Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Light may finally shed on the cause of the New Year air crash in Indonesia of the Adam Air Boeing 737, after its black box was found; the airplane disappeared during its flight from Java to Sulawesi on January 1st. On board there were 102 people, whose bodies have never been found.
After 8 months yesterday’s discovery of airplane equipment may finally resolve the case. On August 27 an underwater robot scoured the seabed around Majene (Sulawesi Island), singling out a part of the black box containing recordings of the flight, while yesterday the piece containing the pilot’s final communication was also discovered.
The recovery efforts which cost Jakarta 3 million dollars were carried out by Phoenix International, from the US National Transportation Safety Board, and an Indonesian commission. Jusman Syafii Djamal, Indonesian Minister of Transportation said both tapes will be sent to Washington for analyses. In the immediate aftermath hypothesis regarding the accident abounded: from a terrorist attack to a technical malfunction. Just a few days after January 1st, a man identifying himself as an ex Adam Air employee, told Indonesian media months before many pilots had been fired because they refused to fly given the poor safety standards of the planes.