Probe into crash to continue

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Authorities investigating the Dec. 19 SilkAir plane crash here have been experiencing difficulties in reconstructing fragments of the aircraft, according to an expert.

Oetarjo Diran, who heads the Indonesian investigation team, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday the difficulty was because the recovered parts were too small.

Both the black box flight data recorder found December 27 and the cockpit voice recorder found January 4 were being studied by the investigation team at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States.

Oetarjo said he could not yet make an announcement concerning the cause of the plane crash because the investigation team was still analyzing the results of its investigation it had conducted so far.

All 104 people on board the Boeing 747-300 aircraft were killed in the accident. A mass burial was held for the victims Monday in Kebun Bunga district. (swe)