Search teams have found the black boxes from the crashed AirAsia jet and will attempt to lift them from the floor of the Java Sea on Monday, Indonesian officials said.
The devices are wedged between two pieces of the aircraft and divers will need to dislodge them manually or attempt to lift part of the aircraft using inflatable balloons, the Indonesian transport ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Crews zeroed in on the devices Sunday but “because time was limited, it has been decided that the retrieval process will be carried out tomorrow morning,” the statement said.
Search crews used the balloon method to lift the plane’s tail from the water on Saturday. It is the largest piece of wreckage from the Airbus A320 so far to be brought to the surface as recovery teams struggle against stormy weather in the waters off of Borneo island.
The black boxes – the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder that contain clues about what caused the aircraft to crash Dec. 28 – are located on the sea floor at a depth of about 100 feet, the transport ministry said.
Ships equipped with sonar devices had detected signals coming from the sea floor for several days but until Sunday had been unable to determine the exact location of the black boxes. Officials say the devices will stop emitting electronic “pings” 30 days after the crash, lending urgency to the task of locating them.
Investigators say the recorders should contain information about the final moments of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed with 162 passengers and crew members aboard midway through a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. There were no survivors.
The pilot asked air traffic controllers if he could raise the plane’s altitude to avoid a thunderstorm but the request was not granted due to other planes in the area. Moments later, the flight disappeared from radar.
Pathoni is a special correspondent. Staff writer Bengali reported from Mumbai, India.
For the latest on Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, follow @SBengali on Twitter
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