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JAKARTA: Indonesian navy divers searching the ocean floor recovered a “black box” from a Sriwijaya Air plane that crashed in the Java Sea with 62 people on board.
Recovery of the device is expected to help investigators determine what caused the Boeing 737-500 plane to sink in the ocean shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Saturday (January 9).
READ: Divers in Indonesia scan seafloor debris and mud for crashed Sriwijaya Air black boxes.
Television stations on Tuesday showed divers in an inflatable boat with a large white container containing the black box. It was unclear whether the device was the plane’s flight data or the cockpit voice recorder. It will be handed over to the National Transportation Safety Committee, which oversees the accident investigation.
A Navy ship earlier picked up intense pings from the two recorders. They were buried in the mud on the seabed under tons of sharp objects among the wreckage, said the chief of the navy, Admiral Yudo Margono.
He said at least 160 divers were deployed Tuesday in search of the devices.
Divers from the Indonesian Navy position their boats near signaling buoys as they continue to search for the wreckage of the crashed Sriwijaya Air passenger plane in the Java Sea near Jakarta, Indonesia, on January 12, 2021 (Photo: AP / Tatan Syuflana).
More than 3,600 rescue personnel, 13 helicopters, 54 large ships and 20 small boats are searching the area north of Jakarta where Flight 182 crashed and have found parts of the plane and human remains in the water at a depth of 23 meters. .
So far, searchers have sent 74 body bags containing human remains to police identification experts who on Monday said they had identified their first victim, 29-year-old flight attendant Okky Bisma.
READ: Sriwijaya Air Crash Puts Indonesian Aviation Safety Under New Spotlight
His wife, Aldha Refa, who is also a flight attendant for Sriwijaya Air, shared her grief in a series of posts on social media.
“My husband is a loving, devoted and super kind man,” she wrote on Instagram. “Heaven is your place, my dear … be at peace there.”
Distressed family members have been providing samples for DNA tests and police say results are expected in four to eight days.
