Indonesia recovers black box from crashed plane in Papua

A handout picture released by Indonesian Cendrawasih Military Command on 18 August 2015 shows a soldier holding the flight recorder, or black box, near the crashed ATR 42-300 aircraft operated by Trigana Air Service, near Oksibil, Papua, Indonesia.[Photo/IC]

SENTANI, Indonesia - Indonesian authorities announced Tuesday that it has recovered bodies and black box of the crashed ATR 42-300 Trigana Air Services' plane in easternmost province of Papua.

"By 11.30 a.m. local time, the team found all 54 victims from the crashed plane," Indonesia's Head of Indonesia National Search and Rescue (Basarnas) Henry Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference here in the plane crash search and evacuation center set up in Sentani air forces base here on Tuesday afternoon.

He added that the team eventually reported the finding of the plane's black box on 12.30 p.m. local time.

The ATR 42-300 passenger plane, operated by Trigana Air, lost communication with the control tower at 14:55 local time Sunday and hit Mount Tangok in Bintang district of Papua, according to Barata.

He said the black box would officially be handed over to the head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) on Wednesday.

Bambang added that bodies from the crash would be transported to Oksibil which would later on to be transferred to Sentani air forces base through the air.

The transportation of the bodies has been hampered by unfavorable weather conditions, according to rescuers.

"I would coordinate with the KNKT about the need to bring the wreckage from the crash site for further investigation," Bambang told Xinhua on the sidelines of the press conference.

Police have prepared Bhayangkara hospital in Papua capital city of Jayapura to store the bodies for further identification process carried out by the their Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team.

"The government conveyed deepest condolence for families of passengers and crews as all of them were found dead," said Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan.

Families of the victims were told to register to DVI stations and give information about the victims so as to speed up the identification process. As of now families of 42 victims from the total 54 killed in the air crash have reported to the DVI.