SURABAYA, Indonesia, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Indonesian Navy divers found the tail section of the AirAsia passenger jet that went down in the Java Sea, igniting hopes that the critical flight data and black box flight recorders will be found soon.
The two pieces of equipment, which are located in the tail section of the Airbus A320-200, could hold information about the final minutes of the flight that crashed on Dec. 28 with 162 people on board.
"We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane," said Yayan Sofyan, captain of a patrol vessel.
As the efforts continue to find bodies and the wreckage moves into the second week, authorities are still trying to determine how and why the jet crashed. Some have suggested ice damaged the aircraft's engines and played a part in the crash, but some experts disagree. Some officials have also said the aircraft crashed from a high altitude. Bad weather, including high seas and strong winds, continues to hamper the mission.
Indonesian authorities suspended several aviation officials, including the airport and air navigation managers who were on duty when the plane crashed, and said they will be looking into possible violations of aviation laws. Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan also launched an internal investigation to determine if any officials allowed AirAsia to fly the Surabaya to Singapore flight route outside its official days of Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. AirAsia Flight QZ-8501 flew on Sunday morning.
"This is a significant step [showing] that the minister doesn't solely put the blame on AirAsia," Hadi Mustofa Djuraid, staff expert at the Transportation Ministry, told The Wall Street Journal.
A total of 37 bodies have been recovered. Few have been identified.
