Indonesia closes on the location of the condemned black box of Lion Air jet

JAKARTA: Indonesian investigators announced that they were heading to the black box of an airliner crashed after spotting its "pings" on Wednesday, two days after the crash that It was produced shortly after takeoff with 189 people on board.

The recovery of the black box will be essential to understand why the Boeing 737-MAX, one of the world's newest and most advanced commercial pbadenger aircraft, has stung lead into the sea of Java so soon after leaving Jakarta.

Authorities indicated that they thought they were getting closer to the main wreckage and have picked up signals from the box about 30-40 meters below the surface of the water off the coast North of Indonesia, where the plane crashed on Monday.

"We detected the signal from the black box," reporters Muhammad Syaugi, director of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters in Jakarta.

"We could see many personal effects of pbadengers – lifejackets, pants, clothing – under the water not only on the surface," he added, pointing out that the debris suggested the presence of the main fuselage near.

The black box contains flight data indicating the speed, altitude and direction of the aircraft, while the badpit voice recorder keeps track of conversations and other sounds in the badpit.

Dozens of divers were involved in the 1,000-man re-enlistment effort, as well as helicopters and ships, but the authorities virtually ruled out finding survivors.

This development comes as Boeing officials meet Lion Air on Wednesday, after Indonesia ordered the US 737-MAX jet aircraft inspection.

The Indonesian Minister of Transport, Budi Karya Sumadi, made the unusual decision to order the temporary removal of the technical director of Lion Air and several other staff members who authorized the flight, citing the authority from the government on the aviation sector.

He later pointed out that the measure was intended to release the technical director to help him investigate the collision.

Aviation experts say it's too early to determine the cause of the accident.

But Lion's confession that the aircraft had an unspecified technical problem on a previous flight – as well as the precipitated nose of the plane just 12 minutes after takeoff – raised questions as to whether there were any specific defects in the recently released model, including a malfunction of the system of speed and altitude.

"Basically, a lot of American carriers are flying the same plane," AFP Stephen Wright, an aviation expert at the University of Leeds, told AFP.

"Is there (a problem) that could affect other aircraft?"

The accident also resurfaced concerns about Indonesia's mixed aviation safety record, which led to the lifting of the ban on its planes entering the country. 39, American and European airspace.

Lion co-founder Rusdi Kirana, now Indonesia's ambbadador to Malaysia, said in an interview in 2015 that "my airline is the worst in the world, but you do not have the choice".

Founded in 1999, the budget carrier has benefited from the growth of the Indonesian aviation industry, but has been affected by security concerns and complaints about unreliable planning and poor service. .

Lion was involved in a number of incidents, including a fatal accident in 2004 and a collision between two Lion Air aircraft at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Indonesia's largest low-cost carrier announced this year that it was buying 50 Boeing-737 MAX 10s for $ 6.24 billion.

Boeing suspended the launch of the fuel – efficient 737 MAX just days before its first commercial delivery last year due to an engine problem.

But the single-aisle jet was later licensed for commercial delivery and received thousands of orders from more than 100 customers worldwide.

Distraught parents sifted clothes, wallets and other personal belongings recovered from the Jakarta wharf, while authorities sent body parts to the hospital for DNA testing.

"He was the best husband in the world," said 33-year-old Ningsi Ayorbaba, about her partner, Ferdinand Paul Ayorbaba, who was flying.

"We had planned to celebrate our 15th anniversary in April … Today, I bring DNA samples."

Early Wednesday, forensic badysts said they had made their first confirmed identification: a 24-year-old female chemical engineering graduate who had been described in an online blog as "energetic and highly motivated".

Among the objects torn from the water, there was a smartphone case with the image of a couple walking hand in hand on a bridge.

The story became viral online and the couple was later identified as Ine Yunita Savitri and her husband Wahjoe Noegrohantoro, who was in the stream dropped. Savitri was not in the plane.

On Tuesday, their daughter Samantha released the picture on her Instagram account with the words: "Dad, I love you every day".