Sriwijaya Air crash: Indonesia divers search wreckage as black box hunt resumes

The Indonesian navy has released footage of divers searching through the wreckage of a passenger plane which crashed into the sea at the weekend as the hunt for its black boxes resumes.

Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 left Jakarta with 62 people on board, but vanished from the radar on its way to Borneo island on Saturday.

Search teams have already found aircraft parts and human remains.

The plane’s black boxes, which have been located, are yet to be recovered.

One official stressed the urgency of the search mission, which resumed on Monday morning, calling it a “24-hour” operation.

“It’s going to be an around-the-clock operation,” Rasman MS, head of the search and rescue agency’s crash operations told reporters.

“There will be no breaks. The sooner we can find the victims, the better.”

According to news wire AFP, some 2,600 personnel are currently involved in the search operation along with dozens of boats and helicopters, which are hauling body parts, wreckage and passengers clothing from waters about 23 metres (75ft) deep.

There are also more than 50 ships involved in the search for the wreckage of flight SJ182, along with 13 aircraft.

There appears to be no hope of finding any survivors.

An investigator with Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) told news agency Reuters that authorities hoped to find the black boxes on Monday.

He added that it was possible that the plane broke apart when it hit water, based on debris found so far.

“It possibly ruptured when it hit waters because if it had exploded mid-air, the debris would be distributed more widely,” said Nurcahyo Utomo.

Investigators are already analysing items which they believe to be a wheel and part of the plane’s fuselage. A turbine from one of its engines is also among the debris that has been recovered.

 

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