Divers Try to Find AirAsia Data Recorders | WPN World People News

Indonesian authorities are stepping up efforts to lift the tail structure of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed in the Java Sea on December 28.

Elite Indonesian military divers battled strong currents Thursday to search the wreckage for the voice and flight data recorders that could reveal why the plane crashed.

The tail section of the plane was located Wednesday on the sea bed about 30 kilometers from the plane's last known location at a depth of around 28-32 meters.

The voice and data recorders, which are located in the plane’s tail section, may offer essential information about the doomed flight.

AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar screens over the northern Java Sea, less than half-way into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore.

There were no survivors among the 162 people on board. Fewer than 40 bodies have been recovered so far.

Authorities hope most of the rest of the victims can be recovered from the four or more large pieces of wreckage believed to still be on the ocean floor.

Before takeoff and during the last moments of the flight, the pilots requested to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm. The request was not approved because other planes were in the area.

Source: Voice of America