"We have yet to use the pinger locators because we firstly want to make sure whether the black box remains in the tail compartment," Chief of the Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) FH Bambang Soelistyo said.
In operating the pinger locators, the search area should also be freed from vessels, he said adding that Basarnas-led search mission on Day 12 was focused on finding the ill-fated aircrafts black box.
Soelistyo said if the black box remained in the compartment of the aircrafts tail, Basarnas should coordinate with the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for talks about the best way of lifting the recovered the debris.
"So the decision is the KNKTs authority. We just help and we have provided Crest Onyx vessel equipped with a crane," he said.
The tail of the AirAsia plane, which crashed with 162 people on board in the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, in its flight from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore on December 28, 2014, was found on Wednesday.
The tail was recovered by a number of Indonesian navy divers from the button of the Java Sea.
(Reported by Desi Purnamawati/Uu.R013/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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