The ill-fated Trigana Air`s black box was found at 1:40 p.m."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The black box of a Trigana Air aircraft that went missing and later reportedly crashed into Bintang Mount, Papua, on Sunday, has been found, according to an official from the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation.
"The ill-fated Trigana Airs black box was found at 1:40 p.m. local time," the Ministrys spokesperson, J.A. Barata, stated here on Tuesday.
The black box is now being transported by the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) to be submitted immediately for investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC).
The agencys chief, Henry Bambang Soelistyo, remarked that the aircraft was found in Bintang Mountain, or about seven nautical miles from Oksibil airport.
The exact location where the black box was found is 4 degrees 49 minutes 289 seconds south, 140 degrees 29 minutes 953 seconds east.
"Last night, the ground team spent the night at an altitude of one thousand meters (one kilometer) and took them at least an hour to reach the crash site. Yesterdays delivered coordinates were convincingly 100 percent true," Bambang emphasized.
Bambang noted that two officers were deployed at the target location by using an Airfast helicopter to set up a helipad.
Besides this, two Indonesian military personnel (Paskhas) had reached the target location at 5 a.m. local time.
"We need cooling equipment," Bambang affirmed.
It was earlier reported that a Trigana Air aircraft carrying 49 passengers that departed from Jayapura to Oksibil went missing on Sunday afternoon, after it took off from Sentani Airport in Jayapura at 2:22 p.m. local time and was expected to arrive at Oksibil at 3:04 p.m. local time.
The plane made its last contact with the Oksibil tower at 2:55 p.m. local time.
At 3 p.m. local time, Oksibil Airport Tower tried to establish contact with the aircraft, but there was no answer.
Besides the 49 passengers, the five male crew members aboard the aircraft were Pilot Captain Hasanuddin, Flight Officer Ariadin F, Flight Attendant Dita A, Ika N, and Engineer Mario.
(Uu.A050/IME/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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