Divers recover jet recorder from seafloor off Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia — 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 on Monday, killing 189 people. Relatives, meanwhile, buried the first victim to be identified and prayed at her flower-covered grave.
Indonesian TV showed video 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-andrescue 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 said on the video, standing on the deck of a ship next to his diving mates.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed 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.
Navy Col. Monang Sitompul told local TV that an object believed to be part of the aircraft’s fuselage was also seen on the seafloor.
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.
“Their forms are similar,” he said. Speaking about the overall investigation’s progress, Wibowo said, “We have collected data and did find some problems, but it must be investigated further.”
The flight data recorder is expected to provide investigators with detailed information about the flight such as altitude, airspeed and heading. The voice recorder also provides valuable information — not only the cockpit crew’s voices but engine sounds, instrumentation warnings and other audio that investigators can interpret. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said sophisticated computer and audio equipment is used to extract and translate the data into an understandable format.
The recorder was recovered from a depth of about 30 metres, 500 metres from where the plane lost contact, said search and rescue agency head Muhammad Syaugi.
“The currents below the sea are still strong which makes it difficult for divers, but they persistently faced it,” he said.