Tangerang, Banten (ANTARA) - The National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) revealed on Monday that research vessel Baruna Jaya will assist the search operation to retrieve the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182.
Baruna Jaya is equipped with technology that can read ping signals from the two black boxes of the ill-fated commercial aircraft, the commission's head, Soerjanto Thahjono, notified journalists in Tangerang, Banten Province.
A team of divers had detected the ping signals of the black boxes of the Boeing 737-500 jet that crashed into the Thousand Islands waters not long after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday (January 9, 2021), he remarked.
The divers have worked ceaselessly to locate the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the aircraft that carried on board 50 passengers and 12 crew members for its Jakarta-Pontianak flight service, Thahjono remarked.
Combined efforts to locate the black boxes of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 at the earliest would be optimized owing to Baruna Jaya's assistance to ensure the location of the ping signals, he noted.
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Chief Air Marshal Bagus Puruhito had stated earlier that a joint team's success in capturing the black boxes' ping signals was part of an evacuation process.
"Divers have also conducted search operations to haul body parts and debris from the waters and to locate and retrieve the plane's black boxes," he stated.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan affirmed that the recent plane crash had become an impetus for the government to improve the domestic aircraft maintenance system.
"This is a tragedy. Hence, in my opinion, we will continue to improve the maintenance of our aircraft," the minister noted in his remarks at the online launch of the Proud of Indonesian Products movement on Monday.
Pandjaitan expressed condolences over the crash of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182. He also took the time to lead prayers for the victims during his remarks at the event.
The Transportation Ministry earlier confirmed that airport authorities had lost contact with Sriwijaya Air flight number SJ-182, serving the Jakarta-Pontianak route, at approximately 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday.
According to the ministry, the last contact was made with the Boeing 737-500 jet, bearing registration number PK CLC, at 11 nautical miles north of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after passing an altitude of 11 thousand feet and while rising to 13 thousand feet.
The plane took off from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 2:40 p.m. local time on Saturday and was scheduled to land at Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, at 3:50 p.m. local time.
Related news: Joint SAR team locates crash point of Sriwijaya Air plane
Related news: Air Force finds oil spills allegedly from the crashed Sriwijaya plane
EDITED BY INE
