FIGHT DATA RECORDER RETRIEVED FROM JAVA SEA

Indonesian divers on Tuesday retrieved from the sea bed the flight data recorder of a Sriwijaya Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board on the weekend, officials said.

Divers had also found a separate radio beacon, raising hopes that the cockpit voice recorder it was connected to could soon be found and reveal what caused the plane to lose control moments after takeoff.

“We are sure that, because the beacon that was attached to the cockpit voice recorder was also found around the area, so with high confidence, the cockpit voice recorder will soon be found,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said at a news conference.

With few immediate clues on what happened after takeoff, investigators will rely heavily on the flight recorders to determine what went wrong.

The Boeing 737-500 plane plunged into the sea on Saturday, four minutes after it departed from Jakarta's main airport and disappeared off radar screens.

It was the second major air crash in Indonesia since 189 people were killed in 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX plunged into the Java Sea soon after taking off from Jakarta. The jet that crashed on Saturday was of a largely different design.