Indonesian divers locate AirAsia flight recorder

Jakarta, Jan 11:

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. (IANS)