Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) will hand over the black box of an ATR 42-500 that crashed in South Sulawesi to national investigators, a key step toward determining the cause of the accident.
Basarnas Chief Air Marshal Mohammad Syafii said the recorder from the Indonesia Air Transport aircraft, registered PK-THT, would be submitted to the National Transportation Safety Committee, the authority responsible for accident investigations.
“The black box will be handed to the committee. The data is crucial to reconstruct the sequence of events and identify the cause of the crash,” Syafii said in Makassar on Thursday.
On the fifth day of operations on Wednesday, search teams recovered both black box units while combing the fuselage and tail section, despite steep terrain and rapidly changing weather conditions.
The devices, comprising the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, were transported from the site by regional military commander Maj. Gen. Bangun Nawoko as part of inter-agency coordination.
Syafii thanked joint search and rescue teams for finding the recorders in difficult conditions, praising their professionalism and dedication during operations in mountainous terrain.
He said Basarnas would immediately transfer the black box to investigators for analysis, underscoring that prompt examination is essential to clarify the circumstances surrounding the crash.
The handover marks a critical phase in the response to the accident and reflects coordination among military, rescue and civil authorities in carrying out a humanitarian mission, he added.
So far, two victims have been identified and released to their families: flight attendant Florencia Lolita Wibisono and civil servant Deden Maulana.
On Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. local time, rescuers had found body parts believed to belong to a third victim in the Bulusaraung mountain range, where the aircraft went down.
The victim’s gender could not yet be determined as only body fragments were recovered during the ongoing evacuation, he said, adding that most search operations have been conducted on steep cliffs and deep ravines beneath the mountain.
The aircraft, carrying 10 people from Yogyakarta to Makassar, crashed into Mount Bulusaraung on Jan. 17 after losing contact while approaching Hasanuddin Airport.
