Disasters & Accidents

Indonesia retrieves data from crashed plane’s first black box

Jakarta, Jan 15 (efe-epa).- Investigation teams recovered data from one of the black boxes of a plane carrying 62 people that crashed into the Indonesian sea without survivors, authorities reported Friday.

Soerjanto Tjahjono, director of the National Transportation Safety Committee, said “there are 330 parameters and they are all in good condition. We are studying it now.”

The flight recorder, also called a black box, contains information on the speed, altitude and direction the aircraft was taking before it crashed Saturday into the Java Sea, in waters near Jakarta.

The plane of the Indonesian airline Srivijaya crashed shortly after taking off from the Sukarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta bound for Pontianak, capital of West Borneo.

Hundreds of divers, assisted by dozens of boats and helicopters, search for the wreckage of the plane about 20 meters deep in the waters of the Thousand Islands, an archipelago located a few kilometers from the Indonesian capital.

Authorities said Friday the search would continue for at least three more days, until Monday, focused on finding the sound recording equipment in the cabin.

On Tuesday, divers rescued one of the two black boxes from the plane, which records flight data such as speed, and height and are now looking for the other black box, which records conversations in the cockpit.

These recorders are essential to determine the causes of the accident.

Meanwhile, work continues to identify the bodies of the victims with the analysis in a hospital in Jakarta of some 60 bags with human remains recovered from the scene of the accident.

Thanks to the DNA samples of the families, 12 bodies have been identified: three crew members and nine passengers.

Indonesian authorities announced Saturday afternoon that contact with the aircraft had been lost at 1440 local time (6.40 GMT), about 13 minutes after takeoff and without the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) having issued any notice.

According to the flight log, there were 50 passengers on board, including three babies and seven other minors, and 12 crew members, all of them Indonesian nationality. EFE-EPA

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