Indonesian Navy divers recovered the flight data recorder for Sriwijaya Flight 182, which crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff on Saturday with 62 people on board, officials said on Tuesday.
The remains of some of the victims were also brought ashore in dozens of body bags, officials said. To date, four victims have been identified. Flight survivors are not expected to be found.
The rapid recovery of the flight data recorder, sometimes known as the “black box” and one of two on the aircraft, will help employees understand why the 26-year-old Boeing 737-500 crashed just four minutes after Jakarta’s takeoff, the capital. The plane was destined for Pontianak, on the island of Borneo, a flight of about 90 minutes.
The divers recovered the flight data recorder from the wreckage about 25 meters deep between the small islands of Lancang and Laki, officials said.
The Boeing carried two data recorders on opposite ends of the plane: a flight data recorder on the plane’s tail, which can provide information about the jet’s mechanical operation during its brief flight; and a voice recorder in the cabin that records the conversation between the pilot and the co-pilot.
The researchers hope that the analysis of the information found on both devices can provide a clear picture of what happened during the flight.
The plane sank nearly 11,000 feet shortly after takeoff from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and the wreckage is spread over an area about 1,200 feet long and 300 feet wide, officials said.
The relatively compact size of the debris field is consistent with an aircraft that did not explode before reaching the water.
Each data recorder has an underwater acoustic beacon that emits a signal in the event of a collision to help researchers recover the recorders.
But in this case, the acoustic beacon came off the cabin’s voice recorder and was found separately, said the commander of the National Armed Forces of Indonesia, Hadi Tjahjanto.
Divers are still looking for the recorder itself, he told reporters.
“We are sure that the cabin voice recorder will also be found,” he said.
Sriwijaya Air issued a statement saying the aircraft had received a certificate of airworthiness from the Ministry of Transport, valid until December 17, 2021.
A ministry spokeswoman, Adita Irawati, said the aircraft’s operating certificate was extended in November.
“Sriwijaya Air has met the conditions,” she said.
The most recent accident adds to the list of previous air tragedies in Indonesia. Air Asia flight 8501 crashed in the Java Sea off the coast of Borneo in December 2014. And in October 2018, the Lion Air 610 flight plunged into the Java Sea northeast of Jakarta, minutes after takeoff .
Dera Menra Sijabat contributed reporting from Jakarta, Indonesia.