JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The Chief of the National Search & Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Air Vice Marshal Fransiskus Henry Bambang Soelistyo, confirmed that the joint search team has found a part of the black box recorders of the crashed AirAsia QZ8501 on Monday (Jan. 12), the day fifteen of the search and evacuation.
In a press briefing this morning, Soelistyo said the joint search team has found the flight data recorder (FDR) of QZ8501. The FDR is a part of the QZ8501’s black box.
Soelistyo said the joint search team will try to retrieve the QZ8501’s FDR this morning while continuing to search another part of QZ8501’s black box i.e. the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).
The Transportation Ministry has also on Sunday (Jan 11) confirmed the finding of QZ8501’s black box.
The ministry said the black box was found at a depth of 30-32 metres (99-106 feet) in the seabed of Java Sea in Karimata Strait, of south Kalimantan, accordance to the ping signals detected by the Navy divers in the transporation ministry’s vessel namely KN Jadayat.
The report said the black box is located in the coordinate 03.37.21 S or 109.42.42 E, less than one kilometre (0.6 miles) from where the tail of the plane was found.
The black box, consisting of FDR and CVR, is a vital equipment to help crash investigators finding out what happened with QZ8501 just before the crash.
AirAsia QZ8501 was crashed on Dec. 28, 2014, in the Karimata Strait, of south Kalimantan, believed to have killed 162 passengers and crew members. 48 bodies have been evacuated from the crash location. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.com)