In Indonesia, equipment for determining the exact location of the black boxes of the crashed Sriwijaya Airplane was damaged, he writes BBC News Tuesday morning. It is not clear whether the search will be delayed or not, there is a so-called ping locator on its way from Singapore.
Authorities said at the end of last week that the location of the black boxes was “highly probable,” but the amount of debris makes surveys difficult. The ping locator can more accurately indicate where the black boxes are, because the device can receive some signals from the black box.
Divers have also discovered black boxes. Discovery is an important step after a plane crash. The device tracks the most recent flight data and can read communications between the two pilots.
On Saturday, a Boeing 737-500 disappeared from the radar four minutes after takeoff. The plane was on its way from Jakarta to Pontianak, which is about 700 km away. Fragments of the plane carrying 62 passengers were found off the coast of Java.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Flightradar’s website reports that the plane lost an altitude of 3,300 meters in less than one minute.
Identify the first victim
Authorities said emergency services had also removed many parts of the body from the water, “about 40 full bags.” On Monday, the first victim of Sriwijaya Flight SJ182 was identified. This is a 29-year-old flight attendant.
According to Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono, there is still a lot of rubble to clear. “We only managed to remove a few pieces,” said Margono. More than 3,600 emergency workers and fifty ships were deployed.
