SilkAir plane's black box found

JAKARTA (JP): Investigators found yesterday the flight data recorder, or black box, of the ill-fated SilkAir airplane which plunged into the Musi river last week with 104 people on board.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said in Palembang, South Sumatra, that divers had discovered the flight data recorder at the bottom of the Musi river near the crash site.

However the flight data recorder is only one of two important instruments, referred to as black boxes, that are located at the rear end of the airplane to log the aircraft's flight history. The cockpit voice recorder still remains elusive.

SilkAir flight MI-185 crashed into the estuary of the Musi River near Sungsang village, about 70 kilometers north of Palembang, on Dec. 19, midway through its flight from Jakarta to Singapore.

The Singaporean airlines' Boeing 737-300 was carrying 104 passengers and crew. All are feared dead.

The cause of the crash is still unknown but witnesses claim the plane exploded midair before it plunged into the river.

A week of intensive diving in the Musi's muddy waters has proved frustrating as search teams have only recovered small fragments of the wreckage. No intact human remains have been found nor has the main fuselage.

Yesterday's discovery of the flight data recorder was the first major find in a week of searching by Indonesian and Singaporean divers.

Haryanto said the flight data recorder would be taken to the National Transport Safety Board in Washington by Oetarjo Diran, chairman of Indonesia's aircraft accident investigation commission.

It will be taken there by Sunday (today) at the latest, Haryanto said as quoted by Antara.

Diran yesterday expressed hope that the flight data recorder would help shed some light on the cause of the tragic crash.

But he admitted that if the cockpit voice recorder was not found soon the investigation could be hampered.

"The investigations can begin with just one black box but sometimes we need two to make sure (of the findings)," Diran remarked.

He would not say how long the investigation would take, only that it would be a long and tedious process. (09)