Indonesia Retrieves 'Black Box' From Crashed Sriwijaya Airplane

Indonesia continues search for debris of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 | Reuters/STRINGER
Indonesia continues search for debris of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 | Reuters/STRINGER
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Indonesia Retrieves 'Black Box' From Crashed Sriwijaya Airplane

Indonesia continues search for debris of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 | Reuters/STRINGER
Indonesia continues search for debris of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 | Reuters/STRINGER

Indonesian authorities have retrieved one of the black boxes from a Sriwijaya Airplane that crashed into the Java Sea at the weekend, a navy spokesman said on Tuesday. The recording device was being transported to Jakarta's port, spokesman Fajar Tri Rohadi told Reuters.

Local television footage had earlier showed a white plastic box holding the device aboard a speed boat.

It was not immediately clear if it was the plane's flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that had been recovered.

Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and other officials were due to hold a news conference later on Tuesday.

The Boeing 737-500 plane with 62 people on board plunged into the Java Sea on Saturday, four minutes after taking off from Jakarta's main airport.

Earlier on Tuesday, more human remains were found at the crash site, as well as personal effects such as wallets containing identification cards.

The plane was headed on a domestic flight to Pontianak on Borneo island, about 740 km (460 miles) from Jakarta, before it disappeared from radar screens.

It was the second major air crash in Indonesia since 189 passengers and crew were killed in 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX also plunged into the Java Sea soon after taking off from Jakarta.

The jet that crashed on Saturday is a largely different design.

Once the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are recovered, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has said it expects to be able to read the information in three days.

With few immediate clues on what caused a catastrophic loss of control after take-off, investigators will rely heavily on the flight recorders to determine what went wrong.

The Sriwijaya Airplane was nearly 27 years old, much older than Boeing's problem-plagued 737 MAX model. Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the stall-prevention system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.



South Korean Delegation to Brief NATO on North Korean Troops for Russia, Alliance Says

A man walks past a newspaper displayed on a street for the public in Seoul on October 21, 2024, with coverage on North Korea's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine's front lines and a photo (C) of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin toasting at a banquet in Pyongyang earlier this year. (AFP)
A man walks past a newspaper displayed on a street for the public in Seoul on October 21, 2024, with coverage on North Korea's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine's front lines and a photo (C) of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin toasting at a banquet in Pyongyang earlier this year. (AFP)
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South Korean Delegation to Brief NATO on North Korean Troops for Russia, Alliance Says

A man walks past a newspaper displayed on a street for the public in Seoul on October 21, 2024, with coverage on North Korea's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine's front lines and a photo (C) of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin toasting at a banquet in Pyongyang earlier this year. (AFP)
A man walks past a newspaper displayed on a street for the public in Seoul on October 21, 2024, with coverage on North Korea's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine's front lines and a photo (C) of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin toasting at a banquet in Pyongyang earlier this year. (AFP)

A high-level delegation from South Korea will brief the North Atlantic Council about North Korea's troop deployment to Russia on Monday, NATO said on Sunday, after the US expressed grave concern over the possible use of the troops against Ukraine.

"Ambassadors from NATO's Indo-Pacific partners – including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea – have been invited to attend," the military alliance added. The North Atlantic Council is NATO's main decision-making body.

Ukrainian military intelligence said on Thursday that about 12,000 North Korean troops, including 500 officers and three generals, were already in Russia, and training was taking place on five military bases.

Speaking on the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not deny that North Korean troops were in Russia. But he said it was Moscow's business how to implement a treaty with Pyongyang that includes a mutual defense clause to aid each other against external aggression.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.