Crashed Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501’s flight data recorder (FDR) has been brought to the surface and is on its way to Jakarta for analysis.
Search and rescue (SAR) divers from Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) retrieved one of the two aircraft’s flight recorders on Monday.
BASARNAS said the flight data recorder was found under one of the aircraft’s wings about 30 metres below the surface of the Java Sea.
Officials from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) will be responsible for downloading and analysing the data stored on the flight data recorder in an effort to find out what happened to the flight, which crashed into the Java sea on December 28 enroute from Surabaya to Singapore.
The search for the cockpit voice recorder, believed to be located in the vicinity of where the flight data recorder was found, as well as the fuselage of the aircraft, continues.
“BASARNAS reported that the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) has yet to be located and is still being searched around the area,” Indonesia AirAsia said in a statement on January 12.
“In addition, sea divers from SAR team were deployed today to obtain visual confirmation of two large objects which are suspected to be parts of the aircraft, approximately 4km from the location where the tail piece was found.”
Air traffic controllers lost contact with QZ8501 – an Airbus A320 registration PK-AXC – 42 minutes into the flight, which carried 162 people.
Indonesia AirAsia said in a statement on January 12 a total of 48 bodies had been retrieved from the crash site. The figure has been unchanged since the airline’s January 9 statement.
