Divers Hunt for AirAsia Black Box after Finding Part of Jet Tail in Ocean

January 7, 2015

Divers looking for the crashed AirAsia Bhd. jetliner found part of the plane´s tail, putting them a step closer to locating the black boxes that may explain the accident.

The search since yesterday is focusing on finding objects under water as the number of bodies being found is dropping, F.H. Bambang Sulistyo, the head of Indonesia´s search and rescue agency, told reporters in Jakarta today.

“The weather and the sea is supporting us, so we sent in divers,” Sulistyo said after rains, high waves and mud in the ocean had slowed progress through much of the 11-day hunt.

“The tail was detected by side-scan sonar.” The divers are now focusing on finding the plane´s cockpit voice recorder and its flight-data recorder, which are both located on the tail of the aircraft that disappeared Dec. 28 with 162 people on board.

More than 90 vessels and aircraft have been involved in the search operation, which has so far found 40 bodies and objects that appear to be parts of the fuselage and an evacuation slide.

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