Recovery process ongoing despite Sukhoi's black box discovery: Official

An official says that the recovery of the remains of the Russian-made aircraft’s victims from the crash site on the foothills of Mt. Salak in Bogor, West Java will continue despite the fact that the plane’s flight-data recorder has been found.

Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) for Jakarta, I Ketut Parwa, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that the search of the victims’ remains would go on, even though the plane’s black box had been discovered.

“We will continue to focus our search for the victims’ remains until the Basarnas chief [Air Vice Marshal Daryatmo] orders us to stop,” he said late on Tuesday, adding that the evacuation process so far “was 80 percent complete.”

Earlier, members of joint team between the Army Special Force (Kopassus) and Indonesia Rock Climbing Federation discovered the black box near the plane’s rear section at around 10 p.m on Tuesday.

The Russian-made aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100, with 45 people onboard, crashed into Mt. Salak in Cidahu, Sukabumi in West Java.

As of Tuesday, a total of 31 body bags containing the remains of the ill-fated Russian-made airplane Sukhoi Superjet 100 have been recovered from the crash site.

Meanwhile, a total of 22 fingerprints of the airliner’s victims have already been identified by the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit. (asa)