Black Box from missing Indonesian plane may have been found

Friday, January 26, 2007

The United States military may have found the Black Boxes from a missing Indonesian jetliner that went missing on January 1, 2007.

Using ultrasonic pinger signals, the USNS Mary Sears located debris on the bottom of the ocean that match the signal that they are using to find the boxes.

"[We have] detected heavy debris scattered over a wide area," said the U.S. embassy in Indonesia in a statement. Other debris may also have been located at least 1,000 meters below the oceans surface.

"During the search of the projected crash site of Adam Air Flight 574, the Mary Sears, using a Towed Pinger Locator, detected pingers on the same frequency of the black box associated with the missing airplane," added the statement.

Despite the announcement, Indonesia's transport safety board denies receiving any reports that the boxes have been found.

"One thing is for sure, up until this second, I have not received any report from the (Indonesian) liaison officers who were onboard the ship," said Indonesian air force commander who is in charge of the ongoing search to find the plane, Eddy Suyanto.

The largest piece of the plane to be recovered so far, is the tail of the plane, which was discovered by a fisherman. Trays and seats have also been recovered, but so far none of the bodies of the passengers or crew have been found.

The plane, a Adam Air Boeing 737-400 went missing, in flight from Surabaya, on the island of Java, to Manado on the island Sulawesi. All 102 people on board the plane are believed to have been killed.

Just 1 day after the plane crashed, false reports that the wreckage was found on land and 12 survivors were found had began to circulate. The 12 people that were reported to have been survivors, turned out to be the remaining survivors of a ferry crash in the same area 4 days before the plane was reported missing.

The cause of the crash is still not known, and investigations are ongoing.

Sources

"Black box may have been found" — One News, January 26, 2007
"U.S. picks up missing jet signal" — CNN, January 25, 2007
"Indonesia jet 'black boxes' found" — BBC News, January 25, 2007
"Black boxes from airliner located" — The Australian, January 25, 2007

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