Flight data recorder retrieved from crashed AirAsia jet

JAKARTA - Agence France-Presse

People watch as a section of the tail of AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane is lifted off a ship and onto the back of a truck, the day after it was lifted from the seabed, in Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun. REUTERS Photo

The flight data recorder was retrieved Jan. 12 from the AirAsia plane that crashed in the Java Sea a fortnight ago with 162 people on board, Indonesia's national search and rescue chief said.

"I received information from the National Transport Safety Committee chief that at 07:11 am, we succeeded in bringing up part of the black box that we call the flight data recorder," Bambang Soelistyo told reporters.         "What we are still trying to find is the cockpit voice recorder."       

Flight QZ8501 crashed on December 28 en route from Indonesia's Surabaya to Singapore. Indonesia's meteorological agency has said that stormy weather likely caused the Airbus A320-200 to go down but a definitive answer is impossible without the data recorders.