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JAKARTA: Indonesian investigators said on Wednesday (January 13) they were hoping to recover the second black box from a crashed passenger plane, as they seek to explain why the plane with 62 people on board crashed into the sea minutes after takeoff. .
Divers off the coast of the capital Jakarta brought the plane’s flight data recorder to the surface on Tuesday, along with the beacon that was connected to the cockpit voice recorder.
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The devices could provide critical clues as to why the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 sank some 10,000 feet in less than a minute before crashing into the Java Sea on Saturday.
“The search continues today and we expect a good result,” Rasman MS, head of shock operations for the search and rescue agency, told reporters.
The data in the black box includes the speed, altitude and direction of the plane, as well as the conversations of the flight crew, and helps explain nearly 90 percent of all accidents, according to aviation experts.
The search was temporarily suspended due to bad weather causing waves of up to 2.5 m.
Earlier on Wednesday, divers recovered more debris and a damaged identity card of one of the victims, Navy official Abdul Rasyid told reporters aboard the Indonesian navy ship Rigel.
A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) will be deployed to search the seafloor on Wednesday, Abdul said, adding that the search had been complicated because no pings were now being issued after the beacon was separated from the CVR.
“We have the ROV that will confirm the location again and tomorrow we will dive and comb that location again,” he said.
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So far, authorities have not been able to explain why the 26-year-old plane crashed just four minutes after takeoff.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would send investigators to Jakarta along with staff from Boeing, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and GE Aviation, which makes jet engines and other parts. of planes.
“(The) team has experience in aircraft operations, human performance, structures and systems,” the NTSB tweeted.
More than 3,000 people are participating in the recovery effort, assisted by dozens of boats and helicopters flying over small islands off the capital’s coast, and a remotely operated vehicle to assist the divers.
The flight data recorder has been recovered from the crashed Sriwijaya Air plane. (Photo: AFP / ADEK BERRY)
“This operation is not over yet,” Indonesian military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said Tuesday night.
“We will continue to search for the victims and all the remaining parts of the fuselage, which we will try to recover.”
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DISINFORMATION
Three more victims have been identified by comparing fingerprints in the archive with body parts recovered from the dark depths, authorities said Wednesday, including a 50-year-old female passenger and a 38-year-old off-duty pilot.
The first victim, a flight attendant, was also identified through her fingerprints.
There were 10 children among the passengers on the half-full plane, who had experienced pilots at the controls as it left Jakarta for the city of Pontianak on the island of Borneo in a 90-minute flight.
Dozens of body bags filled with human remains were taken to a police morgue where forensic investigators hope to identify the victims by matching fingerprints or DNA with family members.
Indonesia continues its search for remains of Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182. (File photo: Reuters)
So far, authorities have said the crew did not declare an emergency or report technical problems with the plane prior to its dive, and that the 737 was likely intact when it hit the water, citing a relatively small area where the wreckage was scattered.
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The accident investigation is likely to take months, but a preliminary report was expected in 30 days.
Aviation analysts said flight tracking data showed the plane deviating sharply from its intended course before entering a steep drop, with bad weather, pilot error or mechanical failure among potential factors.
The accident has generated misinformation online with a couple of images claiming to show a baby who survived the accident at the weekend. The images actually show a baby rescued from a fatal boat disaster in 2018.
SECURITY ISSUES
Sriwijaya Air, which flies to destinations in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia, has had security incidents, including runway overflows.
But it hasn’t had a fatal accident since it began operating in 2003.
READ: Sriwijaya Air Crash Puts Indonesian Aviation Safety Under New Spotlight
Its chief executive has said the plane, which was previously flown by Continental Airlines and United States-based United Airlines, was in good condition.
Indonesia’s fast-growing aviation sector has long been plagued by safety concerns, and its airlines were once banned from US and European airspace.
In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX plane crashed near Jakarta.
That accident, and another in Ethiopia, led to the 737 MAX being grounded around the world due to a faulty anti-lock system.
The 737 that fell on Saturday was first produced decades ago and was not a MAX variant.
