Kompas TV journalist Iryanda Mardanuz said the black box had been placed in a white plastic container when it was brought to the surface after it had been located by a Navy diver.

The search team used a ping detector to detect signals from the black box, which is actually orange, as well as a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) that shows visual pictures of conditions under water.

The black box is crucial to answering why a brand new plane could crash in clear weather.

Earlier reports of the fuselage being found, meanwhile, have proven to be false.

Basarnas confirmed on Wednesday evening that a 20-meter-long object that had been located had turned out to be a shipwreck.

 “There are [signs] in several positions but none of them is the fuselage,” Basarnas operation deputy Nugroho Budi Wiryanto said Wednesday evening.

The Lion Air plane crashed on Monday morning while flying to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Islands, from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. The flight JT610 was carrying 189 people, comprising 181 passengers, two pilots and six crew members.

The authorities have retrieved body parts in dozens of body bags. Basarnas does not expect to find any survivors.

Nugroho said the search teams expected to find only more bodies. “Maybe tomorrow [Thursday] the [dead] bodies will be floating,” Nugroho said. (foy)