JAKARTA, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Indonesia is asking for international help in recovering the "black box" recorders from an airliner that went down in deep water earlier this month.
Navy officials in Jakarta said Indonesia didn't have the equipment needed to pluck the recorders from the Adam Air jet that apparently went down in the Majene sea off West Sulawesi.
Adm. Slamet Soebijanto told reporters that Japan and the United States had the mini-sub capability to operate in the location, which is about 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) deep.
The Jakarta Post said U.S. Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe has said the United States was ready to take part in the recovery. The oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears detected the pings from the black boxes. The pings are still being analyzed but were transmitted on the same frequency as the missing airliner.
The Adam Air flight disappeared with 102 people aboard. Search operations began to scale back after the Mary Sears located the recorders in an area where aircraft debris had been recovered.