Pings detected in hunt for AirAsia black boxes: Indonesian official
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AFP) - Signals believed to be from the black box data recorders of crashed AirAsia Flight 8501 were detected Friday, Indonesian authorities said, offering the strongest lead to explain the disaster.
"A ship detected the pings. The divers are trying to reach it," said S.B Supriyadi, a director with the National Search and Agency who is stationed at the search headquarters of Pangkalan Bun.
"The location of the ping is reported to be near where the tail was found."
The plane crashed into the Java Sea on December 28 during stormy weather as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, claiming the lives of all 162 people on board.
Rough seas and strong currents have slowed multinational efforts to find the wreckage of the plane in relatively shallow waters and determine why it crashed.
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