Indonesian navy divers searching the ocean floor on Tuesday recovered the flight data recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board.
The device is expected to help investigators determine what caused the Boeing 737-500 plane to nosedive into the ocean in heavy rain shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday.
TV stations showed divers on an inflatable vessel with a large white container carrying the device heading to a Jakarta port.
Members of National Transportation Safety Committee carry a box containing the flight data recorder of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 retrieved from the Java Sea where the passenger jet crashed during a press conference at Tanjung Priok Port, Tuesday, January 12, 2021. (AP)
READ MORE: Pregnant mum, family of five among victims of Sriwijaya Air crash
Military chief Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said the plane's other "black box", the cockpit voice recorder, was likely to be found soon because its beacon was being emitted in the same area.
The devices were buried in seabed mud under tons of sharp objects in the plane's wreckage, navy Chief Admiral Yudo Margono said.
He said at least 160 divers were deployed on Tuesday in the search.
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Pregnant mum, family of five among victims of Sriwijaya Air crash
Pregnant mum, family of five among victims of Sriwijaya Air crash
Missing flight SJ182: Indonesian divers find parts of plane wreckage in Java Sea
Missing flight SJ182: Indonesian divers find parts of plane wreckage in Java Sea
Body parts, clothes pulled from sea in search for missing Sriwijaya Air flight which took off from Jakarta
Body parts, clothes pulled from sea in search for missing Sriwijaya Air flight which took off from Jakarta
More than 3600 rescue personnel, 13 helicopters, 54 large ships and 20 small boats are searching the area just north of Jakarta where Flight 182 crashed and have found parts of the plane and human remains in the water at a depth of 23 meters.
Indonesian Navy divers position their rubber boat near marker buoys cas the search for the wreckage of the crashed Sriwijaya Air passenger jet continues in the Java Sea, near Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP)
An Indonesian Navy aircraft flies past by as the search for the wreckage of the crashed Sriwijaya Air passenger jet continues in this aerial photo taken over the Java Sea. (AP)
So far, the searchers have sent 74 body bags containing human remains to police identification experts who on Monday said they had identified their first victim, 29-year-old flight attendant Okky Bisma.
His wife, Aldha Refa, who is also a flight attendant for Sriwijaya Air, shared her grief in a series of posts on social media.
"My husband is a loving, devout and super kind man," she wrote on Instagram.
"Heaven is your place, dear ... be peaceful there."
Anguished family members have been providing samples for DNA tests, and the National Police disaster victim identification unit said it has identified three more victims, including the co-pilot.
Habib Sy Rafik al Idrus shows a picture of his wife Panca Widia Nursanti, one of passengers of a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea. (AP)
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee said the US National Transportation Safety Board will join in investigating the crash.
The NTSC chairman, Soerjanto Tjahjono, ruled out a possible midair breakup after seeing the condition of the wreckage found by searchers.
He said the jet was intact until it struck the water, concentrating the debris field, rather than spreading it out over a large area as would be seen with a midair event.
Mr Tjahjono said the plane had continued to send altitude data until it descended to75 metres above the water's surface.
An investigator of National Transportation Safety Committee inspects parts of aircrafts debris recovered from the Java Sea where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet crashed. (AP)
The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia's aviation industry, which grew fast after the economy was opened following the fall of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s.
The US had banned Indonesian carriers from operating in the country in 2007, lifting the action in 2016, citing improvements in compliance with international aviation standards.
The European Union lifted a similar ban in 2018.
In the past year, Indonesian aviation was affected significantly by the coronavirus pandemic that caused travel restrictions and a slump in demand among travellers.
Sriwijaya Air has had only minor safety incidents in the past, though a farmer was killed in 2008 when a plane went off the runway while landing due to a hydraulic issue.
In 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet operated by Lion Air crashed, killing 189 people.
An automated flight-control system played a role in that crash, but the Sriwijaya Air jet did not have that system on board.