JAKARTA, Jan 11 (AFP): Indonesian divers Sunday found the black box of the AirAsia plane which crashed in the Java Sea a fortnight ago with 162 people aboard, the transport ministry said. But they failed to retrieve it because it was stuck under debris from the main body of the plane, it added.
"The navy divers in Jadayat state boat have succeeded in finding a very important instrument, the black box of AirAsia QZ8501," said Tonny Budiono, a senior ministry official.
Strong ping signals were being picked up by three vessels involved in the search in the Java Sea, S.B Supriyadi, a director with the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters.
Those signals are coming from the seabed less than one kilometre (0.6 miles) from where the tail of the plane was found, Malaysian Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said in a post on Twitter. Malaysia's Navy is helping in the search.
But Supriyadi said powerful currents had again frustrated military divers in their search and they had to call off their efforts before sunset without reaching the origin of the signals, about 30 metres (100 feet) underwater.
"We sent divers to three spots, and they went down twice, but there is no result. They couldn't find anything. The undercurrent was very strong," Supriyadi said.
Divers find black box of crashed AirAsia jet
FE Team | Published: January 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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