Search Resumes for Crashed AirAsia Jet’s ‘Black Boxes’

A ground crew seen working on Airbus A320 aircraft of Air Asia at Kuala Lumpur International Airport , Malaysia, 28 December 2014. Photo EPA/BGNES

Weather at the suspected site of the crash of AirAsia Indonesia's aircraft has improved enough on Friday to allow the deployment of two ships carrying acoustic equipment to detect the ‘pings’ from the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders, international news outlets reported. 

Some helicopter missions had resumed to search for debris and bodies. Strong winds and waves as 6.5 metres high prevented divers from resuming the search for the wreck of the AirAsia Indonesia jet off Borneo on Thursday. 

According to Toos Sanitiyoso, an air safety investigator with the National Committee for Transportation Safety in Indonesia, it could take a week to find the flight recorders of the Airbus A320-200, which was carrying 162 people when it crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday en route from the city of Surabaya to Singapore. 

A sonar search had detected a large object lying in waters 30-50 metres deep which according to rescuers could be part of the ill-fated aircraft. However, rescuers have not detected any of the ‘pings’ emitted by the ‘black boxes’.

Since Tuesday, when debris and bodies from the plane were spotted, recovery efforts have focused on retrieving bodies floating in the ocean. 

Officials said on Friday they had recovered six bodies, bringing to 16 the total number retrieved.

The search operation now covers an area of 13,500 nautical square miles in the Java Sea, according to Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency.

Investigators still haven’t explained why the six-year-old plane crashed. They are working on a theory that Flight QZ8501 stalled as it climbed steeply to avoid a storm about 40 minutes into flight.

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