AirAsia Flight QZ8501’s black box has been discovered by Indonesian divers. While its location has been found, it still currently lies under the seabed. The box is buried under debris from the main body of the plane, and extensive efforts will be required in order to extract it and bring it to shore.
According to Indonesia senior ministry official Tony Budiono, the recorder is at a depth of roughly 32 meters. Plans are already underway to try to shift the wreckage of the plane so the box can be recovered. If retrieval efforts are unsuccessful, then authorities will utilize the crane and balloon technique, which was used to retrieve the plane’s tail.
The search has been going on since the plane went missing on Dec 28. The search has been a frustrating endeavor, and efforts have been greatly hampered by prohibitive weather. Search vessels eventually detected ping signals just one kilometer from where the plane’s tail was found, which led to the downed AirAsia jet’s black box.
Black box of crashed #AirAsia jet #QZ8501 found but not yet recovered, Indonesia search & rescue agency says http://ift.tt/1y6ZjFW
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) January 11, 2015
According to the Indonesian meteorological agency, stormy weather and strong turbulence were likely the factors that brought down the airbus carrying 162 passengers and crew members. The flight was headed for Singapore and departed from the Indonesian city Surabaya. As of Jan. 11, 48 of the bodies have been recovered, though not all of them have been identified.
Two of the bodies have been confirmed as a South Korean couple. Their 11-month-old baby was also on board, though its body remains among the bodies unaccounted for.
Most of the unrecovered bodies are believed to be located in the main cabin, and sending divers to that area has become a top priority.
The search has become an international effort. Aside from the Malaysian Navy, The U.S., Chinese, and other naval ships have also joined in on the effort in the hopes of bringing closure to grieving family members.
AirAsia’s black box will contain valuable clues as it contains the audio recording of the pilots’ final words. Hopefully, it will shed light on what has become a tragedy being grieved internationally.
[photo credit: Bryan Lee]
AirAsia Plane’s Black Box Found By Divers
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