In the cold, shallow waters of the Java Sea, a search that began with a lost aircraft has slowly narrowed toward its most important clue. Divers have recovered the casing, beacon and batteries of the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that went down with 62 people aboard, and the memory unit that holds the final cockpit sounds is still somewhere nearby. Investigators already hold the flight data recorder and are learning what its 330 parameters reveal, while families on land give DNA samples and wait for names to be matched to remains. It is the familiar human work of trying to un
Divers Recover Parts of Cockpit Voice Recorder as Search Widens for Sriwijaya Air Crash Victims
All 62 people on board the crashed Sriwijaya Air jet are presumed dead or missing, with families giving DNA samples to identify victims; 12 had been identified as of Thursday.
Divers have the casing and beacon, but not the memory unit
Mark
Why does finding the casing and batteries matter if the memory unit is still missing?
Mimi
Because it tells the divers where to look. They found those parts, and Rasyid said he hopes the memory unit is not far from them. It narrows the search area.
Mark
And the flight data recorder is already in hand?
Mimi
Yes, recovered earlier this week. Investigators downloaded it, and Tjahjono said all 330 parameters are in good condition.
Luke
Good condition of the data is not the same as an explanation. Do we know what it shows?
Mimi
No. The source says only that they are studying it now. Nothing about the cause has been reported.
Mark
The scale of the search is large, though.
Mimi
More than 4,000 personnel, 14 planes, 62 ships and 21 inflatable boats, using an underwater metal detector and a remotely operated vehicle.
Luke
And Rasyid's hope that the memory unit is nearby is just that, a hope. Nobody has said it will be found.
Mark
What about the families?
Mimi
They are giving DNA samples. By Thursday, 12 of the 62 victims were identified, including a flight attendant and an off-duty pilot.
Luke
That figure is from the police spokesperson, Rusdi Hartono, as of Thursday. It may have moved since.
O Pulso
- Divers have pulled up the voice recorder's casing, beacon and batteries, but the memory unit holding the cockpit audio is still missing.
- More than 4,000 personnel, 14 planes, 62 ships and 21 inflatable boats are converging on the search zone, with underwater metal detectors and remotely operated vehicles combing the seabed.
- Investigators are working through the flight data recorder, which holds 330 parameters in good condition, to piece together what happened.
- Only 12 of the 62 victims had been identified by Thursday, leaving 50 families still waiting as DNA matching proceeds.
In the cold, shallow waters of the Java Sea, a search that began with a lost aircraft has slowly narrowed toward its most important clue. Divers have recovered the casing, beacon and batteries of the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that went down with 62 people aboard, and the memory unit that holds the final cockpit sounds is still somewhere nearby. Investigators already hold the flight data recorder and are learning what its 330 parameters reveal, while families on land give DNA samples and wait for names to be matched to remains. It is the familiar human work of trying to understand a sudden loss: recovering fragments, listening for voices that can no longer speak, and holding onto the hope of answers.
On Friday, divers in the Java Sea brought up pieces of the cockpit voice recorder from the Sriwijaya Air jet that went down the previous weekend with 62 people on board. They had found the casing, the locator beacon and the batteries. The memory unit, the part that holds the cockpit audio, had not yet been found. Abdul Rasyid, commander of the navy's First Fleet Command, said he hoped it would be close to where the other parts lay, and the discovery of those pieces has helped divers narrow the area they are searching.
The search in the water has grown. National Search and Rescue Agency coordinator Rasman said the aerial search was expanding as more personnel arrived, with more than 4,000 people now involved, backed by 14 planes, 62 ships and 21 inflatable boats. Teams are using an underwater metal detector and a remotely operated vehicle to look for human remains, the voice recorder and more wreckage.
Investigators already have the flight data recorder, recovered earlier in the week. National Transportation Safety Committee chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said it holds 330 parameters, all in good condition, and his team is now working through them. The voice recorder would complete the picture, though what the data shows so far has not been made public.
On land, families have been giving DNA samples so remains can be matched to the people they loved. National Police spokesperson Rusdi Hartono said that as of Thursday, 12 of the 62 victims had been identified, including a flight attendant and an off-duty pilot. For the other 50, the wait continues.
On Friday, divers working in the Java Sea brought up pieces of the cockpit voice recorder from the Sriwijaya Air jet that went down the previous weekend with 62 people on board. They had found the recorder's casing, its locator beacon and its batteries. The part that matters most, the memory unit that holds the cockpit audio, had not yet been located.
Abdul Rasyid, commander of the navy's First Fleet Command, described where things stood. The team had the casing, the beacon and the batteries, he said, and still needed to find the memory unit. He said he hoped it would turn out to be not far from them. The discovery of the other parts has let divers narrow the area they are searching.
The effort in the water has grown. National Search and Rescue Agency mission coordinator Rasman, who goes by one name, said the aerial search was being expanded as more personnel joined. More than 4,000 search and rescue personnel are now involved, supported by 14 planes, 62 ships and 21 inflatable boats. Teams are using an underwater metal detector and a remotely operated vehicle. They are looking for human remains, the voice recorder and further wreckage.
Investigators already have one of the two recorders. The flight data recorder was recovered earlier in the week, and its information has been downloaded. Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee, said it contains 330 parameters and that everything on it is in good condition. His team, he said, is now learning what it holds. The voice recorder would add the other half of the picture, but the reporting does not say what the flight data shows or what caused the crash.
On land, the work of identifying the dead continues. Families of those aboard have been giving DNA samples to help match remains to individuals. National Police spokesperson Rusdi Hartono said that as of Thursday, 12 of the 62 victims had been identified. They included a flight attendant and an off-duty pilot.
So the picture on Friday was of progress on two fronts and open questions on both. Divers are closing in on the voice recorder's memory unit, and investigators are working through the flight data. Meanwhile, 50 of the 62 people on board had not yet been identified, and families were still waiting. The next things to watch are whether divers find the memory unit near the pieces already recovered, and what the investigators' analysis of the data shows.
Citações Notáveis
We have found the casing, the beacon and the CVR batteries. We need to search for the memory unit.— Abdul Rasyid, commander of the navy's First Fleet Command
There are 330 parameters and everything is in good condition. We are learning about it now.— Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee
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