earlier after three Indonesian ships picked up intense pings from the area, but they were unable to see it due to strong currents and poor visibility, said Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, operation co-ordinator at the national search and rescue agency.
He earlier said the black box was lodged in debris at a depth of about 30 metres (100 feet), but Soelistyo did not provide additional details on the discovery.
Searchers will continue to scour the seabed to try to locate the other black box, the cockpit voice recorder. They are vital to understanding what brought Flight 8501 down on Dec. 28, killing all 162 people on board.
The flight data recorder will be taken to Jakarta, the capital, for analysis. It could take up to two weeks to download its recorded data, said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at the National Committee for Safety Transportation.
