Lion Air crash: Search for cockpit voice recorder resumes

A ship equipped with sophisticated technology resumed search for the cockpit voice recorder and the remains of victims who were aboard a Lion Air plane that crashed last month in Indonesia, officials said here on Thursday.

At least 189 people, including the flight's Indian captain, Bhavye Suneja, were killed when the 737 Max 8 aircraft crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta on October 29.

Divers had earlier retrieved the flight data recorder of the plane from the sea floor of Tanjung Karawang water off West Java province.

The recovery of the missing cockpit voice recorder is essential for determining what caused the crash, said investigators from Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee.

An MPV Everest ship operated by a Dutch firm, hired by Lion Air, kicked off the search on Thursday morning, said Haryo Satmiko, Deputy Chairman of the Committee.

"The MPV Everest arrived at the crash site on Wednesday night and resumed search this morning," he said.

The mission is undertaken round the clock and will continue for 10 days. If the mission fails in finding the cockpit voice recorder, a further evaluation will be carried out, Satmiko added.

The fuselage of the aircraft and the remains of 64 victims which have not been recovered would also be the targets of the mission.

The resumption was financed by Lion Air which has spent a 38 billion rupiah ($2.6 million) to pay the Dutch company following the request of the family members to continue search for the remains of their loved ones.

The preliminary report of the crash gleaned data from the flight data recorder unveiled that the pilots struggled to control the flight's anti-stalling system just before the plane plunged into the water.

--IANS

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