Divers reported seeing the fuselage and engines of Lion Air flight JT610 on the seafloor and a ping locator had detected a signal that might be from the cockpit voice recorder, Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency officials said yesterday.
“Two engines and more landing gear have been found,” agency head Muhammad Syaugi said.
“I haven’t seen it myself, but I got information from some divers that they have seen the fuselage,” Syaugi said.
Photo: Reuters
The brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet on Monday plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people onboard.
The plane nosed downward so abruptly that it might have reached speeds of 965kph or more before slamming into the sea, according to three experts who made calculations based on preliminary flight-tracking data.
It dived with little or no turns and its nose was pointed about 45 degrees below the horizon shortly before impact, an unusually steep dive for an airliner, according to the analysis of data provided by flight-tracking company FlightRadar24.
Syaugi said that a “low ping signal” was detected that could be the black box voice recorder.
“We have made major breakthroughs, as we have recovered two turbines, one wheel,” Syaugi said. “There are reports of team members seeing the body of the plane.”
However, diver Syachrul Anto, 48, who was volunteering in the search operations, died on Friday.
“He was a volunteer with the Search and Rescue Agency,” Isswarto, commander of the Indonesian Navy’s search and rescue division, told reporters.
It is believed he died from decompression, Isswarto said.
Anto had previously served in Palu after it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami in September and also took part in the evacuation process of an Air Asia plane crash nearly four years ago.
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