Marine still search for crashed plane's cockpit voice recorder<\/p>\n
Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Klaten, Central Java<\/p>\n
A team of divers from the Marine Corps began removing on Saturday
\nparts of the Garuda Boeing-737 airplane, which crash-landed in
\nbad weather in Klaten, Central Java, on Wednesday, but they have
\nyet to recover the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).<\/p>\n
The cockpit voice recorder is much needed to know the
\nconversation between pilot and copilot and the communications
\nbetween the pilot and nearby Tower before crash-landing on
\nBengawan Solo River so that the investigating team will be able
\nto make an analysis on the causes of the incident.<\/p>\n
A team of 11 divers, led by Capt. Achmad Himawan, was
\nsearching for the VCR believed to be inside the plane's part
\ninundated by the river water but it was not found until the
\nevacuation work was halted on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
The divers, however, faced difficulties due to the heavy
\ndownpour and strong river currents. The depth of the river was
\nabout five meters, but the visibility was only about half a meter
\ndue to the murky water, Achmad said.<\/p>\n
He said that his team would expand the search to a radius of
\n100 meters from the site where the plane had first crash-landed.<\/p>\n
\"The tail of the plane hit a huge rock on the bottom of the
\nriver during the emergency landing, so the CVR is probably
\nsomewhere in that location. It's hard to predict since we can
\nonly use our instincts ... we're groping around in the muddy
\nriver.\" the officer said.<\/p>\n
The joint team from the state National Commission on
\nTransportation Accidents is reportedly awaiting a detecting
\ndevice from Singapore to help recover the CVR.<\/p>\n
\"Our priority is to locate the CVR ... because it is vital to
\nthe whole investigation. What really happened can be determined
\nfrom that,\" Dr. Soerjanto Tjahjono of the Commission said.<\/p>\n
At around 4 p.m. on Saturday, Siti Fatonah, the mother of a
\nstewardess Sinta Anggraini who was killed in the crash, visited
\nthe site of the incident and entered the plane. Soon after she
\nfainted and had to be carried outside the plane.<\/p>\n
As of Saturday evening, however, thousands of onlookers packed
\nthe Bengawan Solo river to watch events unfold around the plane.<\/p>\n
Heavy traffic congestion occurred about 2 kilometers away from
\nthe site in Jumiring, Klaten regency.<\/p>\n
Officials have not as yet determined why the plane crashed,
\nbut preliminary investigations indicate that engine failure may
\nhave been the cause.<\/p>\n
Wednesday's crash-landing was the second accident in two days
\ninvolving an Indonesian-operated Boeing 737. On Monday, several
\npeople were slightly injured when a 737 operated by Lion Airlines
\ncrash-landed immediately after takeoff from Pekanbaru on Sumatra
\nisland.<\/p>\n
In September 1997, 234 people were killed when a Garuda plane
\ncrashed onto a village near Medan in North Sumatra due to poor
\nvisibility resulting from thick smoke from forest fires.<\/p>",
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