Divers recover jet recorder from Indonesia seafloor

Divers in Indonesia recovered one of the crashed Lion Air jet’s flight recorders from the seafloor on Thursday, a crucial development in the investigation into what caused the two-month-old plane to plunge into the ocean earlier this week, killing 189 people. Relatives, meanwhile, buried the first victim to be identified and prayed at her flower-covered grave.

TV showed footage of two divers after they surfaced, swimming to an inflatable vessel and placing the bright orange device into a large container that was transferred to a search-and-rescue ship.

“I was desperate because the current below was strong but I am confident of the tools given to me,” said navy 1st Sgt. Hendra, who uses a single name. After narrowing the possible location, “I started digging and cleaning the debris until I finally found an orange object,” he told TV, standing on the deck of a ship next to his diving mates.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed early Monday just minutes after takeoff from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia in more than two decades and renewed concerns about safety in its fastgrowing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and U.S. blacklists.

Minutes after the device was taken out of the sea, Bambang Irawan, an investigator with the transport safety committee, said it was the flight data recorder.

But at a later news conference, another investigator, Ony Soeryo Wibowo, said they still haven’t determined if it’s the flight data or cockpit voice recorder. It was displayed inside a clear container submerged in water to prevent damage from rapidly drying out.