Device to find crashed black box in damaged plane Indonesia | NOW

Equipment in Indonesia to determine the precise location of the black boxes from the crashed Sriwijaya Air plane was damaged, writes BBC News Tuesday morning. It is not clear if the search will be delayed, a new locator says ping is on its way from Singapore.

Authorities reported over the weekend that the location of the black boxes is “very likely”, but the amount of debris makes it difficult to perform the scans. A ping locator could pinpoint where the black boxes are even more precisely because the equipment can receive certain signals from the black box.

The divers have also reportedly spotted the black boxes. Discovery is an important step after a plane crash. The equipment keeps track of the latest flight data and communication between pilots can be replayed.

On Saturday, a Boeing 737-500 disappeared from radar four minutes after takeoff. The plane was en route from Jakarta to Pontianak, which is about 700 kilometers away. Fragments of the plane with 62 passengers were found off Java.

So far, the cause of the plane crash is unclear. The Flightradar website reports that the plane lost 3,300 meters in altitude in less than a minute.

First victim identified

Emergency services also removed many body parts from the water, “about 40 full bags,” authorities said. On Monday, a first victim of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 was identified. He is a 29-year-old flight attendant.

According to Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono, there is still a lot of debris to clean up. “We were only able to remove a few pieces,” said Margono. More than 3,600 rescuers and fifty ships are said to have been deployed.