Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) says that searchers have detected pings consistent with the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the crashed Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501.
The recorders are believed to be located in or near the Airbus A320 aircraft's tail section, which was found 30km from the aircraft’s last known co-ordinates.
Basarnas warns that recovering the flight recorders and tail will take time, with silt greatly reducing visibility near the tail. It is not clear if the recorders are still within the tail section, or broke free when the aircraft's fuselage came apart.
“Depending on weather conditions, the tail will be lifted using either a crane with a maximum capacity of 70t belonging to a ship, or by using floating balloons,” adds the head of Basarnas, Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo in a statement.
Flight QZ8501, which crashed on 28 December while flying from Surabaya to Singapore, claimed the lives of all 155 passengers and seven crew members on board.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
