Operations chief Bambang Soelistyo was cited by several news agencies as saying early Monday that a black box was retrieved at 07:11 a.m. (00:11 GMT).
Flight data recorder arrived at the airbase in Pangkalan Bun #AirAsia #QZ8501 pic.twitter.com/qF1ubeyH7E
— Haneef Puttur (@haneef_puttur) 12 января 2015
BREAKING: First look at the #QZ8501 black box, now at Pangkalan Bun pic.twitter.com/L7T03DR8dJ | @ChannelNewsAsia #AirAsia
— Inquirer Group (@inquirerdotnet) 12 января 2015
AirAsia's Airbus A320-200 was heading to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia, when it crashed into the sea on December 28. It carried 155 passengers and seven crew members, all of whom died.
Strong signals detected from #AirAsia flight #QZ8501 black boxes http://t.co/aUTV7XuwW0 pic.twitter.com/aTwcf56wG8
— RT (@RT_com) January 11, 2015
The finding is one of the jet's two "black boxes" that can provide clues on the reasons behind the crash. It was originally located in the plane's tail. The other black box, a cockpit voice recorder is still missing, according to Soelistyo.
A multinational team of search experts, including more than 70 Russian rescuers, have been looking for the plane's wreckage since the jet vanished off radars. A total of 48 bodies have been recovered from the sea so far.
