Divers retrieve black box of crashed AirAsia plane

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Jakarta (IANS): Indonesian divers retrieved the black box of the crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Java Sea, Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said Monday.

“The black box was discovered under the wing of the Airbus 320-200,” Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference, adding that another black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had not been found.

The divers from the Navy in Jadayat state succeeded in locating one of the black boxes of the ill-fated aircraft Sunday but failed to retrieve it, the transport ministry said, Xinhua reported.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as black boxes, are crucial to helping determine the cause of the crash.

Flight QZ8501, with 162 people aboard, went down in the Java Sea during its flight from Surabaya to Singapore Dec 28, 2014.

Forty eight bodies have been recovered from the sea and 27 of them have been been identified so far.

 

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Jakarta (IANS): Indonesian divers Sunday detected the presence of the black box of the AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea, but were unable to retrieve it, according to the transport ministry.

The team of divers from the navy in Jadayat state succeeded in finding the location of the black box of AirAsia QZ8501 at a depth of about 30-32 metres, Tonny Budiono, a senior official from the ministry, was quoted as saying in a statement, Xinhua reported.

Divers will Monday try to shift the position of the wreckage to access the black box, and if the operation is not successful, the team will then lift part of the fuselage using the balloon technique, Budiono added.

Ping signals from black boxes of the Airbus A320-200 were earlier detected by Indonesian search ships Friday.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as black boxes, are crucial to help determine the cause of the air crash. The devices, stored in the rear of the aircraft, can still send signals for two weeks before the battery exhausts.

Flight QZ8501, with 162 people onboard, went down in the Java Sea near the Karimata Strait during its flight from Surabaya to Singapore Dec 28.

A multinational search operation was launched to retrieve wreckage and bodies of the victims, joined by ships and planes from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the US, Japan, Australia, Russia, South Korea and China.

A total of 48 bodies have been recovered so far — of them, 27 have been identified.