The black box of the Lion Air plane that went down in the waters off Indonesia's West Java province on Monday was retrieved by a diver on Thursday, a senior official from the Transport Ministry disclosed.
"Based on an initial information, yes, it has been found," spokesman of the Transport Ministry Baitul Ihwan told Xinhua by phone when asked whether the black box has been retrieved.
Indonesian search and rescue personnel carry body victims from the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT610 at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, on October 30, 2018. /VCG Photo
The spokesman could not give a further details whether it was a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder of the almost new Boeing 737 Max 8 jet plane that crashed into the waters of Tanjung Karawang shortly after taking off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.
Rescuers and divers continued with their search mission on Thursday by focusing on the site where the sounds of ping locators, installed in both of the black boxes, were detected by the remote operating vehicle deployed underwater, according to the head of national search and rescue office, Muhammad Syaugi.
Rescuers collect debris from the crashed Lion Air plane at a Jakarta port, Indonesia, October 30, 2018. /VCG Photo
The search site is located in Tanjung Karawang waters off the province, about 400 m northwest of the coordinated position, where the aircraft last communicated with the air traffic controller.
The flight JT610 went down in waters off the West Java Sea on Monday morning, shortly after taking off from the capital en route to Pangkal Pinang.
A total of 189 people aboard are feared dead as search and rescue operations entered the fourth day, but there is still no sign of any survivors, the office said.
A rescue team member finds debris, possibly from a passenger of Lion Air flight JT610, at the north coast off Karawang, Indonesia, October 31, 2018. /VCG Photo
Over the past a few days,several body parts and possible wreckage from the plane have been discovered.
Following the crash, Lion Air sacked several officials including the director of maintenance and engineering and the quality control manager.