The recorder was found Wednesday by Army soldiers assigned to a joint search and rescue team after five days of operations on Mount Bulusaraung.
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Donny Pramono said the discovery followed intensive sweeps by Battalion 700 troops, a rapid response unit from state-owned cement producer Tonasa, and the national search agency Basarnas.
He said the black box consisted of two orange units located near the aircraft’s tail section at the crash site.
The devices have been secured and will be handed to the National Transportation Safety Committee for further investigation.
Pramono said the recovery represented significant progress in efforts to determine the cause of the ATR 42-500 crash.
However, he stressed that field operations by army personnel have not been halted.
Joint SAR teams are continuing searches and victim evacuations while prioritizing the safety of all personnel, Pramono said.
Separately, rescuers found human remains believed to belong to a third victim near the crash site. The remains were discovered on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. local time.
Basarnas chief Air Marshal Mohammad Syafii said the victim’s gender could not yet be determined as only partial remains were recovered.
Syafii said most search operations have been conducted along steep cliffs and deep ravines beneath the mountain.
He added that detailed information would be released once teams completed data collection from the field.
Asked about the victim’s condition, Syafii said the remains were still being evacuated from the crash area.
He said teams hoped to move the remains to Lampeso hamlet in Maros district, considered the fastest evacuation point.
To speed operations, air transport is being prioritized to evacuate victims and retrieve aircraft debris from inaccessible terrain.
Syafii said aircraft were on standby to assist evacuations and transport recoverable wreckage by air when possible.
Human remains were found near search sectors one and four, while teams continued combing sectors two and three.
He said searches were taking place in ravines estimated to be about 1,000 meters deep on Mount Bulusaraung.
Earlier, joint SAR teams recovered the remains of two other victims during the operation.
The first victim, a man found Sunday, has not yet been identified by police forensic teams. The second victim, found Monday, was identified as Florencia Lolita Wibisono, a flight attendant.
The Indonesia Air Transport aircraft, registered PK-THT, was carrying 10 people when it crashed on January 17.
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Translator: Walda M, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Anton Santoso
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