Indonesian divers have retrieved the flight data recorder of crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, say officials.
They believe they have also located the cockpit voice
recorder, the second part of the so-called black box, but divers have
not yet managed to reach it.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared in bad weather on 28 December with 162 people on board.
The aircraft, which was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, is thought to be deep in the Java Sea.
Dozens of bodies have been recovered but most of the victims
are believed to still be inside the fuselage, which has not been found.
Speaking in Jakarta, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency
Bambang Soelistyo told reporters: "I received information from the
National Transport Safety Committee chief that at 07:11 (00:11 GMT), we
succeeded in bringing up part of the black box that we call the flight
data recorder."
He said the device was found under the wreckage of a wing.
Hours later, other officials said the cockpit voice recorder had also been detected but divers had not yet managed to reach it.
The two recorders, usually housed inside the rear part of the
plane, are designed to survive a crash and being submerged in water.
They contain underwater locator beacons which emit so-called "pings" for
at least 30 days.
Indonesia has said publicly that it will handle the analysis of the
flight data and cockpit voice recorders here - but it is likely that
international teams will also be involved. The unfortunate silver lining
of having had so many air disasters over the last decade has meant that
Indonesian teams are very well equipped to analyse the data recorders
and piece together what happened. Aviation analysts expect a preliminary
report within a month, and a more detailed report within a year.
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